MASTER  NEGATIVE 

NO.  93-81245- 


MICROFILMED  1993 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES/NEW  YORK 


as  part  of  the  .     ^ 

"Foundations  of  Western  Civilization  Preservation  Project 


Funded  by  the 
NATIONAL  ENDOWMENT  FOR  THE  HUMANITIES 


Reproductions  may  not  be  made  without  permission  from 

Columbia  University  Library 


COPYRIGHT  STATEMENT 

The  copyright  law  of  the  United  States  -  Title  17,  United 
States  Code  -  concerns  the  making  of  photocopies  or 
other  reproductions  of  copyrighted  material. 

Under  certain  conditions  specified  in  the  law,  libraries  and 
archives  are  authorized  to  furnish  a  photocopy  or  other 
reproduction.  One  of  these  specified  conditions  is  that  the 
photocopy  or  other  reproduction  is  not  to  be  "used  for  any 
purpose  other  than  private  study,  scholarship,  or 
research."  If  a  user  mal<es  a  request  for,  or  later  uses,  a 
photocopy  or  reproduction  for  purposes  in  excess  of  fair 
use,"  that  user  may  be  liable  for  copyright  infrmgement. 

This  institution  reserves  the  right  to  refuse  to  accept  a 
copy  order  if,  in  its  judgement,  fulfillment  of  the  order 
would  involve  violation  of  the  copyright  law. 


A  UTHOR: 


GRIESINGER,  THEODOR 


TITLE: 


THE  JESUITS; 

COMPLETE  HISTORY 


PLACE: 


NEW  YORK 


DATE: 


1883 


r^ 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


Mzister  Negative  # 


BIBUOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


932.6 
G87S 


1 


Griesinger,  Theodor  ^r^Karl  Theodor,  1809-1884. 

The  Jesuits ;  a  complete  history  of  their  open  and  se- 
cret proceedings  from  the  foundation  of  the  order  to  the 
present  time,  told  to  the  German  people,  by  Theodor 
Griesmger  ...     New  York,  O.  P.  Putnam's  sons,  1883. 

2  V.    front,  (port.)     23^'^'', 

Printed  in  Great  Britain. 
Translated  by  A.  J.  Scott. 


I.  Scott,  Andrew  James,  tr. 


*«,*. 


Library  of  Congress 


J 


8-36466 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


'.äs 


TECHNICAL  MICROFORM  DATA 
REDUCTION    RATIO;      /  Ix 


FILM     SIZE:_ 

IMAGE  PLACEMENT:    L\    (DA)  IB    IIB 

DATE     FILMED: ^Z^^ INITIALS_.!^$^&ö^^ 

FILMED  BY:    RESEARCH  PUBUCATIONS.  INC  WOODBRIDGE.  CT 


BIBLIOGRAPHIC  IRREGULARITIES 

MAIN  _ 

ENTRY!  Crx^g^^^n^ev,    \\^eo4o^ 


Bibliographic  Irregularities  in  the  Original  Document 
List  volumes  and  pages  affected;  include  name  of  institution  if  filming  borrowed  text. 

Page(s)  missing/ not  available: 


yolumes(s)  missing/not  available:. 


Illegible  and/or  damaged  page(s):. 


Page(s)  or  volumes(s)  misnumbered:. 


Bound  out  of  sequence:. 


Page(s)  or  illustration(s)  filmed  from  copy  borrowed  from:  Su  K^  ,  ^lon^  Rwö^ 


Other: 


FILMED  IN  WHOLE 
OR  PART  FROM  A 
COP  Y  B  ORRO  WED 

FROM  STATE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 

NEW  YORK, 
STONYBROOK 


.^ 


%. 


c 


\ 


Association  for  information  and  image  iManagement 

1100  Wayne  Avenue.  Suite  1100 
Silver  Spring,  Maryland  20910 

301/587-8202 


Centimeter 


12        3        4         5 

iiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliinliin 


I  I  I 


T 


6         7        8        9       10       11       12       13       14       15   mm 

lllJJililJillllllMlllllljlllljllll|llllllllll^^ 


Inches 


1 


I.I 


1.25 


1.0    If  ■- 


M 

5t    Hill  3.2 
1^ 


Li 

m 

lU 


36 
4.0 


2.5 


2.2 


1.4 


2.0 


1.8 


1.6 


I 


MfiNUFfiCTURED   TO  fillM   STfiNDflRDS 
BY  APPLIED  IMAGE,    INC. 


I 
1 


1 
1 

1 
1 

i 


1 


ID 


THE  LIBRARIES 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


1 


i 
1 

1 

1 

i 
1 
1 
1 


V« 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS 


> 


THE  JESUITS 


1^ 


■      •    • 


}       I 


C.OM:P,I,BT.E., HISTORY 


•    •••»•    ••    •      ••»    j^    • 


•   •    • 


4  I       J      >  >         J 

«      •  <>      a      « 


THEIR  OPEN  AND  SECRET  PROCEEDINGS 
FROM  THE  FO  UND  A  TION  OF  THE  ORDER  TO  THE 

PRESENT  TIME 


TOLD  TO  THE  GERMAN  PEOPLE 


BY 


THEODOR  GRIESINGER 


VOL.    I. 


IgnatMsf  Loyvlny . 


.      NEW  YORK 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

27  &  29  WEST  23D  STREET 
1883 


I   •      t 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


•     •  '  •  •   • 
»  •      •      •  • 

•      ^  *  z 


■  ■     •     • 


i         t  •»  • 

t  \.      i         «    •    • 


»••  • 

«        k  4 

«•  *  • 

»       %.  • 

*  »  •  •         *    %   ■• 


There  is  a  structure  iu  the  world,  to  'the  completion 
of  which  every  thinking  man  is  bound  to  lend  his 
assistance,  I  mean  the  fabric  of  intellectual  light  and 
spiritual  freedom,  without  which  real  and  material 
liberty  cannot  be  attained.  Providence  has  given  to 
some  few  the  power  of  contributing  a  corner-stone,  or 
even  an  entire  pillar,  to  this  building,  and  those  few 
are  the  "  Spiritual  Knights "  of  whom  Heine  sings. 
But  even  when  to  the  remainder  this  power  is  wanting, 
are  they  on  that  account  to  lay  their  hands  on  their 
lap  and  totally  refrain  from  labour,  when,  perhaps, 
they  might  be  in  a  position  to  pass  on  towards  this 
erection  the  mortar  and  small  stones  ?  I  say  "  No  " ; 
and  upon  this  ''  No  "have  I  completed  the  "  History 
of  the  Jesuits."  May  this  book  contribute  a  little,  if 
not  to  the  stripping-off  of  the  fetters  of  superstition 
and  spiritual  thraldrom  in  which  so  many  hundred 
thousands  are  still  bound,  at  all  events  to  the  loosening 
of  them  and  to  the  preparation  for  casting  them  aside. 
More  I  do  not  expect.  * 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


CONTENTS. 


i 


The  new  edition  of  my  *'  History  of  the  Jesuits  "  is 
the  best  proof  that  the  book  has  done  its  work.  It 
has  found  thousands  of  readers,  and  no  one  has  put 
it  aside  without  having  obtained  a  proper  idea  of 
this  Society,  so  worthy  of  condemnation.  And 
seeing,  now,  that  the  Imperial  Government  has  ranged 
itself  on  our  side,  let  us  hope  that  the  accursed  ban 
by  which,  through  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  the 
spiritual  resurrection  of  our  fatherland  has  been 
restrained,  will  now  be  removed  from  Germany. 

Firstly,  the  crushing  of  the  Empire's  enemies,  and 
now  the  attack  on  the  foes  of  light  !  When  was 
there  ever  for  Germany  a  greater  epoch? 

Stuttgart, 
Jtily,  1872. 


BOOK    I. 

THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   JESUITS;    OR,    THE    SAINT 

IGNATIUS   LOYOLA. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Ignatius  Loyola  becomes  Holy 


PAGE 

3 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Vicissitudes   op   the    New   Saint   and   the  Seven 

First  Jesuits 15 


CHAPTER  III. 


Loyola  in  Rome 


29 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Organization  and  Statute  Book  op  the  New  Order      46 


CHAPTER  V. 
Ignatius  Loyola  as  General  op  the  Order     . 


.    54 


BOOK    II. 

THE    SHREWDNESS    OF   THE     JESUITS,    AND    THE    GIGANTIC 

PROGRESS   OF   THEIR   GROWTH. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Jesuit  Missions  in  Distant  Regions  of  the  World      85 

CHAPTER  n. 
The  Powerful  Influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  Europe   .     145 


VIU 


CONTENTS. 


N 


^ 


i 


BOOK    III. 

THE   MORALITY   OF   THE   JESUITS  ;    OR,    THE   VOW   OF 

CHASTITY. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Old  Adam  under  the  Mask  of  Holiness 


PAGE 

•    283 


Chapter  II.  is  omitted, 

CHAPTER  III. 
The    Spiritual    Exercises,    or    the    Refinement    of 


Enjoyment    . 


.     306 


BOOK    IV. 

THE   DISINTERESTEDNESS   OF   THE   JESUITS,    OR   THE 

VOW   OF   POVERTY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Confessional  as  the  Key  to  the  Money-chest      .    333 

CHAPTER  II. 
Robbery  and  Theft  among  Laity  and  Ecclesiastics    .    358 

CHAPTER  ni. 

Jesuit  Commerce  and  Usury,   combined  with   Fraudu- 
lent Bankruptcy 410 


BOOK     I. 


THE    ORIGIN    OP    THE     JESUITS; 


OBi 


THE  SAINT  IGNATIUS  LOYOLA. 


MOTTO. 

Der  Tetilel  sasa  in  der  HöU*  und  krümmt  sich  vor  Sohmerta 

Weil  der  Mönch  Luther  sich  gefasset  das  Herz 

Einzugreifen  in  der  Welten  King, 

Und  zu  stürzen  die  Alte  Ordnung  der  Ding'. 

"Ist  nicht  genug,"  so  heult  er,  " dass  es  weithm  schalt 

Dass  die  Arge  sich  wagt  an  die  geistliche  Gewalt  ? 

Muss  er  auch  noch  mein  eigen  Beich  und  Dominium, 

Sich  erkühnen  zu  stürzen  um  und  um  ?  ^  _^  ,.    Tmiit 

Bei  meiner  Grossmutter,  er  ist  im  Stand  und  erohert  die  HöU 

Wenn  ich  ihm  nicht  eine  grossere  Macht  entgegenstell'  I 

Doch  wer  hilft  mir  in  dieser  schweren  Noth, 

Wo  die  Welt  aus  den  Fugen  zu  gehen  droht?  " 

So  heult  der  Satan  und  schlug  sich  vor's  Hirn 

Dass  blutgefärht  war  bald  die  schwarze  Stirn. 

Da  trat  er  die  Schlang'  zu  ihm  und  alt  giftig'  Thier 

Welcher  von  Bosheit,  Trug  und  List  der  Bauch  berstet  schier. 

Und  flüstert'  ihm  leis'  ein  paar  wort'  in's  Ohr, 

Der  Teufel  in  seinem  Innern  nicht  eins  davon  verlor, 

Aufsprang  er  und  erleichtert  schwoll  ihm  die  Brust 

Und  sein  Auge  leuchtet  vor  Wonn'  und  Lust. 

Neun  Monat  drauf  ein  Weib  einen  Jungen  gebar, 

Dess'  Name  Don  Innigo  von  Loyola  war. 

Aus  der  alten  Reimschronik  des  Pater  Cyprian, 


(TBASBLiLTION.) 

The  Devil  sat  m  hell  and  doubled  himself  up  with  pam,  because  the  monk 
Luther  was  courageous  enough  to  encroach  on  the  round  world,  and  to 
upset  the  old  order  of  things.    "  Is  it  not  sufficient,"  he  screamed,  "  that  it 
resounds  from  afar  that  the  wicked  one  dares  to  venture  an  attack  on  the 
spiritual  power ;  must  he  also  be  bold  enough  to  turn  everything  upside 
down  in  my  own  kingdom  and  dominion  ?    By  my  grandmother,  he  has 
taken  up  a  position  and  will  rob  hell  if  I  do  not  oppose  him  by  a  greater 
power     And  who  will  help  me  in  this  severe  exigency,  when  the  world 
threatens  to  depart  from  its  course  ?  "     Thus  howled  Satan,  and  flogged  his 
brains  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  his  black  forehead  the  colour  of  blood.    At 
this  juncture  the  Serpent  approached  him,  the  old  poisonous  beast,  who 
nearly  burst  his  belly  with  malice,  deceit,  and  cunning,  and  whispered 
softly  a  couple  of  words  into  his  ear.    The  Devil  lost  not  a  syllable  in  his 
innermost  thoughts.    Up  he  sprang,  and  his  swollen  breast  was  relieved, 
and  his  eye  shone  again  with  pleasure  and  lust.    Nine  months  after  that  a 
woman    gave    birth  to  a    youngster  whose    name  was    Don    Innigo  de 
Xioyola, 

Fromlthe  old  Rhymes  of  Father  Cyprian. 


CHAPTER   I. 

«I 

IGNATIUS   LOYOLA  BECOMES   HOLY. 

It  is  a  fact  regarding  which,  accordin.^  to  the  views  of  all 
enlightened  people,  the  Germans  have  reason  to  be  not  a  little 
proud,  that  almost  all  orders  of  monks  belong  to  the  Romaic 
speaking  races,  i,e.  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  the  Germans 
not  having  the  slightest  connection  therewith.     Thus  formerly 
the  widelv  extended  Order  of  the  Benedictines  has  to  thank  for 
its  origin  the  holy  Benedict  of  Nursia  in  Umbria,  a  province  of 
Italy.     So  also  the  Carnal dolenses,  whose  founder  was  the  holy 
Bomuald,  from  the  family   of  the  Dukes  of  Ravenna,  while 
they  derive  their  name  from  the  Abbey  of  Camaldoli  near  Arezzo 
in  the  Appenines.     The  grey  monks  of  Vallombrosa  come  from 
Fiesoli  in  the  territory  of  Florence.     Further,  the  Carthusians 
so  named  from  the  solitude  of  La  Chartreuse  near  Grenoble, 
where   the    holy  Bruno,    in   the    year    1086,   built    the   first 
hermitage  for  the  companions  of  his  persuasion.    Then  come  the 
Cölestines,  called  into  existence  by  the  hermit  Peter  de  Murrhone, 
who  in  the  year  1294  ascended  the  Papal  throne  under  the  name 
of  Cölestine  V. ;  after  them  we  find  the  Cistercians  created  by 
Robert  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  or  Cistercium,  followed  by  the  Sylves- 
trians,  the  Grandimontines,  and  others.     In  like  manner  the 
Augustines  and    all   those   congregations  who   regulated   their 
cloisters  according  to  the  rules  of  the  holy  Augustus,  viz.  the 
Pr6monstratenses,*  the  Servites,  the  Hieronymites,  the  Jesuaden, 

•  I  am  well  aware  that  this  Order  was  founded  by  the  Canon  Norbert, 
from  Zanthen,  in  the  territory  of  Cleve,  a  man  of  German  extraction,  who 
was  afterwards,  from  his  zeal  for  the  Ohurch,  nominated  Archbishop  of 


HI8T0BY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  BECOMES   HOLY. 


and  the  Cannelites,  as  well  as  the  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and 
Capuchines,  along  with  iheMinimen,  the  Minorites,  and  the  whole 
tribe  of  Beggar  Orders,  have  all  likewise  a  pure  Italian  origin.  The 
fact  is,  that  all  the  cloisters  and  instituted  Orders  have,  in  a  word, 
their  homes  to  find  in  Italy,  France,  and  Spain.     The  reason 
thereof  is  not  difficult  to  discover.     The  spirit  of  the  German 
nation  is,  indeed,  by  no  means  of  a  very  imaginative  nature, 
and  does  not  allow  itself  to  be  overruled  by  fancy,  especially  in 
regard  to  religion.     In  other  words,  the  German  has  altogether 
a  too  cold-blooded,  calculating,  deliberate  temperament,  to  allow 
himself  to  be  easily  and  thanklessly  enthusiastic,  and  is  much 
more  inclined  to  indulge  in  subtle  inquiries  and  investigations : 
on  this  account  expelled  from  Rome  in  a  most  bitter  way,  the 
chief  heresy,  namely,  Protestantism,  owes  its  birth  to  Germany. 

In  reviewing   all  these  many  orders  more  closely,  or  even 
merely   running   over   their  names   superficially,   the    question 
naturally   suggests  itself,  which   of  them   might  be  considered 
the  best,  the  most  excellent  and  most  esteemed  ?     This  question 
was  formerly  much  discussed,  especially  among  the  Orders  them- 
selves, and   it   gave   rise  among  them   to  an  infinity  of  strife, 
jealousy,  discord,   and  mutual  depreciation.     In  short,  formal 
war  took  place  between  the  individual  Orders,  and  I  need  only 
mention Thomists  and  Scotists  (Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  the 
former  followers  of  Thomas  Aquinus,  the  latter  of  Duns  Scotus) 
in  order  to  render  superfluous  all  further  explanation.     If,  in 
this  manner,  disputes  took  place   among   the  members  of  the 
Orders  themselves,  how  much  less  could  the  public,  the  lay  world, 
be  expected  to  agree  as  to  their  value  or  excellence,  especially 
while  the  national  jealousy  of  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  was 
mixed  up  with  the  question. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  two  circumstances  occurred  which  at 
once  put  a  termination  to  the  contention,  namely,  the  Reforma- 
tion and  the  institution  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits. 

Magdeburg,  and  still  later  translated,  indeed,  among  the  saints ;  but  in  the 
first  place  the  Premonstratensea  are  only  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Canonici 
regularis  Sancti  Augustini,"  who,  it  was  well  known,  derived  their  ongin 
from  Italy;  secondly,  Norbert  lived  so  long  in  France  that  he  was  no  longer 
German,  but  simply  thought  and  acted  as  French  ;  thirdly  and  lastly,  the 
foundation  really  took  place  in  France,  namely,  in  Sprenge,  m  the  Bishopric 
of  Laon  in  the  forest  of  Coney,  on  a  meadow  indicated  by  heaven  itself 
{Pr€  montre,  hence  the  name  Premonstratenses),  and  the  immigration  of  the 
brethren  of  the  Order  into  Germany  only  took  place  several  years  after- 
wards. 


Before  the  clearing  thunderbolts  launched  forth  by  the 
Reformers,  Monachisra,  then  flourishing,  could  no  longer 
maintain  itself;  so  it  collapsed  like  a  decayed  building,  and 
all  its  former  admirers  were  at  once  converted  into  mockers  and 
scorners,  if  not  into  haters  and  persecutors. 

On  the  other  hand,  through  this  Reformation,  that  is,  by  the 
insight  thereby  obtained,  the  Catholic  world  and  the  Papacy 
could  no  longer  possibly,  by  the  means  hitherto  employed,  ward 
off  the  frightful  attacks  with  which  it  was  assailed ;  so  a  new 
Order,  I  mean  that  of  the  Jesuits,  was  called  into  existence, 
which  at  once  not  only  threw  totally  into  the  shade  all  previous 
monkish  brotherhoods,  but  which  accomplished  more  in  a  single 
century  than  the  whole  of  them  put  together  had  effected  during 
the  long  period  of  their  existence.  All  were  amazed  at  the  new 
Order,  and  all,  whether  friend  or  foe,  were  unanimous  in  the 
belief  that  the  Jesuits,  in  relation  to  power,  influence,  exten- 
sion, empire,  and  mastery,  had  made  even  the  impossible  pos- 
sible. All,  however,  agreed,  that  never  so  long  as  the  earth  had 
been  inhabited  by  man  had  there  been  a  society  so  steeped  in 
meanness  and  vileness  as  were  the  Jesuits ;  indeed,  should  the 
tenth  part  of  the  crimes  and  shameful  deeds  attributed  to  them 
be  true,  they  are  unworthy  to  exist  among  men.  Briefly,  every- 
one could  not  but  admire  the  intellect,  the  extraordinary  activity, 
and  the  remarkable  organisation  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits  ;  on  the 
one  hand,  there  were  numbers  who  actuallv  shuddered  at  the 
bare  mention  of  their  name,  whilst,  on  the  other,  not  a  few  broke 
out  into  excessive  and  rapturous  praises  of  the  fraternity. 

Thus  was  it  judged  of  the  Jesuitical  Order  in  the  last  century, 
and  precisely  the  same  opposite  opinions  may  be  heard  in  the 
present  day,  when  the  Order  seems  about  again  to  raise  itself  in 
all  its  pristine  glory.  Under  these  circumstances  can  it  be  other- 
wise than  of  the  highest  interest  to  hear  something  more  in 
detail  of  this  society  ?  Is  it  not  the  duty  of  the  historian,  then, 
to  make  people  acquainted  with  all  that  is  true  respecting  this 
hate  and  this  admiration,  and  to  penetrate  into  all  the  secrets 
with  which  the  Jesuits  are  alleged  to  be  surrounded  ? 

I  believe  the  only  answer  to  this  question  must  be  an  unqua- 
lified Yes,  and  thus  will  I  at  once  forthwith  begin  to  make  the 
reader  acquainted  with  the  founder  of  this  Order.  His  country 
is  also  a  foreign  one,  as  in  the  case  of  the  founders  of  all  the 


iinii 


6 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Other  Orders.     Spain,  indeed,  that  most  Catholic  of  all  Cathoho 
countries,  had  the  good  fortune  to  hring  him  into  the  wor  d.     In 
the  Basque  province  of  Guipuscoa,  between  the  two  small  towns 
of  Azcoitia  and    Azpeitia,  rose  a  proud   feudal   castle,   which 
belonged  from  the  thirteenth  century  to  a  highly  aristocratic 
family  bearing  the  name   of  Loyola,   and   in   this  castle,  the 
ancestral  seat,   resided  towards  the  end  of  the   15th   century, 
Bertram,  son  of  Perez,  lord  of  Loyola  and  Ogne,  or,  as  it  is  also 
written,  Onate.      As  spouse  he  had  Donna  Marianna  Saez  of 
Licona  and  Balda,  so  called  from  her  father  being  the  knight 
Martin  Garcia  de  Licona  and  her  mother  the  Marchioness  de 
Balda ;  but  to  this  high-sounding  title  her  dowry  did  not  at  all 
correspond,  consequently  Knight  Bertram  found  himself  pos- 
sessed  of  no  very  splendid  property,  besides  the  two  casdes  and 
the  land   surrounding   them.     More   fruitful,   however,   was  it 
ordered  in  the  domain  of  love,  seeing  that  the  tender  pair  were 
blessed  by  degrees  with  eleven  children*-seven  sons  and  four 
daughters ;    of  the  former,  the   youngest,   who  came  into  the 
world  in    14<J1,   i.e.    eight   years   after  the  birth   of   Luther, 
received  the  baptismal  name  of  Don  Innigo  (or  Ignatius)  Lopez 
de  Ricalde  in  the  church  of  the  holy  Sebastian  de  Soreasu  m 
the  before-mentioned  small  town  of  Azpeitia.     This  IgnaUus  was 
destined  to  become  the  founder  of  the  most  celebrated  and  at  the 
same  time  the  most  iU-famed  Order  ever  instituted.    Don  Innigo 
showed,  while  yet  a  boy,  the  most  remarkable  capabihties,  but 
unfortunately  they  were  not  cultivated  as  they  might  have  been, 
it  being  thought  unnecessary  for  him  to  do  more  as  regards 
learning   than  to  be  able  to  read  and  write  his  own  mother- 
tongue.     Moreover,  an  uncle  domiciled  at  Arevalo  in  old  Castile, 
with  whom  he  passed  the  greater  part  of  bis  childhood,  had  him 
instructed  in  fencing,  dancing,  and  playing  on  the  mandoline,  in 

•  Some  biographers  make  out  that  there  were  fourteen  children,  nine  sonj 
^..A  fivf  Lnehte?s  but  the  names  of  eleven  only  are  preserved  to  us,  and 
t^ese  are  ÄowB  :^^^^^^^  Joannes,  who  lost  his  life  in  the  Neapohtao 
war  ?2^  Don  MMtüius.  who  inherited  Loyola  on  the  death  of  Joannes; 
S^Don  Bertram,  who  also  died  young  on  the  field  of  Wona  ;  (4)  Don  Ochoa, 
(6)  von  ^ev^**"*'  .     ,  i      ^^^    (5)  po^  Hernandus,  who  died  m  India  ; 

TeteVetus,  whfeX^^^^^  and  who  officiated  in  the  cathedral 

if  Aspezia  that  is,  in  that  of  the  holy  Sebastian  ;  (7)  Don  Innigo.  whose  life 
?  am  now  describing;  (8)  Donna  Magdalena,  married  to  Don  Joannes  Lopez 
de  GaUay  It^ui ;  ^)  Doina  Mariana,  married  to  Don  Stephane  de  Arqueza; 
aO)  Äa  K^eriia,  married  to  Don  Joannes  de  Martmez  de  Lasuo; 
(11)  Donna  Maria,  who  died  unmarried. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  BECOMES  HOLT. 


all  which  accomplishments  the  young  Innigo  was  made  to  excel. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen,  Don  Antonio  Mariquez,  Duke  of  Majera, 
and  grandee  of  Spain,  a  distant  relation  of  the  Loyola  family, 
obtained  for  him  the  situation  of  page  at  the  Court  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  and  here,  in  this  brilliant  and  luxurious  atmo- 
sphere, he  received  the  last  finishing  strokes  of  his  knightly 
education.     In  other  words,  he  learned  to  make  love  declarations 
to  the  ladies  in  finely-turned  phrases — sung,  it  may  be   well 
understood,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  mandoline — and  when 
the  jealousy  of  husbands,  brothers,  and  bridegrooms  was  raised 
thereby,  he  was  quite  ready  to  defend  himself  in  his  nightly 
serenades  sword  in  hand.     In  a  word,  he  obtained  for  himself,  as 
did  others  of  his  age  and  rank,  the  reputation  of  being  a  very 
vain,  high-spirited,  and  withal  eccentric  but  at  the  same  time 
agreeable,  brave,  and  self-sacrificing  comrade,  who  never  broke  his 
word.     With  all  this,  he  was  well  made,  and  had  a  broad  open 
forehead,  grey  eyes,  and  a  fine  roman  nose  somewhat  bent,  a 
healthy  colour,  and  a  symmetrical  strong  build,  though  not  above 
the  middle  height.     It  was,  therefore,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
he  obtained  favour  with  the  fair  sex,  without  on  that  account 
being  unpopular  with  the  men.     After  he  had  thus  employed 
himself  during    several  years  in  such-like   trifling,    and  esta- 
blished for  himself  the  reputation  of  beiog  a  first-rate  "  Cabel- 
Iero!|,"  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  such  a  life  was  truly  pur- 
poseless, and  seized  with  most  vehement  ambition,  he  resolved 
upon   entering  on   a   military  career,  in  order  that  his  brows 
might  be   crowned  with   laurels.      This  time,   also,  the  Duke 
Eosera  gave  him  a  helping  hand,  and  soon  advanced  him  to  the 
rank  of  officer.     Of  this  distinction  he  well  knew  how  to  render 
himself  worthy  in  every  respect,  and  he  not  only  gave  most 
glorious  proof,  on  the  battle-field,  of  a  brave  heart  and  a  strong 
arm,  but  also  in  his  leisure  hours  he  sought  to  perfect  himself 
theoretically   in  systematic  study  of  the   art   of  war.     Still,  I 
should  not  conceal  that  he  continued  while  in  winter  quarters 
to  devote  himself  with  true  knightly  art  to  gallantry,  and  in  the 
arms  of  love  he  sought  to  console  himself  for  the  hardships  of 
the  summer  campaign. 

In  this  manner  did  he  spend  several  years,  which  brought  him 
pretty  soon  to  the  rank  of  captain,  while  he  confidently  trusted 
that  his  acknowledged  bravery  would  eventually  raise  him    to 


8 


HIBTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


become  a  general.    He  dared  the  more  to  hope  this,  as  at  that 
time  there  existed  much  strife  and  contention,  in  that  Charles  V., 
the  successor  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  at  the  same  time 
Emperor  of  Germany,  strove  for  ten  long  years  for  the  mastery 
of  Europe  with  Francis  I.,  King  of  France.     But  now  a  sudden 
accident  put  an  immediate  end  to  all  these  brilliant  expecta- 
tions.     In  the  year  1521  the  French,  led  by  Andr6  de  Foix. 
Lord  of  Esparre.  besieged  the  town  of  Pampeluna,  and  on  the 
20th  of  May,  after  a  breach  had  been  effected,  the  assault  was 
made.     The  defence  of  the  citadel  was,  however,  entrusted  to  a 
man,  even  to  Don  Innigo  Loyola,  who  resolved  rather  to  be 
buried  under  the  ruins  than  that  his  heroic  reputation  should  be 
stained  by  a  cowardly  surrender,  so  that  the  French  could  not 
gain  a  foot  without  paying  for  it  with  rivers  of  blood.     Whilst 
the  brave  Loyola  received  a  wound  on  his  left  foot  from  a  frag- 
ment of  a  broken  wall,  he  at  the  same  time  had  his  right  leg 
shattered  by  a  cannon-ball,  and  consequently  all  resistance  was 
now  at  once  at  an  end ;  and  the  Spaniards,  seeing  their  leader 
fall,  lost  courage   and  yielded   unconditionally.     The  French 
commander  behaved  nobly  on  the  occasion,  and   caused    the 
wounded  Don  Innigo  to  be  attended  by  his  own  surgeon,  and, 
not  contented  with  this  merely,  gave  him  his  liberty  at  the  end 
of  a  fortnight  without  ransom,  and  when  his  cure  was  com- 
pleted caused  him  to  be  removed  to  his  ancestral  castle.     This 
was  done  with  great  care,  the  wounded  man  being  carried  in  a 
litter,  notwithstanding  which,  however,  the  journey  had  indeed 
a  most  prejudicial  effect,  as  it  seemed  that  the  bandages  had 
become  displaced,  and  the  medical  attendants,  who  were  imme- 
diately summoned,  declared  that  it  would  be  necessary,  in  order 
to  effect  a  good  cure,  that  the  bone  should  be  broken  again, 
which  involved  the  extensive  wound,  already  half  healed,  being 
torn  open  afresh.     This  cruel  operation  was  most  painful,  as  a 
number  of  broken  splinters  of  bone  had  to  be  removed ;  but 
the  courageous  Loyola  at  once  gave  his  consent  thereto,  and 
conducted  himself  like  a  hero  while  the  doctors  were  then  most 
cruelly  torturing  him  •  not  a  single  cry  escaped  from  him,  and 
he  obliged  himself  to  put  on  a  pleasing  smile  while  his  sisters 
were  shedding  tears  of  pity.     The  loss  of  blood  and  consequent 
fever  reduced   him    so    low   that    it  was    considered   well    to 
administer  to  him  the  sacrament  for  the  dying,  and  at  last  the 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  BECOMES  HOLY. 


3 


medical  men  even  declared  that  he  could  not  be  saved.  In 
spite  of  all,  however,  it  did  not  come  to  this,  but  his  naturally 
strong  constitution  overcame  the  debility,  and  he  began  to  get 
better,  although,  indeed,  very  gradually  and  in  the  course  of 
several  months.*  But,  alas  !  as  he  at  length  was  able  to  leave 
his  bed,  and  tried  to  walk  up  and  down  his  room,  it  became 
apparent  that  the  limb  had  become  an  inch  too  short,  and 
besides,  below  the  knee  there  was  an  unsightly  projecting  piece 
of  bone  which  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  wear  the  high  tight- 
fitting  boots  which  were  at  that  time  in  fashion.  This  was  a  mis- 
fortune that  his  vanity  could  not  endure,  and  he  forthwith  resolved 
to  have  the  detestable  bone  sawn  off.  His  physicians  explained 
to  him  that  he  would  run  a  great  risk  in  having  this  done,  and 
that  the  operation  would  be  uncommonly  painful.  However,  he 
insisted  upon  it,  and  the  bone  was  sawn  off.  Hardly  had  he 
got  over  the  effects  than  he  began  to  have  the  limB  stretched, 
and  with  this  object  he  caused  an  iron  machine  to  be  made,  in 
which  he  forthwith  inserted  the  leg.  It  was  then  turned,  in 
order  that  the  muscles  should  become  more  and  more  lengthened, 
and,  in  spite  of  almost  maddening  pain,  Loyola  bore  up  reso- 
lutely, giving  the  best  proof  of  the  very  great  energy  he 
possessed ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  desired  result  was  far  from 
being  accomplished,  and  Ignatius  could  no  longer  conceal  from 
himself  that  he  had  become  lame  for  life.  Moreover,  the  mirror 
told  him  too  plainly  that  his  features,  in  consequence  of  his 
long  sufferings  and  agonizing  pains,  had  become  old  and 
withered,  his  hair  thin,  and  his  forehead  wrinkled.  It  was  a 
subject  for  despair.  He  who  had  hitherto  been  the  favourite 
of  the  ladies,  and  through  his  agreeable  manners  had  outstripped 
all  rivals,  arousing  envy  and  admiration  at  the  same  time 
wherever  he  went,  should  he  now  be  slighted,  and  even,  perhaps, 
become  an  object  of  pity  and  contempt  ?  No,  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  endure  such  an  affliction,  and  an  escape  from  it 
must  be  found  in  some  way  or  another.  Already,  during  his 
long  confinement  to  bed,  had  he  taken  to  reading  in  order  to 
overcome  the  deadly  weariness,  and  by  accident  he  found  in  the 
castle  either  Amadis  or  some  other  work,  but  all  of  a  particular 

*  His  historian  attributes  this  recovery  to  a  miraculous  work  of  the 
Apostle  Peter,  the  latter  being  greatly  interested  in  keeping  Ignatius  Loyola 
aUve,  at  all  events  until  he  had  founded  the  Order  of  Jesuits. 


10 


HlSTOBT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  BECOMES   HOLT. 


11 


description,  namely,  different  kinds  of  legendary  lore,  as  the 
Flores  Sanctorum  (Flowers  of  the  Saints).  This  latter  book 
superabounded  in  the  extraordinary  adventures  which  the  saints 
had  to  go  through  before  they  became  truly  holy  ;  and  one  can 
easily  understand  what  an  impression  such  flowery  pictures 
might  have  made  on  such  an  excitable,  fanciful,  and  eccentric 
man  as  Loyola.  He  was,  indeed,  firmly  impressed  by  it  with 
irresistible  fascination.  **  The  holy  Francis  did  thus  and  I  will 
do  the  same.  The  holy  Dominic  behaved  thus,  and  I  will  do 
the  same,"  he  exclaimed.  Indeed,  at  times  he  was  so  completely 
absorbed  as  regards  the  oppressions,  expiations,  griefs,  mortal 
pangs,  and  former  heroisms  of  the  saints,  that  the  experiences 
of  a  Florisando  of  Gaul  or  a  Lisnarde  of  Greece  appeared  to 
him  trifling  and  insignificant.  It  is  true  these  impressions  were 
at  first  not  permanent,  but  merely  transitory,  and  the  image  of 
the  beautiful  Donna  Isabella  Rosella,  for  whom  he  formerly  enter- 
tained the  most  ardent  affection,  always  dispelled  them  again ; 
but  now,  however,  as  he  became  convinced  that  his  beauty 
was  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  that  he  had  become  a  lame  cripple, 
whilst  his  beloved  Donna  declined  to  listen  any  more  to  his  love 
speeches,  and  began  to  trifle  with  others,  he  tore  her  forcibly 
from  his  heart,  and  instead  there  appeared  to  him  an  unspeak- 
ably beautiful  virgin,  even  the  Queen  of  Heaven  herself,  to  whom 
he  at  once  most  heartily  devoted  himself.  Henceforth  he  resolved 
to  make  her  the  queen  of  his  heart,  to  whom  he  would  render 
homage,  and  if  he  met  with  her  favour  he  most  certainly  must 
become  as  perfect  a  saint  as  a  Januarius  or  Eustachius.  What 
blessedness  would  it  be  if  he,  like  them,  could  make  the  blind 
to  see,  the  dumb  to  speak,  the  deaf  to  hear,  and  all  kinds  of 
diseases  to  heal !  when  he  obtained  the  power  to  fly  through  the 
air  like  a  bird,  to  walk  through  the  sea  dry-shod,  and  to  pass 
through  the  blazing  fire  uninjured  1  when  he  should  equally  be 
able   to    drive  out  the   devil,  conquer    hell,  and   gain   heaven 

alive ! 

In  this  manner,  a  complete  change  took  place  in  the  mind  of 
Don  Innigo  Loyola,  and  the  formerly  gallant  cavalier  trans* 
formed  himself  into  a  strict  imitation  of  an  Anthony  or  a 
Pachomius  in  order  to  gain  the  favour  of  the  Virgin. 

He  now  clothed  himself,  as  his  biographers  narrate,  in  thick 
filthy  garments,  and  over  his  attenuated  and  unwashen  face  fell 


his  uncombed  hair,  formerly  redolent  of  costly  ointments.  He 
also  imposed  upon  himself  the  greatest  abstinence,  and  not  un- 
commonly fasted  so  long  that  he  fainted  from  sheer  weakness. 
While  during  these  trances,  he  frequently  had,  according  to  his 
own  affirmation,  visions  of  the  saints,  and  especially  of  the 
Virgin  Mary — he  even  saw  himself  translated  direct  into  heaven, 
where  God  Almighty  with  His  own  hand  placed  him  close  beside 
His  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

It  now  seemed  apparent  that  the  former  brilliant  warrior  had 
turned  a  complete  fool,  so  much  so  that  his  own  brother  Don 
Martin  Garcia,  at  that  time  head  of  the  family,  very  earnestly 
urged  him  to  give  up  all  this  nonsense  without  delay,  and  be 
again  like  other  men.  The  idea  of  becoming  a  saint  was  already 
80  firmly  fixed  in  Ignatius's  mind,  that  reasoning  with  him  was 
useless,  and  he  consequently  resolved  to  quit  the  Castle  Loyola 
under  some  pretext  or  another,  in  order,  in  the  cloister, 
at  a  place  of  pilgrimage  at  Montserrat  in  Catalonia,  renowned 
for  its  miraculous  image  of  Mary,  to  devote  himself  formally 
for  life  to  the  service  of  the  Mother  of  God.  The  excuse  was 
soon  found,  in  that  he  intimated  his  intention  of  riding  out  to 
meet  the  Duke  of  Majera,  who  was  at  the  time  sojourning  at 
Navarette ;  but  presently,  dismissing  his '  attendants,  he  quickly 
made  his  way  to  Montserrat,  and  having  arrived  there  in  March 
1522,  he  first  of  all  exchanged  his  knightly  costume,  which  he 
had  resumed  by  the  order  of  his  brother,  for  a  beggarly  pilgrim's 
garment,  consisting  of  a  long  coat  of  coarse  sailcloth,  a  rope 
round  the  body,  from  which  a  hollow  gourd  was  suspended  in 
place  of  a  flask,  a  long  staff,  and  a  pnir  of  sandals.  He  then 
flogged  his  body  until  the  blood  came,  in  order  to  chastise  him- 
self for  the  love  of  earthly  pleasure  he  had  hitherto  cherished, 
made  a  three  days'  general  confession  to  the  hermit  Clanon,  one 
greatly  esteemed  for  his  exemplary  piety,  and  lastly,  following 
the  example  of  Amadis  and  other  heroes  of  romance,  kept  a 
solemn  night-watch  before  the  chapel  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven, 
to  whose  gracious  image  he  consecrated  his  sword  and  dagger, 
giving  thereby  a  sign  that  he  had,  henceforth,  entirely  devoted 
himself  to  her  service  as  her  spiritual  knight. 

He  named  himself,  also,  henceforth,  not  only  Knight  of  the 
Virgin,  but  now  and  then  also,  by  way  of  a  change,  Champion 
of  Jesus,  and  formed  the  resolution,  in  order  to  put  a  crown 


1^ 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


upon  his  striving  after  sanctity,  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem.  He  was  anxious,  however,  first  of  all,  in  order  to 
render  himself  more  worthy  for  such  an  enterprize,  to  make 
preparation  by  works  of  penitence  of  such  an  extraordinary 
nature  that  the  whole  world  might  acknowledge  that  no  man  had 
ever  before  submitted  himself  to  such  self-inflicted  torture.  He 
selected  for  the  scene  of  this  penance  the  small  town  of  Manresa, 
on  the  road  to  Barcelona,  from  the  harbour  of  which  he  intended 
ultimately  to  embark  for  Jerusalem,  and  he  took  himself  at 
once  to  the  local  hospital  dedicated  to  the  holy  Luca,  with  the 
intention  of  living  amidst  beggars  and  sick  people.  He  never 
slept  in  a  bed,  not  eveo  on  straw,  but  upon  the  bare  naked  ground, 
and  subsisted  during  the  whole  week  on  nothing  but  water  and 
bread,  which  last  he  obtained  by  begging  in  the  streets.  He 
girded  himself,  too,  round  the  body  with  an  iron  chain,  with 
which  he  daily  publicly  flogged  himself  three  times;  he  no 
longer  made  use  of  any  comb  or  scissors,  so  that  his  appearance 
became  perfectly  horrible,  to  a  degree  that  whenever  he  made 
his  appearance  he  was  surrounded  by  the  street  boys,  who  ran 
screaming  after  him,  bespattering  him  with  rotten  eggs  and 
mud.  He  endured  all  this,  however,  without  a  murmur,  and 
rejoiced  so  much  more  over  it,  as  it  was  proof  to  him  that  his 
body  was  now  sufficiently  unclean  to  present  a  worthy  vessel  for 
the  destruction  of  sin. 

He  thus  conducted  himself  during  several  months,  until  by 
accident  his  noble  birth  was  discovered,  when  he  then  attracted 
the  attention  not  only  of  the  street  boys,  but  also  of  the  grown- 
up people,  who  hitherto  disregarding  him  as  a  beggarly  and 
half-crazed  vagabond,  were  now  anxious  to  see  a  man  who, 
instead  of  taking  his  position,  as  he  had  a  right  to  do,  among 
the  happiest  and  foremost  of  the  earth,  voluntarily  made  himself 
the  most  wretched  among  men.  This,  however,  was  not  at  all 
after  his  mind — indeed,  such  cruel  obtrusiveness  concealing  deri- 
sion and  scorn  under  the  mask  of  sympathy  annoyed  him  much ; 
he  therefore  betook  himself  to  a  neighbouring  cave,  to  which  he 
made  his  way  through  thorns  and  prickly  bushes.  Here  in  the 
cavern  he  carried  on  his  penances  more  severe  even  than  before, 
and  often  took  no  food  or  drink  for  several  days ;  when,  how- 
ever, in  order  that  he  might  not  be  reproached  with  the  crime 
of  self-murder,  he  did  break  his  fast,  he  was  content  with  rooU 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  BECOMES  HOLY. 


13 


growing  in  front  of  the  cave,  or  with  old  spoilt  bread  which  he 
had  brought  with  him  from  the  hospital.  In  addition  to  this, 
he  now  flogged  himself  with  his  chain  six  times  a  day  instead  of 
three  times,  prayed  for  seven  long  hours,  resting  on  his  naked 
knees,  and,  as  much  as  he  could,  deprived  himself  of  sleep  in 
order  to  fill  up  as  far  as  possible  the  measure  of  his  bodily  mor- 
tification. Tn  consequence  of  all  this,  as  one  may  well  imagine, 
he  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  perfect  martyr,  and  became  so 
weak  that  he  fell  from  one  fainting  fit  into  another.  He  was 
continually  afflicted,  moreover,  with  the  most  frightful  remorse 
of  conscience,  while  he  always  considered  that  he  still  had  not 
done  sufficient  penance,  and  his  disordered  imagination  pic- 
tured to  his  mind  the  most  insane  visions,  such  as  that  he  saw 
the  devil  more  than  a  dozen  times,  with  claws,  horns,  club  feet, 
and  black  face ;  he  also  beheld  the  Saviour  surrounded  by  hosts 
of  saints,  ready  to  combat  Satan  and  his  underlings.  On  another 
occasion,  he  witnessed  the  Holy  Trinity  in  the  form  of  three 
piano  notes,  closely  bound  together,  hanging  upon  a  stalk ;  and  to 
his  holy  eyes,  moreover,  the  Host  was  represented  transformed 
into  the  true  God-man.  In  short,  during  this  period  of  his  life 
be  had  the  most  marvellous  apparitions,  and  whoever  wishes  to 
become  further  acquainted  with  them  may  read  the  book,  Holi/ 
Exercises,  in  which  they  are  described,  with  many  other  won- 
derful statements  concerning  him. 

He  bought  this  ecstatic  mental  condition,  however,  but  too 
dearly,  so  much  so  that  on  one  occasion  he  lay  unconscious 
during  eight  days,  and  would  certainly  have  died  had  he  not 
by  accident  been  discovered  by  some  passers  by,  and  immediately 
conveyed  to  the  hospital  of  the  town.  There  he  soon  recovered, 
not  only  bodily  but  mentally,  owing  to  the  good  care  bestowed 

upon  him. 

From  several  conversations  which  he  had  with  the  priests  to 
whom  he  made  confessions,  he  was  at  length  brought  to  the 
conviction  that  he  could  not  attain  sanctification,  so  well,  at  all 
events,  solely  by  severe  penance  and  self-inflicted  macerations, 
as  by  leading  others  to  repentance,  and  especially  was  it  pointed 
out  that  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  would  bring  him  more 
quickly  and  surely  to  his  goal.  Penance  certainly  is  of  great 
worth,  his  father  confessor  told  him,  but  preaching,  which 
touches  the  heart,    would   be   more   valuable  still,   and  every 


14 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


heathen  won  over  to  Christianity  might  he  regarded  as  a  round 
in  the  great  ladder  hy  which  man  may  climh  up  into  heaven. 
This  enlightened  the  mind  of  the  Knight  of  the  Virgin,  and  he 
felt,  besides,  that  in  order  to  he  able  to  undertake  the  business 
of  conversion  of  the  heathen,  one  must  he  possessed  of  health 
and  strength.  For  this  reason  he  no  longer  fasted  so  strictly, 
nor  did  he  flog  himself  so  often.  He  cut  his  hair  and  nails  and 
threw  aside  his  coarse  smock  coat,  becoming  again  a  polished 
man  for  whom  loathing  and  disgust  need  no  longer  be  enter- 
tained. He  also  declared  at  the  same  time  that  he  would  not 
put  off  any  further  his  pilgrimage  to  Jersusalem,  as  his  deter- 
mination was  to  convert  all  Turks  and  Mahomedans. 

Such  changes  took  place  in  the  mind  of  Don  Innigo  Lopez 
Loyola  in  the  short  space  of  one  year,  and  one  sees  from  this 
what  enormous  results  may  be  brought  about  by  a  broken  leg 
healed  defectively. 


16 


CHAPTEE    II. 

THE   VICISSITUDES   OF   THE    NEW   SAINT   AND   THE   SEVEN 

FIRST   JESUITS. 


"To  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  for  the  conversion  of  the  Turks," 
was  now  the  watchword  of  the  converted  Loyola,  and,  in  fact,  he 
betook  himself  immediately,  at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1523,  towards  Barcelona,  in  order  to  embark  from  there,  first  of 
all,  to  Italy.  Money  had  he  none,  but  that  did  not  distress  him, 
for,  being  already  accustomed  to  beg,  he  soon  collected  enough 
not  only  to  keep  himself  from  starving  but  to  pay  his  passage- 
money  to  Gaeta  in  the  Neapolitan  dominions.  Having  arrived 
there,  be  proceeded  forthwith  further  towards  Home,  always 
begging  his  way,  reaching  it  on  Palm  Sunday.  His  first  care, 
naturally  enough ,  was  to  perform  his  devotions  in  all  the  stalions 
and  churches  where  pilgrims  are  wont  to  resort.  He  also  had 
the  unspeakable  good  fortune,  on  Good  Friday,  the  5th  of  April, 
to  receive,  along  with  other  pilgrims,  the  blessing  of  His  Holiness 
Pope  Hadrian  VI.,  and,  according  to  some  of  his  biographers, 
he  was  permitted  to  kiss  the  Pope's  foot.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I 
have  only  to  remark  that  Innigo  continued  to  support  himself  by 
begging,  and  that  he  generally  passed  the  night  in  a  miserable 
shed.  On  the  1 2th  of  April  he  prosecuted  his  journey  further 
towards  Venice,  always,  be  it  understood,  on  foot,  and  begging 
his  way.  But  although  he  was  now  so  used  to  this  mode  of 
travelling,  he  this  time  nearly  fell  a  victim  to  it,  as  from  his 
miserable  appearance  he  was  universally  looked  upon  as  a  plague- 


16 


HISTOBT  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


stricken  person,  and  on  that  account  not  to  be  allowed  to  enter 
any  town,  seeing  that  the  plague  at  the  time  was  raging,  in  a 
truly  unmerciful  manner,  in  Upper  Italy.     He  was,  therefore, 
often  compelled  not  only  to  sleep  in  the  open  air,  which  proved 
very  prejudicial  to  his  health,  but  he  also  found  on  this  account 
little  opportunity  of  soliciting  alms,  and  accordingly  at  times 
endured  frightful  sufferings  from  hunger.     At  last  he  succeeded 
in  reaching  Venice,  and  contrived  to  introduce  himself  through 
the  gate  without  detention  by  the  sentries.     He  had  no  longer 
any  lack  of  nourishment,  as  many  benevolent  hearts  are  every- 
where to  be  found,  and  fortune  favoured  him  so  much  that  a 
Spaniard  of  rank,  the  Duke  Andrea  Guitti,  obtained  for  him  a 
free  passage  in  an  Italian  State  galley  to  Jaffa  in  Palestine.     It 
nearly  went  badly,  however,  with  him  in  this  ship,  on  which  he 
embarked  on  the  14th  of  July.     Having  plenty  of  spare  time 
during  the  voyage,  he  employed  it  in  preaching  better  manners  to 
the  sailors,  accustomed  as  they  were  to  sweciring  and  obscene  lan- 
guage, and,  being  provoked  thereby,  they  nearly  threw  him  into  the 
sea.    But  God  and  the  captain  of  the  ship  protected  him,  and  he 
thus  reached  his  intended  destination,  on  the  1st  of  September,  in 
safety.     He  was  now  in  Palestine,  which  he  had  so  long  earnestly 
desired  to  visit,  so,  proceeding  to  Jerusalem  with  a  caravan  of 
pilgrims,  he  arrived  there  in  good  condition  on  the  4th  of  Sep- 
tember.    But  scarcely  had  he  visited  the  holy  places,  and  per- 
formed his  devotions  at  the  different  spots  over  which  Christ  had 
wandered  1,500  years  before,  than  he  hastened  to  carry  out  the 
great  aim  he  was  desirous  of  accomplishing.     In  other  words,  he 
presented  himself  forthwith  to  the  Provincial   Father   of  the 
Franciscans,  and  craved  permission  to  commence  his  work  of 
preaching  and  converting.     The  Provincial,  entering  into  con- 
versation with  the  new  labourer  in  the  Church's  fold,  found,  to 
his  great  astonishment,  that  the  latter  was  not  only  completely 
ignorant  of  the  language  and  religion  of  the  Turks,  but  that  the 
same  was  the  case  even  as  regards  Christianity  itself,  that  is  to 
say,  in  "  Theology "  (the  knowledge  which   Christ  taught)  he 
was  quite  a  tyro.     And  for  such  a  thoroughly  ignorant  man, who 
had  also  a  perfectly  beggarly  and  vagabond  appearance,  to  believe 
himself  fit  for  such  a  weighty  undertaking  as  the  education  of 
those  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Christian  religion,  appeared  to  the 
Provincial  to  be  the  purest  nonsense,  and  so  he  told  Ignatius  to 


THE  VICISSITUDES  OP   THE   NEW  SAINT. 


17 


his  face.    The  latter  advanced  that  God  might,  Pei^^ap^Jrm^ 
about  a  miracle,  and  produce  such  a  powerful  effect  upon    h 
Turks    that    they   might    understand    his    preaching    in    the 
Spanish    tongue ;     but,   disregarding    such   ^^^^f^Jj^^^ 
vincial  shook  his  head  still  the  more  vehemently    and  ordered 
Ignatius  to  return  forthwith  to  Europe.     As  the  latter  did  not 
a?  once  acquiesce  in  this  suggestion,  he  nominated  him  a  begga 
missionary'  and,  under  an  authority  from  the  Pope  to  ban.^^^^^^ 
pilgrims  who  were  not  compliant  to  his  decrees,  he  had  him  con 
'vlyed  on  a  certain  small  ship  bound  for  Venice,  where  he  saf^^ 
arrived  in  January   1524,  after  a  four  -onths  voyage.     Thu 
ended,  in  an  almost  laughable  manner,  the  pilgrimage  to  Pales 
tine ;  but  it  had  so  far  done  good,  that  Ignatius  obtained  a  fuU 
comprehension   of  his  ignorance,  and  became  convinced   how 
impossible  it  was  for  him  to  do  anything  as  a  preacher  or  con 
verL  while  he  had  not  previously  made  himself  acquainted  wih 
the  science  of  Christianity  and  studied  holy  theology.     H   had 
now  already  attained  his  thirty-third    ye.r    and  ^^ad^^  ^^^ 
slightest  idea  of  even   the   rudiments  of  tbe  Latin    -guag. 
Moreover,  the  sole  property  he  possessed  consiste    of  the  jbak 
that  covered  his  body,  miserable  trousers  -^ich  hardly  reached 
to  his  knees,  and  a  long  frock  of  ticking    full  of  ^ojes      H^^^^^^ 
ever,  he  disregarded  all  this,  and  resolved  ^^  return  to  Barcdona, 
o  commence  there  his  studies.     "God  and  the  Holy  Mary 
whose  knight  I  am,"  he  thought,  ^*  will  further  assist  me  and  I 
hope  that  I  will  with  ease  collect  sufficient  by  begging  to  com- 
p  ete  my  studies.''     In  short,  he  made  his  way  from  Venic     by 
Genoa,  forthwith,  but  had  to  encounter  many  dangers  before  he 
^rrivei  there,  owing  to  the  war  that  at  that  time  was  gorng  on 

Germany  and  King  of  Spam.    Among  uiu 

taken  prisoner  by  the  Spaniards  on  suspicion  «*  1»«'°/;;?^'*"^ 

treated  to  the  scourge.    When  at  length  he  reached  Genoa,  he 

We  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  provided  by  the  oommander  of 
the  Spanish  galleys,  a  former  acquaintance.  Rodrige  Portundo 

SfL  passagVupon  a  ship,  and  he  arrived  safe   and  sound 

at  Barcelona  without  furthe;  mishap. 

Now  began  a  new  period  in  the  life  of  Don  Inn.go.  when  he 

enLed  u  on  his  sLdies,  and.  first  of  all,  ^l^^^^^^;^^;^;^ 

teacher  of  the  Latin  grammar,  of  the   name   of  H.eronymus 


18 


HlSTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


» 


Ardabale.  and  presented  himself  to  him  as  a  scholar.  The  professor 
regarded  the  boy  of  thirty-three  with   some  astonishment,  but 
took  him  as  a  pupil  gratia,  and  Ignatius  now  sat  continnally 
dunng  two  long  years  in  the  Latin  school,  and  one  can  easily 
imagine  the  difficult  position  in  which  he  now  found  himself; 
while  declining  and  conjugating,  how  strangely  he  must  have  felt 
m  saying  amo,  aman,  amat ;  and  how  much  he  was  teazed  by  his 
class-fellows,  twenty-five  years  his  juniors  ;  and  how  hard  it  was 
for  him  to  contend  against  his  extreme  poverty  and  provide  for 
his  daily  necessities.     He  often  at  this  time  entertained  the  idea 
of  running  away,  and  this  would  certainly  have  occurred   had  it 
not  been  for  two  female  friends  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made, 
a  young  lady  of  the  name  of  Isabella  Roselli,  and  a  dame,  Agnes 
Pasquali,  who  encouraged  him  to  persevere  in  his  efforts,  and  not 
only  so,  but  also   assisted  him  with  money  and   good  advice. 
Consequently,  he  did  persevere,  and  in  order  that  he  should  not 
again  fall  behind  the  other  school-boys,   he  begged  the  teacher 
to  be  sure  to  give  him  the  rod  as  much   as  in   their  case.     In 
short,  he  studied  Latin  with  most  astonishing   zeal,   but,  at  the 
same  time,  did  not  forget  to  exercise  himself  in  the  great  aim  of 
h.s  existence,  i.e.  in  converting  wherever  conversion  was  required- 
and  now  and  then   he  obtained   good  results,  as  he  possessed 
extremely  fascinating  powers  of  persuasion,  and  felt  no  restraint 
m  asserting  his  views  in  public  places,  or  even  in   beer  houses. 
On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  trying  to  make  into  honest  women 
the  nuns  of  a  certain  convent  where  improper  conduct  much 
prevailed,  he  got  such  a  fearful  thrashing  from  their  admirers 
that  he  lay  for  dead  on  the  spot,  and  only  recovered  from  the 
effects  after  several  weeks.     Nevertheless,  he  immediately  com- 
menced again  to  preach  as  soon  as  he  got  well,  as  he  entertained 
the  firm  conviction  that  this  ill-treatment  was  only  a  trial   that 
trod  had  laid  upon  him. 

After  two  years' study  of  the  Latin  grammar,  Ignatius  con- 
sidered  that  he  was  now  sufficiently  advanced  to  pass  over  to  the  " 
study  of  Philosophy  and  Theology,  and  on  that  account  he 
forthwuh  m  the  year  1526,  installed  himself  in  the  town  of 
Alkala,  where,  shortly  before,  Cardinal  Ximines  had  established 
a  high  school.  He  found  these  studies  much  more  difficult  than 
that  of  the  Latin  language,  and  as  he,  at  the  same  time,  attended 
the  le,tur,B  on  Logic,  Metaphysics,  and  Theology,  for  three 


THE  VICISSITUDES  OP  THE   NEW  SAINT. 


19 


hours  daily  in  each  department,  it  created  such  a  confusion  in 
his  head  that  he  learned  hardly  anything.  As  regards  preaching, 
begging,  and  converting,  which  three  functions  he  knew  so  well 
to  combine  with  the  most  consummate  skill,  he  succeeded  so  far 
as  to  win  over  three  students,  and  make  them  do  exactly  as  he 
did.  With  them  he  went  daily  about  the  streets  of  Alkala,  partly 
begging  and  partly  preaching,  and  in  order  to  make  themselves 
more  conspicuous  they  dressed  alike  in  long  grey  frieze  gowns 
of  the  coarsest  description,  which  they  bound  round  their  loins 
with  cords  They  also  wore  neither  boots  nor  shoes,  but  went 
barefoot,  and  upon  their  heads  they  placed  bell-shaped  hats,  so 
that  God  and  the  world  were  proclaimed  wherever  they  appeared. 
In  short,  they  drew  the  attention  of  all  Alkala  upon  them,  and 
got  the  name  of  "  Ensazaladas,'  that  is,  the  men  with  the  frieze 
coats,  and  presently  there  were  a  sufficient  number  of  old  maids 
who  took  advice  from  them  in  matters  of  conscience  Nor  is  it 
astonishing,  although  there  was  nothing  whatever  to  justify  it, 
that  they  began  to  carry  on  a  commerce  in  the  worship  of  God, 
to  act  the  part  of  Father  Confessors,  and  to  preach  repentance  to 
those  who  had  no  wish  for  anything  of  the  kind.  Whereupon, 
the  ecclesiastics  and  monks  of  alkala  became  jealous  of  them, 
and  complained  about  Ignatius  and  his  companions  to  the  Holy 
Inquisition.  Ignatius,  of  course,  was  immediately  arrested,  and 
most  minutely  interrogated,  as  it  was  thought  he  might  belong 
to  the  notorious  heretical  sect  which  went  by  the  name  '*  Los 
Alumbrados,"  that  is  to  say,  "  The  Enlightened  *'  {Illuminaten). 
However,  the  Vicar-General  of  Toledo,  who  conducted  the  in- 
vestigation, shortly  found  that  there  was  certainly  nothing  enlight- 
ened about  Ignatius,  and  that  although  a  very  good  Catholic,  he 
was  a  Christian  deeply  steeped  in  ignorance,  and  in  no  way  fitted  to 
assume  the  functions  of  counsellor  in  matters  of  conscience.  He 
therefore  forthwith  acquitted  the  accused,  who  had  been  falsely 
charged  with  heresy,  and  released  him  out  of  prison  after  six 
days'  detention.  On  the  other  hand,  he  forbad  him,  however, 
from  preaching  any  longer,  under  the  penalty  of  excommuni- 
cation, until  he  was  completely  versed  in  theology.  At  the 
same  time,  he  strongly  recommended  that  the  frieze-coated 
society  should  at  once  lay  aside  their  remarkable  clothing,  so 
different  from  that  of  any  Order  hitherto  existing,  and  conduct 
themselves  like  other  students.     This  was  for  our  Ignatius  a 

2  * 


20 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


very  unpleasant  sentence — somewhat  worse,  indeed,  than  he  at 

first  expected. 

Through  the  preaching  of  Ignatius,  inviting  to  repentance, 
two  ladies  of  distinction  belonging  to  Alkala  were  brought  to  the 
determination  of  giving  up  all  their  possessions  to  the  poor, 
to  dress  like  beggars,  and  to  go  about  from  one  place  of  pil- 
grimage to  another,  doing  nothing  else  than  praying  and  begging. 
They,  indeed,  carried  out  this  determination,  and  suddenly  dis- 
appeared by  night  from  Alkala,  so  that  their  distressed  relations 
were  unable  to  discover  where  they  had  gone,  though  everyone 
was  firmly  of  opinion  that  no  other  but  Ignatius  could  have 
been  the  person  who  led  them  astray.  He  was  in  consequence 
at  once  accused,  arrested  by  the  authorities,  and  thrown  into 
prison,  being  kept  in  the  criminal  department  until  both  of  the 
ladies.  Donna  Maria  de  Bado  and  Donna  Ludovica  Belasquez, 
returned  in  good  health,  and  pretty  well  cured  of  their  adven- 
turous flight  on  a  begging  pilgrimage. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  pious  Ignatius  could  no  longer 
remain  in  Alkala  with  any  comfort,  and  therefore  he  resolved  to 
remove  to  Salamanca,  another  celebrated  Spanish  university,  in 
order  there  further  to  prosecute  his  studies.  In  this  determina- 
tion he  also  persuaded  his  frieze-coated  company  to  follow  him, 
and,  attor  all  had  collected  the  needful  money  by  begging  in  a 
body,  they  betook  themselves  to  the  town  in  question,  in  the 
summer  of  1527.  Here,  too,  as  far  as  study  was  concerned,  not 
much  was  eflected  They  employed  themselves  much  more  in 
administering  to  the  sick  in  the  hospitals,  in  all  public  places 
calling  upon  the  people  to  repentance,  using  exciting  language 
in  so  doing. 

Their  sojourn  in  Salamanca  was  used  only  to  reproduce  the 
forbidden  scenes  of  Alkala  in  a  new  locality,  and  it  could  not  be 
otherwise  than  that  the  clergy  should  once  more  be  grievously 
oflended.  The  Bishop  caused  Ignatius  to  be  immediately 
arrested,  and  he  was  kept  for  twenty-two  days  in  very  rigorous 
seclusion,*  and  only  liberated   on  his   giving  a  most  binding 

*  Ignatius  was  attached  to  one  of  his  companions,  of  the  name  of  Garlisto, 
by  a  long  heavy  iron  chain,  and  this  Garlisto  must  have  cut  a  very  extra- 
ordinary figure,  aa  he  was  a  tall  thin  man,  furnished  with  an  enormous 
beard  ;  he  carried  a  knobbed  stick,  and  rejoiced  in  having  a  short  old  jacket, 
a  still  shorter  tattered  pair  of  trousers,  a  beggarly  pair  of  half-boots,  and  an 
enormous  hat.  The  rest  of  the  Ignatians  went  barefoot,  wearing  the  long 
frieze  coat  as  above  described. 


THE   VICISSITUDES   Of   THE   NEW   SAINT.  21 

promise  never  again  to  exercise  the  functions  of  the  priestly 
office  until  he  had  studied  theology  during   four  consecutive 

^^This  decision  naturally  made  the  further  sojourn  of  Ignatius 
in  Salamanca  as  irksome  as  it  had  been  in  Alkala,  and  he  now 
bethought  himself  of    coming   to   the   bold    determination   of 
betaking  himself  to  the  hitherto  most  celebrated  university  in 
the  worid,  viz.  Paris.      There,    in   the  capital   of  France    he 
dared  to  hope  he  might  be  able  to  carry  on  his  business  without 
molestation,  as  in  it  there  was  neither  Inquisition  nor  a  bigoted 
priesthood.     There  ruled,  indeed,  truly  academic  freedom  even 
for  the  wildest  ecclesiastical  eccentricities ;  and  Francis  L,  the 
most  free-thinking  of   monarchs   that  existed,    protected  this 
freedom.     He  communicated  his  plan,  also,  to  his  companions, 
who  requested  him  to  be  their  leader;  but  being  tired  of  per- 
petual  arrests,  and  also  fearing  the  long  and  difficult  journey  m 
a  foreign  country,  they  hesitated  about  it,  and  even  attempted  to 
detain  him  in  Salamanca.     He  was  not,  however,  to  be  deterred 
from  his  object,  and  so  setting  out  on  foot  in  the  middle  of 
winter,  driving  before  him  an  ass  laden  with  his  books,  manu- 
scripts,  and  other  effects,  he  arrived  safely  in  the  French  capital 
within  the  first  days  of  February  1528. 

Don  Innigo  had  now  attained  the  age  of  thirty-seven  but  the 
professor  to  whom  he  presented  himself  found  that  he  had  not 
mastered  yet  even  the  first  elements  of  the  sciences,  and  it  was 
pointed  out  to  him  that  he  must  first  of  all  study  the  Latin 
language.      With  this  view,  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Mon- 
taigne,  and  during  eighteen  months  sat  among  small  school- 
boys,  who  often  provokingly  mocked  their  older  companion.    He 
also  perceived  that  learning  was  just  as  difficult  here  as  he  had 
found  it  at  Barcelona,  Alkala,  and  Salamanca,  besides  which  he 
was  obliged  to  spend  a  great  part  of  his  time  in  begging ;  while, 
owing  to  his  being  a  foreigner,  the  French  did  not  prove  to  be 
very  liberal  to  him.      Nevertheless,  after  the  conclusion  of  his 
yei  and  a  half's  course  of  Montaigne's  lectures,  he  passed  over 
•     L  the  study  of  philosophy  in  the  college  of  St.  Barbe   to  t^ 
holy  Barbara),  and  made  such  progress,  that  m  the  y^^^^^^^J^^ 
obtained  the  degree  of  bachelor,  and  then  in  the  foUowing  yeax 
Lt  of  Master     The  first  step  in  knowledge  had^  now  been 
reached,  but  the  principles  of  holy  theology  he  had  yet  to 


ää 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


master ;  to  this  his  patience  had  not  yet  extended,  but  he  pre- 
ferred attending  some  less  important  lectures  given  by  the 
Jacobins.* 

As  has  been  previously  stated,  the  study  of  the  sciences  was 
never  the  object  of  Ignatius.  He  had  no  desire  to  excel  through 
his  knowledge,  and  only  wished  to  learn  as  much  as  might  enable 
him  to  carry  out  his  business  of  conversion.  That  was  and 
continued  to  be  his  main  object.  The  conversion,  especially  of 
the  heathen,  to  Christianity,  as  well  as  also  the  calling  to 
repentance  of  baptized  Christians,  chastising  himself  and 
despising  all  worldliness  and  resemblance  to  his  former  self — 
these  were  his  aims. 

He  never  lost  sight  of  these  objects,  either  while  with 
Montaigne  or  at  St.  Barbe,  and  iu  the  latter  establishment  he 
carried  out  his  zeal  for  conversion  so  far,  that  he  induced  a  part 
of  his  fellow-students,  instead  of  assisting  at  the  prescribed  dis- 
putation after  public  worship,  to  prosecute  with  him  exercitia 
spiritualia,  i.e.  to  pray  with  him  and  to  fast  and  flogt  themselves. 
For  such  conduct,  however,  he  narrowly  escaped  receiving  a 
slight  public  flogging  before  all  the  students,  and  only  the  cir- 
cumstance of  his  having  arrived  at  the  age  of  furty  saved  him 
from  this  disgrace. 

Naturally  enough,  moreover,  he  was  not  satisfied  only  to 
exorcise  the  work  of  conversion  himself,  but,  as  at  Alkala  and 
Salamanca,  he  did  his  best  to  obtain  coadjutors,  that  he  might 
work  with  them  in  common,  and  share  with  them  his  studies  and 
devotions,  his  griefs  and  joys.  In  the  selection  of  his  com- 
panions he  now,  however,  became  much  more  particular,  for 
circumstances  had  arisen  which  henceforward  exercised  a  great 
and,  indeed,  overpowering  influence  over  his  whole  course  of 
action. 

About  this  time  a  new  spirit  came  over  men's  minds,  which 
shook  the  Papacy  to  its  foundation,  and  threatened  to  overthrow 
the  whole  Catholic  faith  hitherto  subsisting.     Luther,  Zwingle, 

*  Most  of  the  biographers  friendly  to  the  Jesuits  affirm,  indeed,  that 
Ignatius  Loyola  also  obtained  in  Paris  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Theology,  but 
the  most  minute  inspection  of  the  University  register  from  1520  to  1587 
disproves  this. 

t  These  spiritual  exercises  (exercitia  spiritualia)  are  more  fully  detailed 
in  the  book  already  mentioned,  bearing  the  title  Liber  Exercitiorwn 
Spiritualivm.  Ignatius  attached  great  importance  thereto,  and  required 
them  to  be  thoroughly  studied. 


THE   VICISSITUDES   OF   THE   NEW   SAINt. 


20 


and  other  reformers  now  raised  their  powerful  voices,  and  as  a 
Catholic  author  expresses  it,  "  invited  peoples  and  pnnces^«  J 
great  hunt  of  the  Roman  Church."  Almost  the  whole  of  Germ  ny 
answered  the  cry,  and  even  England  and  Switzerland,  as  we  l  as 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  did  the  same.  Italy  to«  lent  an 
ear  to  the  seductive  voice,  and  France  was  not  without  its  many 
thousands  who  hailed  it  with  loud  acclamations.  In  short  the 
Reformation  threatened  a  great,  the  greatest  part  indeed,  of  the 
Catholic  world,  and  the  downfall  of  Rome  seemed  to  be  inevit- 

'^Of  all  this,  so  long  as  Loyola  had  been  in  Spain,  he  had 
heard  nothing,  and  if  this  spirit  was  not  entirely  quiescent  south 
of  the  Pyrenees,  it  only  prevailed  in  the  higher  -g--'  -^ 
the  common  people,  properly  so  called,  -ong  whom  W^^^^ 
moved  were  not  infected  by  it.  Moreover,  the  Inquisition 
exercised  special  care  that  it  should  soon  be  driven  away,  and 

h       he  Reformation  should  never  take  6rm  root  under  th 
sceptre  of  the  Most  Catholic  King.  Very  different  however  was 

ts  progress  in  France,  only  too  much  infected,  and  especially  so 
in  IS  where  even  several  professors  of  the  u-versity  favoured 

the  dar  ng    views  of  Luther.       The   eyes  of  the  out-and-out 

unequalled  panic  seized  upon  him  on  account  oi 
nerversity  which  had  taken  possession  of  mankind.      But   he 
llno  content  to  rest  satisfied  with  panic  and  disgust ;  naturaUy 
Lugh.  he.  the  Knight  of  Mary  and  of  her  Son  Jesu«  Cb-  . 
was  compelled  to  fight  for  them  in  every  way,  and  to  endeavour 
The  r^m  St  of  his  power  to  stem  the  pest.lence  fast  spreading 
from  Gemany.    He  therefore  resolved  to  denounce  to  the  proper 
SoSiralf  heretics,  whether  puhli.  or  private,  an    made  him- 
»If  a  sDv  among  all  circles  in  which  he  moved.    He  soon,  saw, 
however'  thTwbatever  trouhle  he  gave  himself,  and  whatever  were 
the   es^Hfo  his  spying,  still  the  eflects  were  oomparauve^y  so 
smaU    that  more  powerful  means  must  he  employed.    What, 
♦v.on   he  asked  himself,  must  these  be  ?  , ,    ,     j       i« 

This  much  appeared  certain,  that  the  innumerable  hordes  of 


24 


HISTOBY  Of  THE   JESUITS. 


clergy,  too,  owing  to  their  ignorance,  dissoluteness,  and  shame- 
lessness,  were  even  more  thoroughly  despised  than  the  hare- 
footed  monks,  and  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  awaken  from  the 
grave  any  faith  in  them.  New  armour  must  therefore  be  found 
if  help  was  to  be  given — armour  of  quite  a  different  kind,  of 
quite  a  different  appearance,  of  quite  a  different  power,  than  that 
borne  hitherto  by  the  souls'  counsellors,  and  he  himself  must 
don  that  armour — he  himself  must  act  as  general-in-chief. 

At  first  sight  the  thought  did  not  appear  so  clear  to  him,  but 
it  became  more  and  more  so  the  more  he  reflected  upon  this 
infectuous  heresy,  convincing  him  that  the  object  in  life  of 
himself  and  his  chosen  associates  should  not  merely  be  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  or  even  less  the  calling  of  Christians 
to  repentance,  but  that  to  these  must  also  be  conjoined  at  the 
same  time  the  waging  war  on  the  heretical  world.  He  thought 
himself  Jesus  Christ  (this  may  be  read  in  the  book  of  Spiritual 
Exercises,  and  gathered  from  Peter  Juvenez,  who  was  intimate 
with  Ignatius),  as  the  generalissimus  of  heaven,  who  with  angels 
and  saints  takes  the  field  against  the  devil,  thundering  down 
upon  the  kingdom  of  hell;  and  after  this  model  he  wished  to 
form  upon  earth  an  army  of  spiritual  knights,  whose  supreme 
head  should  be  Jesus  Christ  in  heaven  above,  in  order  to  over- 
come the  devil  of  this  world — the  heretic.  As  this  was  his 
object,  it  was  his  desire,  as  formerly  in  Alkala  and  Salamanca,  to 
select  from  his  best  neighbours,  associates  who  would  be  pre- 
pared to  follow  him.  Formerly,  it  was  sufficient  for  such  as 
declared  themselves  ready  as  sheep  of  Christ  to  castigate  their 
bodies,  as  he  did,  and  to  invite  the  rest  of  the  world  to  a  similar 
life  ;  now,  however,  it  was  a  question  concerning  the  warriors  of 
Christ,  and  of  such  warriors,  indeed,  who  would  have  sufficient 
spirit  and  strength  to  overcome  the  well-armed  Reformers  with 
their  assistants  and  followers.  He  had  cause,  therefore,  to  be 
particular  in  the  selection  of  his  associates,  and,  indeed,  to  be 
most  cautious. 

The  first  whom  he  won  over  to  his  views  respecting  a  spiritual 
knighthood  for  the  conversion  of  men,  and  the  prosecution  of 
war  against  the  heretical  world,  was  Pierre  le  Fevre,  more  pro» 
perly  Peter  1  aber,  a  native  of  a  place  in  Savoy,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Geneva,  a  youth  possessed  of  a  learned  and  sagacious 
intellect,  and  at  the  same  time  full  of  glowing  imagination,  who 


•THE   VICISSITUDES   OF   THE   NEW   SAINT. 


25 


might  well  allow  himself  to  be  but  too  easily  inspired  with  a 

^' Much  more  difficult  was  it,  however,  with  Francis  Xavier,  from 
Spanish  Navarre,  who  not  only  belonged  to  a  powerful  noble 
family,  but  who,  already  at  that  time  professor  m  the  college 
of  Beauvais,   had  future   claims   to   the   highest   ecclesiastica 
honours.     On  that  account  he  began   at  first  by  ridiculing  a  1 
that  Loyola  preached  to  him  about  his  proposed  spiritual  knight- 
hood and  plainly  declared  to  him  that  he  looked  upon  it  as  a 
mere'extravagance.     But  the  man  had  two  weak  sides,  namely, 
unlimited  ambition,  and  also  a  strong  inclination  to  follow  a 
loose  kind  of  life,  and  on  these  two  points   Loyola  well  knew 
how  to  lay  hold  of  him.     In  other  words,  he  placed  his  money 
baff  which,  owing  to  the  benevolence  of  high  patrons,  was  pretty 
well  filled  at  that  period,  at  the  disposal  of  the  extravagant  pro- 
fessor    and  he  at  the  same  time  pictured  to  the  latter  such  a 
brilliant  future,  that  he  could  no  longer  resist,  and  at  length 
gave  himself  up,  heart  and  soul,  to  the  idea.* 

Inasmuch  as   Peter  Faber   and  Francis  Xavier  were  looked 
upon  in  the  university  of  Paris  with  great  consideration,  other 
students  as  well  as  professors  turned  their  attention  to  the  efforts 
of  Ignatius,  and  of  their  own  accord  enlisted  themselves  as  his 
assistants.     Among  these,  however,  he  only  took  four  into  his 
association,  and,  naturally  enough,  those  he  considered  to  be 
most  worthy,  or  rather  the  most  suitable  for  his  purpose,  namely, 
Jacob  Laynez  from  the  city  of  Almazan  in  Castile,  certainly  a 
very  poor  but  also  a  very  energetic  young  man  «^  twenty-one 
year8    shrewd  and  well-grounded  in  scientific  knowledge ;  then 
L  still  younger  Alphonso  Salmeron  from  Toledo,  only  eighteen 
year   old  a  vfry  able  philologian.     Further,  Nicholas  Alphons 
lith  his  nickname  of  Bobadilla  (after  his  native  place,  a  small 

.  ßon.e    biographers,  ce^a^^^^ 

relate  the  matter  ^^^^^f^^f^ds^^  A^^^^^^  ^as  paying  Xavier  a 

Xavier  arose  from  a  game  at  ^ilhards.    as  ^&^^  billiards  with  him; 

^sit  one  day,  the  latter  P^f  f^i^/^,^^^^^^^^  further   he 

Loyola  at  first  dechned ;  as  his  ^"f^^^^!, ^^"^^^^^^^  of  them  should  lose 
accepted  the  proposal  on  *1^«  ?^«^^f^^^^^^^  Xavier 

was  to  do  during  a  whole  ^^f  ^i^^^^.^  lost ;  thereupon 

agreed  to  this,  as  he  was  »  ^^^^  P^^^^^'  ^^1^  uo  through  a  most,  excitmg 
Loyola  made  him  durmg  the  f^^^*„*^°^,^J^^^^  igSs  fasted  along  with 
ooiise  of  Bpintual  exercises^  Among  oth^^  ^^thereby  to  see  visions, 

t^e  recusant  Spaniard  toin^ixdays^^^^^  ^^^  ^.^^^    ^^^^  ^^ 

^^:^'A\fL%n^^^^^^  of  iguatiu. 


26 


ÖiSTOET  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


town  not  far  from  Valencia),  who  already  gave  public  lectures 
on  philosophy,  and  who  was  also  as  powerful  with  his  pen  as  with 
his  tongue — as  it  were,  a  worldly  knight  with  his  sword  and  lance ; 
lastly,  Simon  Rodriguez  from  Azevedo  in  Portugal,  a  gloomy 
fanatic  and  enthusiast,  who  embraced  the  idea  of  a  spiritual 
knighthood  with  exceedingly  zealous  joy. 

These  were  the  six  associates — four  Spaniards,  one  Portu- 
guese, and  one  Savoyard  —whom  Loyola  selected  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  designs,  as  above  described  and  already  the 
immediate  future  proved  that  his  choice  could  not  have  been 
more  judicious  or  more  excellent.  The  half-crazed  or  rather 
quite  demented  ascetic  of  Manresa,  made  wiser  by  his  several 
experiences  in  the  course  of  time,  and  relieved  of  several  of  the 
notions  to  which  he  was  inclined,  was  now  changed  in  many 
respects.  His  energy,  however,  and  his  iron  will  he  still  pos- 
sessed, and  also  his  enthusiastic  fiery  zeal  had  not  in  the  least 
diminished.  On  the  contrary,  with  his  forty  years,  his  under- 
standing began  to  work,  and,  although  with  some  degree  of 
struggling,  it  broke  out  in  such  a  grandiose  manner  as  one 
would  previously  have  thought  to  have  been  quite  impossible. 

To  return  now  to  the  six  chosen  associates  who  formed  the 
nucleus  of  that  great  society  which  gives  the  title  to  this  book 
and  which,  in  a  truly  incredible  short  time,  spread  over  every 
region  of  the  globe,  and  even  down  to  our  own  day  exercises 
a  decided  influence  upon  mankind.  They  were,  in  a  word 
together  with  their  master  the  first  seven  Jesuits,  although  this 
denomination  was  only  first  applied  to  them  about  a  couple  of  years 
later ;  so  it  happened  that  the  University  of  Paris,  which  after- 
wards became  the  most  deadly  enemy  of  their  teaching,  was  the 
birth-place  of  this  Order — the  same  city  and  University  of  Paris 
from  which  issued  forth  for  centuries  the  spirit  of  freedom  and 
intellectual  light. 

At  its  commencement  the  new  society  appeared  of  very 
moderate  dimensions  ;  so  much  so,  that  very  few  Parisians  had 
any  conception  of  its  existence.  Ignatius  designed,  it  is  true, 
a  similar  costume  for  himself  and  his  companions ;  but,  as  burnt 
children  dread  the  fire,  nothing  so  striking  as  the  former  frieze 
cloaks.  Their  attire  consisted  simply  of  a  narrow  black  cloak 
which  reached  down  to  the  ankles,  and  for  head-dress  a  black 
broad-brimmed  hat  similar   in  form   to   that  of    the  Spanish 


The  vicissitudes  of  the  new  saint. 


27 


Bombueros,  while  on  their  feet  they  wore  black  leatber  shoes 
there  being  no  question  now  of  bare  soles.   Moreove   »mu^  -^ 
be  thought  that  the  seven  allies  formed,  as  yet,  a  close  society 
wittlaws  and  statutes  of  association;    for  they  merely  live^ 
:    ethL  as  brethren,  and  reciprocally  ^^^^^^^^^^-'::'J^, 
future  as  Spiritual  Knights  of  Christ,  that  .s  to  say.  as  mi.s^oj 
aries  for  the  promulgation  and  extension  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Xon      For  this  voluntary  pledge,  however   Ignatius  was  not 
satisfied  merely  with  an  ordinary  promise  and  a  mere  shak    o 
Je  hand  •  he  required  much  more  than  this,  he  demanded  that 
S   asTociltes  should  not  in  future  harbour  any  thought  of  agam 
r   Urning  to  the  world,  and.  therefore,  a  formal  oath  taken  in  the 
Tost  solemn  manner  was  imperative.     They  agreed  all  seven  to 
rsmble  on  the  festival  of  the  Ascension  of  Mary  (15th  August 
r534)   at  day-break,  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Jacques,  and  thence 
Iscended  the  heights  of  Montmartre  and  imu.ediately  betook 
hemst  ve    to  a  subterranean  chapel  situated  there,  m  which, 
^me  centuries   before.   Dionysius,   the   Areopagite.   had  been 
Zeaded.     This  was  a  dismal  kind  of  grotto,  oj -arse    rougl. 
construction,  with  bare,  dark  grey  wal  s  dripping  -"^moisture 
and  quite  unadorned  with  flowers,  gold,  or  precious  stones.     On 
I  c'onLy,  all  appeared  here  dull  and  dreary,  bare  and  s,ent 
while  hardly  a  breath  of  air  could  penetrate  from  without     the 
Ughted  tapJrs  emitted  a  sickly,  pale  yellow  »f  S-'»-\7;-f 
hechapefeven  more  a.ful  in  appearance  than  ^^  ^^  ^X 
wise  have  seemed.     A  frightful  impression  was  given  by    he 
plan  rough  stone  altar,  behind  which  rose  an  old  ruinous  statue 
Ih  ch  held  the  head  severed  from  the  trunk  in  its  outstretched 
:^s_tlat  of  the  holy  Denis.     Before  this  altar  the  seven  men 
k"  led,    on  entering,  and  muttered  their  low  P-y-      i^- 
one  of  them  rose  up-it  was  Le  Faber.  who,  alone  of  all  of  them 
3  been   already  consecrated  to  the  Priesthood -and  read  a 
i'nlss.  aftJr  which  he  administered  the  Holy  Co-™ 
Soaree   had   this    taken   place   when   Ignatius  Loyola    placed 
h  rse  f  befl  the  altar,  and  swore  upon  the  Bible  to  lead  henc. 
rrl  life  of  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience^    He  swo. 
fleht  to  all  eternity  only  for  the  things  of  God.  of  the  tloiy 
nty   andher  Son  Jesus  Christ,  as  true  spiritual  knights,  as  also 
for  ie  protection  of  the  holy  Romish  Church  and  us  supreme 
head  the  Pope;  and  for  the  extension  of  the  true  faith,  among 


28 


HISTOKT   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


unbelievers — devoting  his  life  thereto.  *'  Ad  majorem  dei 
gloriam'^  (to  the  exaltation  of  the  glory  of  God),  he  exclaimed, 
as  he  had  finished  taking  this  oath,  and  his  wild  piercing  eyes 
shot  like  lightning  out  of  his  leaden-coloared  haggard  counten- 
ance. After  him  the  six  others  took  the  same  oath,  and  each 
exclaimed  at  the  finish,  "  Ad  majorem  dei  gloriam"  On  the 
termination  of  this  ceremony,  however,  they  did  not  at  once 
leave  the  chapel,  but  remained  shut  up  in  it  until  late  in  the 
evening,  muttering  their  prayers,  and  without  a  bit  of  food  or  a 
drop  of  water  having  passed  their  lips.  As  they  at  last  rose  ap 
from  their  knees,  Ignatius  Loyola  marked  upon  the  altar  three 
large  capital  letters ;  these  were  I.  H.  S.  "  What  do  these 
signify  ?  "  demanded  the  others.  "  They  signify,"  answered 
Ignatius,  with  solemn  utterance,  '^  Jesus  Honiinum  Salvator" 
(Jesus  the  Saviour  of  Mankind),  "  and  they  shall  henceforth  be 
the  motto  of  our  institution."  From  that  time  these  words  were 
inscribed  on  the  banners  of  the  Society  to  indicate  that  the 
members  of  the  same  desire  to  be  considered  Assistants  of  the 
Saviour  Jesus. 


29 


CHAPTER   in. 


LOYOLA  IN   BOME. 

T„.  «.der  h..  ™.  W  ».a.  -'""'■'•A"*,"' »dt tt 

jritdtil  ..»...„»  .-xt:,d"„:" 

pelled  to  depart ;  for,  through  joy  ^^^ 

v,;o  nndprtakine  he  again  chastised  his  body  as  cruenj 
his  undertaking,  n     g  weakened  his  consütuuon  so 

formerly  done  at  Manresa    ^^  ■  ^^^  ^^at  if  he 

'"t;rhTro::kt\t  tf  r^^^^  at  once  resort  to  a 
ri  '^It:    ra  go  either  to  the  south  of  r-ce  -  - 
q„.in      He  chose  the  latter  country;   not  so  much    however 
ratta^h^mtt  to  his  own  native  ^-d    ^  ^ann  this  way  h^^ 

qimnlv  for  the  reason  that   tnere  migiiu  o  .  ,     , 

TertLs  for  the  holy  knighthood  and  missionary  -^  J^J'J^ 
damaged  by  the  influence  of  their  kinsfolk.     He  quitted  fa    . 


30 


HISTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


LOTOLl  IN  ROME. 


81 


consequently,  in  the  spring  of  lö85,  after  a  seven  years'  residence 
there;  not,  however,  without  making  proper  provision  for  the 
further  prosperity  of  the  Brotherhood ;  he  especially  nominated 
Le  Fevre,  as  next  senior  to  himself,  to  be  interim  director. 
Moreover,  he  arranged  that  the  six  should  leave  Paris  at  the  end 
of  1537,  in  order  to  meet  him  in  Venice,  as  by  that  time  theology 
would  be  done  with,  and  all  studies  relinquished ;  while,  again, 
the  latter  city  would  be  the  best  place  for  the  holy  knighthood 
to  embark  to  begin  the  conversion  of  the  unbelievers  in 
Palestine. 

Ignatius,  travelling  by  way  of  Loyola,  was  received  by  his 
relations  and  kinsfolk  with  much  honour,  and  he  was  more 
especially  esteemed  by  the  common  people,  whom  he  knew  how 
to  attract  by  his  zealous  preaching  of  morality  and  repentance. 
Moreover,  had  not  his  time  been  spent  in  the  hospitals  of 
Aspezia  rather  than  in  his  paternal  castle,  where  the  most  costly 
food  was  always  obtainable  at  the  table  of  his  relatives  ?  had  he 
not,  too,  supported  himself  by  begging  his  bread  from  door  to 
door,  a  proceeding  which  produced  a  powerful  effect  upon  the 
populace  ?  He  thus  soon  obtained  a  great  reputation  throughout 
the  whole  neighbourhood,  and  at  the  same  time  visibly  improved 
in  health.  But  the  remaining  year  and  a  half  he  had  to  pass  in 
Spain  soon  elapsed,  and  the  period  upon  which  he  had  fixed  for 
the  meeting  in  Venice  came  upon  him  before  he  knew  what  he 
was  about.  He  consequently  now  transacted  the  business  he 
had  undertaken  for  Laynez  and  Salmeron  as  quickly  as  possible 
with  great  skill,  and  betook  himself,  in  the  autumn  of  1536,  to 
Valentia,  whence  he  embarked  for  Genoa,  and  from  there 
proceeded  in  a  pilgrimage  on  foot  towards  Venice,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  8th  January  1537,  and  joined  his  associates;  not, 
however,  without  having  met  with  many  adventures  and  dangers 
on  the  way.  All  had,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  intention  of 
proceeding  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  turn  the  whole  of  the  Turks 
into  Christians.  They  had  left  Paris  a  few  weeks  sooner  than 
was  intended,  as  at  that  time  a  war  was  impending  between 
France  and  Spain,  which  would  have  made  the  journey  to  Italy 
impossible,  and  one  can  thus  well  imagine  how  immensely 
pleased  was  Ignatius  at  their  happy  meeting.  Besides,  what 
rejoiced  him  still  more  was  that  they  did  not  come  alone,  but 
brought  along  with  them   three  other   associates,   viz.    Claud 


Leiay  from  the  diocese  of  Geneva,   John  Cordur  from  the  city 
of  Embrun.  and  Pasquier  Brouet  from  the  diocese  of  Amiens, 
all  young  and  very  apt  theologians,  whom  Le  Fevre  had  won 
over  for  the  Society.     The  little  band  of  holy  knights  now  con- 
sisted of  ten-or.  rather,  of  thirteen-as  Ignatius,  during  h,s 
sojourn  in  Venice,  had   succeeded  in  picking   up   three  more 
associates.     I  allude  to  the  brothers  Stephen  and  Jacob  Fguia 
two  Navarese  of  very  good  birth  and  education,  as  also  Jacob 
Hosez,  a  very  sagacious  man,  and  at  the  same  time  a  sworn 
enemy   of  heresy,     who,    however,    died   soon    afterwards,    to 
the   great   grief    of    the   Society.      While,   as   it  was   now   m 
the  midst  of  winter,  the   departure  for  Palestine  was  for   the 
moment  inadmissible.   Ignatius   divided  his  associates  between 
two  , hospitals,    "  The   Incurable  ••    and    the    "  »'^  J«^'' ^^ 
Paul."    to  which  they  devoted  themselves    in    such   a   manner 
that  their  reputation  spread    all  over  Venice,  and,   indeed    f«r 
and  wide,  beyond  it.     They  received  not  only  ordinary  pat« 
but    also    especially  lepers   upon   whom    attendants  would    no 
longer   wait    even    for    high    remuneration.      Nor    did    th  y 
hesftate,  even  when  there  was  danger  of  infection,  to  wash  ou 
the   most   disgusting   sores,   or  to   suck   them  out  w^th    their 
mouths  when  it  was  necessary   so  to  do.     Indeed,  they   took 
into  their  own  beds  some  incurably  afflicted  persons  who  had 
been,  owing  to  the  hopelessness  of  their  cases,  turned  out  of    he 
LazJreth;  and  so  it  happened  that  the  JesuU  band  sacrificed 
themselves  for  the  good  of  suffering  humanity,  and  it  was  no 
wonder  then  that  the  people  became  enthusiastic  about  them. 
In  sp  te  of  all  this,  his  sojourn  in  Venice  stUl  nearly  brought  a 
heavy  misfortune  upon  Ignatius.     His  zeal    id  not  al  ow  hnn  to 
reml   satisfied  with  merely  nursing  at    be  sick-bed.  but  he 
also  engaged  in  preaching,  and  the  people  flocked   in  crowds 
:tn  h!  appeared'in  the  market  place  or  other  pub  ic  res^r  lu 

^r.    flip   T^*mfters-bv  to  repentance  and  noliness. 

(wAer  to    summon    tue    passers  u^    tw  iv^  ^  ^t     -  i 

^btslccess  enraged  not  a  little  the  ecclesia^ics  »f  Venice  who 
snread  abroad  a  report  secretly  that  Ignatius  was  a  runaway 
Efc  from  France'and  Spain,  who  now  wished  to  POison  I  a ly 
with  his  teaching.  But  they  were  not  satisfied  -  »>  ^^^J^  ^ 
doing  this ;  they  further  drew  the  attention  of  the  Tribunal  of 
iTlnquisition  U  him-so  much  so  that  it  was  to^be J.a. 
that  he  would  again  be  shut  up  m  prison,  as  he  had  formerly 


82 


HISTOBT  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


LOYOLA  IN  BOMB. 


38 


been  in  Alkala  and  Salamanca.  In  this  critical  moinent  Ignatius 
by  his  intelligence  completely  secured  his  safety,  kno'mng  ^»ell 
by  means  of  flattery  how  to  procure  a  powerful  patron  in  John 
Peter  Oarafifa.  Archbishop  of  Theate  *  who  understood  how  to 
Rive  this  unfortunate  affair  such  an  advantageous  turn,  that  the 
?apal  Nuncio.  Jerome  Veralli,  decided  in  favour  of  the  accused 
In  this  way  Ignatius  escaped  from  harm  this  time,  but  it  taught 
him  the  lesson  that  in  order  to  preach  with  impunity  he  must 
get  himself  consecrated  as  priest ;  and  he  determined  forthwith 
to  use  the  high  patronage  of  Caraffa  and  Veralli  for  the  attain- 
ment  of  this  object.     He  was  not  fully  qualified  in  theology,  it 
18  true  ;  while  several  of  his  associates  were  in  the  same  position. 
He  had  not  the  right  to  demand  his  ordination  from  the  Pope, 
but    on  the  other  hand,  might  not  the  latter  accord  his  per- 
mission thereto  through  his  supreme  grace,  in  order  to  obtain 
which  he  immediately  despatched  three  of  the  most  prominent 
among  the  Society-Xavier,  Laynez,  and  Le  Fevre-to  Home 
well  provided  with  letters  of  recommendation  frorii  Caraffa  and 
Veralli      In  fact,  the  deputation  met  the  most  favourable  recep- 
tion from  the  then  Pope,  Paul  III.,  and  having  explained  to  him 
the  design  of  the  brotherhood  for  the  conversion  of  the  Turks 
in  Palestine,  they  not  only  obtained  permission  for  the  Ordination 
of  all  those  associates  who  had  not  taken  holy  orders,  but  were 
also  favoured  with  the  Papal  blessing,  and  a  present  of  sixty 
ducats  as  a  contribution  towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the 
ioumey  to  Palestine.    This  was,  indeed,  almost  more  than  could 
have  been  expected,  and  Ignatius,  with  redoubled  zeal,  took  upon 
himself  the  "  patronage  "  of  the  Institution ;  but  above  every- 
thincr  he  at  once  availed  himself  of  the  accorded  permission, 
and  had  himself  and  his  associates  consecrated  as  pnests  by  the 

Bishop  of  Arba.  ,,.,., 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  Loyola  and  his  friends  were  now 
prepared  to  carry  out  their  previous  arrangement  of  proceeding 

•  This  Archbishop  of  Theate,  afterwards  Pope  Paul  IV.,  ™  «i«  «Xr 

uÄlught  but  of  the  converaion  of  the  heathen,  a  project  of  which  the 
Archbishop  heartily  approved. 


by  sea  to  Jerusalem,  but  the  war  which  had  just  broken  out 
between  the  Venetian  Republic  and  the  Ottoman  Porte  inter- 
rupted communication  with  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  contemplated 
journey  had  to  be  deferred,  at  least  for  the  present 
"•    What  was  now  to  be  done  ?  was  the  question.    To  indulge  in 
idleness  and  depend  on  begging  for  a  living  ?  or  to  continue  to 
devote  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  hospitals  of  Venice,  as 
thy  bad  done  for  several  months  past?     No     This  would  ha  e 
been  far  too  narrow  a  sphere  for  men  like  them ;  and  had  they 
not  obtained  the  long-desired  priesthood,  which  gave  them    he 
right  to  devote  themselves  entirely  to  the  cure  of  mens  sou  s- 
the  right  to  preach,  and  by  preaching  to  convert  ?    J««'  t^^J  * 
would  be  a  sin  not  to  make  use  of  that  right,  and  thus  Ignat  us 
resolved  with  all  his  associates  to  proceed  to  work  immediately. 
Ytnt  quite  immediately,  but  after  ^/orty  days^prepara^n  by 
prayer  fasting,  and  self-castigation.     Ignatius  then  divided  his 
!  r   thus:-He  himself,  along  with  L«  Fevre  an    Laynez, 
establLhed  his  domicile  at  Vicenzia ;   whilst  Javier    Cordu^ 
Hosez  and  the  two  Eguia,  went  to  Treviso ;  Lejay  and  Eodn 
«„ez    o  Bassano;  Brouet  with  Bobadilla,  however,  proceeded 
foVerona ;  in  which  several  cities  they  all  began  preaching  on 
L  same  dly-and,  indeed,  at  the  same  hour    I  -7  "  preachmg 
but  whoever  fancies  that  this  word  preaching  is  to  be  taken 
^its  usual  acceptation  ;o^M  in.  a  ^-  error^^^Loyola 

rme";™  ;  ^  rr.  of  som^e  street  where  there 
happened  to  be  much  thoroughfare,  and  mounting  upon  a  stone 
or  ba«el    or  something  of  the  kind  would  swing  their  hats 
unlt'the  air.  gesticlting  with  hands  and Jee.  -d^^bo^^^^^^ 
out  individual  words  with  a  loud  scream,  «o  that  the  people 
pling  involuntarily   stood  still.     When  at  length  they  had 
rc^dei  in  gathering  together  a  gaping  crowd,  tbey  P  jeded 
Z  harangue  the  same  in  a  truly  stormy  manner  exhorting  them 
'i^pTntance  and  contempt  of  all  -^^  ^  ^^V  ^r  nl 
other  hand   describing   the   advantages   of  '^^^'^XT^oZe 
delineating  the  charms  ot  Paradise  for  the  godly,  so  that  no  one 
codd  ISsent  from  the  fiery  eloquence  and  glowing  enthusiasm 
rftt;eaker.     On  the  ^^ ^^  ^^Z^^^Z 


34 


HISTORY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


LOYOLA  IN  ROME. 


35 


forth  a  strangely  variegated  mixture  of  Latin,  Spanish,  French, 
and  Italian  fragments. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  their  appearance  was  not 
altogether  without  effect ;  and  often  the  most  wicked  scoffers, 
after  listening  for  a  time,  ended  hy  heating  their  hreasts  and 
repenting  of  their  ways.  But  this  effect  was  more  to  he  attri- 
huted  to  their  gestures  and  gesticulations,  and  to  their  fantastical 
appearance,  than  to  the  apparent  earnestness  of  the  words  they 

uttered. 

In  this  manner  Ignatius  and  his  associates  conducted  them- 
selves for  more  than  a  year,  and,  as  I  have  already  mentioned, 
with   results   of  which   they  might   have   indeed   heen   proud. 
During  the  period,  however,  of  this  preaching,  they  had   the 
hitter  experience  of  finding  that  the  poison  of  heresy  was  more 
deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  men  than  superficially  seemed  to 
he  the  case,  and,  deeply  impressed  therehy,  Loyola  again  asked 
himself  the  question,  as  he  had  done  once  hefore  in  Paris,  in 
what   way   this   fundamental   evil   might  he   checked.      **The 
Romish  Church,  the  Papacy,  and  the  Pope  himself,  are  all  in 
the  greatest  danger,"  he  exclaimed,  "  and  the  whole  religious 
fahric  must  collapse,  owing  to  its  former  supports  being  now 
thoroughly  worm-eaten,   unless   some  entirely  new  foundation 
pillars   can   be  found."     Continually  did  he  go   on  further  to 
investigate  this  theme,  and  constantly  and  often  did  he  converse 
upon  it  with  the  cleverest,  most  cultivated,  and  most  clear-sighted 
of  his  associates,  namely  with  Jacob  Laynez,  until  at  last  he 
came  to  the  fixed  determination  of  placing  himself  completely 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Pope  for  the  protection  of  the  Papacy. 
Consequently,  in  the  autumn  of  1537,  the  whole  of  the  brethren 
were  summoned  to  assemble  at  Vicenza  for  a  great  consultation, 
before  which  assemblage  Loyola  detailed  his  new  project  with 
uncommonly  convincing  power. 

"  The  journey  to  Palestine  would  indeed  be  a  most  meri- 
torious work,  find  you  ought  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  aim  and 
object  for  which  you  have  bound  yourselves — the  aim,  namely,  of 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen ;  but  what  would  be  still  more 
profitable  would  be  to  save  the  Papacy  (or,  as  he  termed  it, 
Christianity)  out  of  the  clutches  of  the  dominion  of  Heresy  ;  and 
with  this  end  in  view  it  concerns  you  all,  above  everything,  to 
follow  out  what  you  have  already  sworn  at  Montmartre.     You 


ouRht  to  consider  the  reason  why  Providence  has  just  at  this 
time  allowed  war  to  break  out  between  the  Turks  and  Veneüans. 
It  is  certainly  on  no  other  ground  than  to  hinder  the  journey 
to  Palestine,  because  yon  are  destined  for  a  somewhat  greater 
career."  And  Ignatius  closed  his  animated  «P«««*»  a«  fo"»^«  • 
"Let  us.  therefore,  offer  our  services  to  the  Holy  Father  and 
tell  him  that  we  are  determined  to  raise  a  mighty  army  of  holy 
knights,  whose  sole  aim  a^d  thought  should  be  directed  to  oyer- 
throw  all  enemies  of  Rome,  under  the  banner  of  the  Saviour 

These  words  told,  and  they  not  only  all  declared  themselves 
favourable  to  the  proposal  of  Ignatius,  but  they  became  enthusi- 
astic in  the  idea  o?  forming  a  "Phalanx  Jesu     ("  a  society  of 
Jesus  warriors"),  as  the  knightly-bom  ^g-^^/^^P^f^f  'J; 
Accordingly,  this  resolution  was  at  once  concluded  that  Loyola 
hilelf.  filh  Laynez  and  Le  Eevre.  should    o>^J;^-J  P- 
to  Rome,  and  throw  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  PoP«.  »^J 
s^  however,  undertook  the  duty  of  making  tours  tbrough  Italy 
with  the  object  of  enlisting  as  many  retainers  as  p  ss^le     n 
order  that  the  company  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Pope 

should  be  a  really  «°f  ^^^^^  J^^  .  j„3  .„j  ^3  associates  took 
From  this  period  the  affairs  of  Ignatius  ana  nis 

■  .  *„  *v.o  nrpspnt  time  it  had  been  merely 

a  completelv  new  turn  ;  up  to  the  preseni  um  „„^:„tv 

,.      •■   •  v.,,,!    ^nt  it  now  became  a  great   society 

a  small  missionary  band,  but  it  J^  ^„^^ 

with  a  distinct  programme  and  fixed  statutes,     in  o 

it  was  a  question  of  a  new  Order,  which    ««»der  the  title  of 

"  Phalanx  Jesu,"  should  flash  forth  as  the  light  of  he  worW 

For  the  present,  at  any  rate.  Loyola,  on  his  -'^'^l'^^^'' 
in  October  in  speaking  about  his  undertaking  avoided  m  king 
use  of  the  expression  "Order,"  as  it  was  well  ^-^^^J^^^^l 
Orders  were  ^ust  then  looked  upon  wit^^  no    r.en       eye^  at^th 
Vatican,  on  account  of  their  evident  inutility  ,  o 
he  busied  himself  all  the  more  with  the  principles  he  had  laid  down 
at  Venice,  to  look  about  for  well-wishers  and   ^ortne^^oi-U 
descriptions,  in  order  through  them  to  attain  ^'^J  '^^'^^^^ 
even  Lugh  it  should  be  by  bye-ways      ^^;2^^lZl 
mention  particularly  an  old  -qum«^  '^«^  ^^^J        ^^^^^„, 
Professor  and  Doctor  of  Theology,  Pater  Ortiz,  ^"^'    > 
of  Charles  V.,  was  now  in  Rome,  plapng  '^^^;:::^ 
Romish    Court.      It   was,  indeed,   this    Urtiz    .^        ' 
Ignatius  to  Pope  Paul  III.    The  latter,  too.  receivin^g  with  great 


I»  I 


86 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


favour  the  offer  made  of  forming  a  "  Jesus  **  company  for  the 
purpose  of  combating  heresy,  not  only  permitted  Loyola  himself 
to  preach  in  all  the  churches  of  Rome,  but  also  accorded  to 
Le  Fevre  and  Laynez  two  theological  professorial  chairs  in  the 
College  della  Sapienza. 

The  spell  was  thus  broken,  or,  at  least,  the  first  step  thereto 
was  secured.  Through  Ortiz,  Ignatius  was  made  acquainted 
with  Cardinals  Gastpar  Contarini  and  Vincenz  Caraffa,  two 
extremely  sagacious,  though  not  exactly  holy,  men,  and  both, 
likewise,  highly  approved  of  the  notion  of  a  **  Jesus  "  association. 
They  were  also  of  opinion  that  above  all  things  the  idea  ought 
to  be  more  clearly  defined,  and  a  formal  statute  drawn  up  for  the 
Society  about  to  be  founded,  for  when  it  is  known  exactly  what 
is  wished  one  is  in  a  much  better  position  to  render  effectual  service. 
More  especially,  they  added,  the  new  Society  must  not  in  any 
way  be  a  copy  of  any  of  the  previously  existing  Orders,  but  it 
must  have  its  foundation  on  something  that  had  never  before 
been  thought  of,  the  advantage  of  which  to  the  Papacy  should  be 
palpable,  otherwise  it  would  not  be  worthy  of  being  placed  before 
the  Pope  for  confirmation. 

In  consequence  of  this,  Loyola  immediately  called  together  all 
his  associates,  as  well  as  those  more  recently  added,  to  delibe- 
rate on  the  proposed  statute  for  the  Society,  and  the  assembly 
took  place  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1538.  However,  weeks 
passed,  and,  indeed,  months,  before  they  came  to  any  conclusion 
on  the  subject,  in  spite  of  there  being  now  among  the  members 
many  who  need  yield  to  no  one  in  acuteness  of  understanding. 
Perhaps,  indeed,  their  invention  might  have  met  with  no  success 
at  all  had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance  of  men  of  higher  stand- 
ing, such  as  Dr.  Ortiz  and  the  two  Cardinals  above  named,  and 
it  cannot  be  affirmed  that  the  principles  of  Jesuitism  emanated 
entirely,  or  even  for  the  most  part,  from  Ignatius  Loyola.  The 
idea  of  the  same,  the  conception  to  form  a  "  Phalanx  Jesu,'' 
originated,  indeed,  from  him,  and  from  him  alone,  but  with  the 
accomplishment  of  this  idea,  the  shaping  of  this  conception,  and 
its  farther  development,  many  other  heads  co-operated,  and  it  is 
a  pity  that  in  those  days  nothing  like  stenography  existed,  for 
then,  doubtless,  we  would  have  been  furnished  with  a  report  of 
the  long  and  earnest  consultation,  and  we  might  have  then  known 
exactly  what,  and  how  much,  might  be  ascribed  to  each  of  the 


LOYOLA  IN  ROME. 


37 


contributors  and  participators  therein,  as  -f  ^^^J^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
arrived  at.     But  while  the  above  fact  .s  undemab le     s  must  be 
admitted  even  bv  those  most  ardently  favourable  to  the  Jesuits, 
t tu     not  be  forgotten,  on  the  other  hand,  tbat  Loyola  al^^^^^^ 
mained  the  very  heart  and  soul  of  the  con-UaU-^^^  and  tha 
the  final  conquest  over  all  the  hindrances  which  had  to  be  over 
le  in  the  Lndation  of  the  Order  must  be  attributed  a lone^  o 
his  fierv  zeal,  and  indomitable  untiring  force  of  will.     It  may 
ZlllZ^ne^  that  Loyola  and  his  comrades,  by  their  p^^^^^^^^ 
Istume  and  still  more  their  extraordinary  manner  of  harangumg 

rpSc,  excited  great  attention,  and  obtained  ^-^ 
portion  of  the  inhabitants,  a  certain  degree  of  celebrity.     Already 
bts^rred  up  the  envy  of  others,  and  especially  among  the  low 
classes  of  ecclesiastics,  and  those  parties  complained  w  th  naore 
or         i  ce,  that  the  newly-baptised  "Black  Cloaks,''  as  they 
we     cied  in  Rome,  were  encroaching  on  their  preserves.     Süll 
Tore  atrilibehaved  the  monks;  and  as  it  became  rumoured 
lout  tl  L  object  of  Ignatius  was  to  found  a  new  Order,  their 
Srno  longer  knew  any  bounds.     "What!"  cried  they,  and 
amongst  thffc>remost  of  the  dissentients  were  the  Augustines 
nd  Dominicans,  who  had  hitherto  been  accustome     to    PP  o- 
Driate  to   themselves   the   fattest  morsels    among   the  people 
Chat  r    Our  table,  through  this  detestable  ^fr^^^et 
the   enlightenment  extending   among  the  people    has  al  eady 
lecore  much  diminished,  and  now  the  last  remains  are  to  b 
slatched  from  us  by  a  parcel  of  wandering  vagabonds  !     No  I 
Lfmust  not  be  allowed,  if  life  and  death  depend  upon  it !      In 
bortTte  above-named  monks  immediately  set  -  -^^^^^^^ 
every   endeavour  to   ruin  Ignatius  and  ^^  jj^^^^^^^^^ 

through  lying,  in  escaping  the  hands  ot  justice    n  Spam,    in 


S8 


HISTOKY  OF   DHE   JESUITS. 


succeeded  in   obtaining  formal   public   satisfaction   thiough   a 
judicial  judgment  upon  this  untiring  persecution,  which  proved 
to  be  extremely  humiliating  for  his  accusers,  but  which  turned 
out  very   honourably   for^  himself.     From   this  time  forth  the 
credit  of  Ignatius  daily  increased  considerably,  and  he  naturally 
hastened  to  take  advantage  energetically  of  the  same,  to  attract 
and  gain  over  new  patrons  and  retainers.     He  thus  won  over, 
among  others,  Franciscus  Strada,  a  man  distinguished  for  his 
learning ;  also  Pietro  Codaci,  a  superior  officer  and  relation  of 
the  Pope,  who  placed  his  whole  very  considerable  property  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Society ;  and,  lastly,  Quirino  Garzoni,  who 
evacuated  one  of  his  own  houses,  near  the  Sante  Trinita,  at  the 
foot  of  the  Quirinal  Hill,  for  Ignatius  and  his  associates  to  live 
therein.     And  not  only  among  the  rich  and  noble  did  Loyola 
seek  to  acquire  proselytes ;  he  speculated  also  especially  upon 
obtaining  the  friendship  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and 
with  this  purpose  it  was  his  first  principle  to  give  assistance  to 
the  poor  and  suffering,  by  aid  of  contributions   obtained  by 
begging  from  the  benevolent  rich.     He  did  this  especially  in  the 
winter  of  1538-39,  when  a  dearth  spread  vast  misery  in  Kome, 
and  on  that  account  one  can  well  imagine  how  greatly  esteemed 
the  "  Black  Cloaks "  were  among  the  common  people.     When 
such  was  the  case,  when  high  and  low  at  the  same  time  sang 
the  praises  of  Ignatius,  how  could  it  be  otherwise  than  that  the 
Pope's  attention  should  more  and  more  be  directed  towards  him 
by  whose  efforts  it  was  mainly  owing  that  the  Order  was  founded. 
In  this  locality,  too,  Loyola  succeeded  in  obtaining  no  trifling 
results  and  reputation  in  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  of  whom 
there  were  very  many  at  that  time  in  Bome,  some  of  them  being 
very  rich.     By  what  means,  however,  was  this  accomplished  ? 
Among  others,  by  an   order  obtained  from  the  Pope,   that  no 
physician  could  be  allowed  access  to  the  sick  bed  of  a  Jew  until 
the  latter  had  been  brought  to  confession  with  the  view  of  his 
embracing  Christianity.   Ignatius,  therefore,  so  to  speak,  brought 
a  knife  to  the  Jews*  throats  in  order  to  convert  them,  and  from 
this  a  conclusion  may  easily  be  drawn  as  to  the   spirit  which 
influenced  the  Society  of  Jesus.     The  founder  of  the  new  Order 
also  now  became  conscious  that,  with  the  view  of  placing  himself 
in  the  ascendant,  he  must,  above  everything,  endeavour  to  gain 
the  favour  of   the  Roman  ladies,    and  especially  that  class  of 


LOYOLA   IN    EOME. 


59 


them  whose  name  is  not  usually  mentioned  in  polite  society. 
About   the  time  in  which   our  history  runs,    there  reigned  in 
Rome,  as  was  well  known,  an  almost  unbounded  state  of  licen- 
tiousness ;  indeed,  it  appeared  as  if  nearly  all  the  profligate  women 
in  the  whole  of  Italy  had  assembled  there.     All  who  had  money 
at  their  command,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  married  or  unmarried, 
young  or  old,  kept  their  own  mistresses ;  and  there  were  not  a  few 
who  were  scarcely  even  satisfied  with  two  or  three.   There  was  no 
question  but  that  this  shamelessness  existed  concealed  behind  the 
walls  of  the  houses ;  but  these  ladies,  too,  were  to  be  seen  flouncing 
about  the  streets  by  day  as  well  as  by  night,  and  in  all  pro- 
cessions they  were  present,  especially  in  the  churches,  where 
they  placed  themselves  in  the  most  conspicuous  places  in  their 
half-naked  beauty.    Moreover  there  swarmed  about  the  residence 
of  the  followers  of  Christ  a  still  more  despicable  class  of  the 
female  creation,  who  went  by  the  name  of  common  women ;  and 
as  a  large  number  of  strangers  was  wont  to  resort  annually  to 
Rome,   thousands    upon    thousands    continued    to    support  a 
miserable  existence  by  the  barter  of  their  bodily  charms.     This, 
certainly,  was  a  great  scandal ;  but,  whilst  in  other  large  cities 
the  state  of  things  in  this  respect  was  no  better,  and  as  in  Rome, 
previous  to  its  becoming  the  capital  of  Christendom,  there  had 
been  periods  in  its  history  of  much   greater  profligacy,  this 
discreditable  state  of  things  would  have  been  winked  at  in  high 
places,   had  it  not  been  that  Luther  was  then  preaching  the 
regeneration  of  Christendom,  and  that   all  his  followers  were 
pointing  the  finger  of   scorn  at  the  old   city   of  the  Csesars. 
Indeed,  this  latter  generally  received  in  Germany  the    name 
which  Luther  assigned  it,  "  The  Whore  of  Babylon:'      Even 
in  those  countries  in  which  the  Romish  faith  flourished  unim- 
peached,  this  appellation  was  universally  accepted  by  acclamation. 
Such  a  scandalous  thing  must  be  rectified  if  the  greatest  injury 
to  the  Pope  and  his  dominion  was  to  be  averted,  and  Paul  III. 
convoked  a  commission  of  cardinals,  whose  task  it  was  to  find  a 
remedy  for  the  evil.      The   commission  assembled   and  held 
weekly  meetings    during  many  months.      The  means  desired 
however,  were  not  to  be  found,  excepting  the  sensible  proposal 
to  expel  by  force  the  disreputable  females  out  of  the  city  ;  this 
plan,  however,   had  to  remain  in  abeyance,   for  otherwise   a 
revolution  among  the  people  would  have  to  be  faced.    Lioen- 


40 


HISTOET  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


tiousness  continued,  therefore,  to  rule  the  roost,  and  the  Princes 
of  the  Church  found  themselves  in  the  most  wretched  dilemma. 
Ignatius  Loyola  now  came  on  the  scene,  and  what  the  cardinals, 
invested  with  the  fullest  powers,  failed  to  accomplish,  he  alone, 
quite  unaided,  completely  effected.   What  were,  then,  these  means 
which  he  proposed  to  himself  to  use  ?     Simple  enough  ;  it  was 
through  the  influence  which  he  knew  how  to  bring  to  bear  upon 
the  minds  of  those  poor  wretched  beings.  First  of  all  he  collected 
among  the  Roman  ladies  of  rank  sufficient  money  to   found 
a  cloister  for  converted  sinners  of  the  female  sex,  and  as  he  at 
the  same  time  named  these  ladies  patronesses  of  the  said  cloister, 
they  contributed  largely   through  mere  vanity,  and  collected 
together  considerable  sums.     A  suitable  building  was  thus  soon 
erected,  and  very  ornamentally  and  invitingly  arranged  as  to  its 
interior  economy.    It  was  baptised  with  the  beautiful  title  "  To 
the  holy  Martha."    A  regular  nunnery,  however,  it  was  not  the 
intention  of  Loyola  to  make  it ;  but  the  future  inmates  were  to 
have  the  right  to  leave  the  home  again  whenever  it  pleased  them 
to  do  so,  and  if  they  found  that  it  did  not  suit  them  to  remain  in 
it..    They  were,  therefore,  on  that  account,  not  bound  by  any 
kind  of  oath,  nor  were  they  obliged  to  live  according  to  any 
certain  rules.     In  short,  all  restraint  was  from  the  first  pro- 
hibited,  and  it  was  rendered,    on   the   contrary,   exceedingly 
attractive  by  offering  the  prospect  of  an  easy  existence  without 
the  trouble  of  work.    Having  now  brought  the  matter  so  far,  he 
commenced— not  so  much  openly  as  secretly— to  make  interest 
for  his  new  institution,  and  he  soon  won  over  some  dozens  of  the 
poorest  and  most  forsaken  of  those  lost  damsels  on  whom  he  forth- 
with conferred  the  pompously  sounding  title  of  "  Congregation 
of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Virgin."    To  enter,  in  our  days,  an 
asylum  or  refuge  for  fallen  damsels,  would  have  awakened  a 
feeling  of  natural  timidity ;  but  by  the  entrance  into  the  "  Con- 
gregation of  the  Holy  Virgin,"  those  miserable  beings  considered 
themselves  raised  instead   of  lowered,   and  each  of  the  poor 
creatures  looked  upon  herself  as  a  penitent  Magdalen.     But  this 
was  the  least  part  of  the  business.     As  soon  as  the  Martha 
cloister  became  in   some    degree   peopled,  Loyola    began   to 
organise  processions  of  his  repentant  beauties,  and  displayed  in 
them   such  splendour  that  all  Rome    went  down   upon  their 
knees  as  soon  as  he  appeared  in  the  streets  with  Ms  remarkable 


LOYOLA  IN  BOME. 


41 


following.    Immediately  preceding  them  marched  a  troop  of 
beautiful  children,  who  swung  about  smoking  censers,  exhaling 
delicious  perfumes,  or  throwing  a  shower  of  flowers  on  all  sides 
over  the  gaping  crowd.     Then  came  three  gigantic  men,  each 
of  whom  carried  a  still  more  gigantic  banner.     Upon  the  first 
was    delineated,    richly    ornamented    with    rubies,    the    three 
capital   letters  I.  H.  S.,   i.e.  Jesus  Hominum  Salvator ;  upon 
the  second  sparkled  the  image  of  the  mother  of  God,  with  the 
inscription,  "  Congregation  of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Virgin, 
and  lastly,   upon   the   third,    shone   the    representation   of   a 
wonderfully  beautiful  penitent,  over  whom  a  martyrs  crown  was 
held  by  three   angels.      Behind   the    banner-bearers  followed 
Ignatius,  surrounded  by  his  associates,  all  clad  in  closely-fitting 
black  cloaks  reaching  down  to  the  ankles,  and  broad-brimmed 
black  hats  bent  down  on  all  the  four  sides,  similar  to  what  the 
Jesuits  wear  at  the  present  time.    Behind  Ignatius  marched 
the  penitents,  that  is  to  say,  the  inmates  of  the  cloister  of  Saint 
Martha,  not,  however,  in  sombre  penitential  garments,  but  gaily 
enveloped  in    white    musUn    cloaks    finely  ornamented,  with 
flowers  in  their  hair,  and  strings  of  pearis  round  their  necks. 
The  younger  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  brought  up 
the  close  of  the  procession,  with  gariands  of  roses  in  their  hands, 
and  looks  cast  humbly  on  the  ground,  all  singing  together  the 
hymn  "  Veni  Creator  Spiritus,-  "  Come  God  the  Holy  Ghost, 
or  some  other  suitable  song.     In  this  manner  did  Ignatius 
appear  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  with  his  "  Congregation  of  the 
grace  of  the  Holy  Virgin,"  and  before  the  palaces  of  each  of 
the  cardinals,  and  especially  before  the  dwellings  of  the  noble 
patronesses  a  short  halt  was  made,  at  which  both  the  former  as 
well  as  the  latter  were  not  a  little  flattered.    The  result  was  that 
the  inventor  of  these  processions  received  encouragement  from 
«11  quarters  for  his  undertaking,  which  prospered  more  and  more, 
notwithstanding  the  ridicule  thrown  upon  it  by  the  enhghtened 
Romans   themselves.     Indeed,  certain   of  the  beautiful  sinners 
became  so  enthusiastic  on   behalf  of  the  new  order  of  things 
that  the  Cloister  of  the  Holy  Martha  was  soon  filled  from  top 
to  bottom,  and  the  name  of  Ignatius  resounded  throughout  all 
countries,  as  care  was  taken  to  noise  it  abroad  that  he  had 
succeeded  in  turning  all  the  abandoned  women  and  mistresses  of 
Rome  into  pious  penitents. 


1  ^ 


42 


HlSl'OBr   OF    THE    JESUITS. 


LOYOLA   IN   ROME» 


43 


When,  however,  this  work  of  Loyola  was  more  closely  looked 
into,  the  nimbus  pretty  well  vanished,  and,  properly  speaking,  no 
real  moral  worth  could  be  attributed  to  it.     In  the  first  place, 
only  a  very  small  number- of  ladies  who  had  made  themselves 
notorious  entered  into  the  Congregation  of  the  grace  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  since  it  appeared  that  the  whole  number  comprised  in 
the  Cloister  of  the  Holy  Martha  did  not  exceed  300  penitents, 
and  the  conversion  of  the  Boman  world  of  profligacy,   if  not 
quite  inconsiderable,  became  reduced  to  very  small  proportions. 
Secondly,  there  was  really  no  question  of  any  true  conversion, 
that  is  as  to  a  change  and  amendment  of  the  moral  perception 
in  any  single  one  of  the  penitents,  whose  repentance  appeared 
to  consist  in  nothing  else  than  mere  pompous  show,  and  in  the 
outward  confession  of  past  sins,  upon  which  absolution  imme- 
diately  followed.      Nevertheless,   Loyola    thereby   gained   two 
uncommon  advantages ;  first  of  all  he  put  the  holy  Father  under 
great  obligation  to  him,  it  being  trumpeted  forth  to  the  world 
that   the   whole   profligacy  of  Rome   had   gone   over  into  the 
cloister ;  while  in  the  next  place,  in  consequence  thereof,  the 
severe  reproaches  of  the  adherents  of  the  Reformation  regarding 
the  licentiousness  of  the  high  ecclesiastics  of  the  Papal  Court 
were  capable  of  refutation;  added  to  this,  hearing  the  confessions 
of  so  many  profligates  and  mistresses,  put  him  in  possession  of 
such   a  mass  of  secrets  that  the  information  he  thus  obtained 
was  of  extraordinary  value  to  him.     As  for  example,  it  could 
not  be  easy  for  a  cardinal  or  any  other  high  personage  to  dare 
to  oppose  him  in  his  projects  relating  to  his  Order,  when  such 
persons  were  conscious  that  in  all  probability  Loyola  was  initiated 
into  the  story  of  their  amours  and  former  misdoings  with  this 
or  that  Donna,  Olympia,  or  Julia !     Moreover,  what  influence 
had  not  these   beautiful   sinners   over  their  lovers  when   the 
former,  as  not  unfrequently  happened,  at  a  future  time  returned 
again  to  the  world  from  the  cloister  of  Saint  Martha  ?     What 
power  did  it  not  put  in  the  hands  of  a  father  confessor  ? 

Loyola,  therefore,  was  never  in  his  life  engaged  in  such  a 
cunning  business  as  in  adopting  the  profligate  women  of  Rome, 
and  from  that  time  forward  all  his  scholars  and  associates  have 
taken  trouble,  above  everything,  to  win  for  themselves  the 
fair  sex,  whether  married  or  otherwise.  In  this  manner  Loyola 
obtained  for  himself  a  firm  footing  in  Rome,  and  as  he  now 


thought  that  he  had  sufficiently  won  over  to  his  views  such  as 
had  influence  with  the  Pope,  in  August  1539,  he  had  the  statutes 
of  his  Order,  so  far  as  then  prepared,  laid  before  His  Holiness  at 
the  time  residing  on  the  Tiber.    This  was  done  by  Cardinal  Con- 
tarini,  who  was  very  favourably  aff'ected  towards  Ignatius.     The 
Pontiff  charged  Father  Thomas  Badia,  who  at  that  time  held  the 
office  of  High  Chamberlain  {Magistrum  Sacri  Palatii),  and  who 
afterwards  became  Cardinal,  to  read  through  the  document ;  but 
as  the  latter  extolled  it  so  much,  he  took  it  into  his  own  hand, 
and   after    carefully   examining  it,   full   of    astonishment   and 
admiration,  exclaimed,  '*  Digitus  Dei  est  hie  !  "— "  The  finger  of 
God  is  here."     He  forthwith  summoned  Ignatius  before  him  m 
September  1539,  and,  after  loading  him  with  praise,  informed 
him  that  there  was  nothing  whatever  to  hinder  the  ratification 
of  the   new   Society.     Who   could  now  be   more  joyful   than 
Ignatius  ?     Still  this  delight  was  soon  again  disturbed  on  his 
urging  His  Holiness  to  confirm  in  writing,  that  is  to  say,  by  a 
Bull,   his    verbal   approval.      After    further   consideration   the 
ruler  of  Christendom  began  to  entertain  some  scruples.     The 
Pontifex  was  of  opinion  that  the  matter  was  far  too  weighty  that 
he  should  dare  to  trust  entirely  to  his  own  opinion  and  judgment; 
it  must  rather,  as   usual  with  all  vital  Church  questions,  be 
referred  first  of  all  to  a  Commission  of  Cardinals,  and  only  after 
a  favourable  opinion  being  pronounced  upon  it  by  them  could 
the  Pope  give  his  final  approval.   In  short,  he  at  once  nominated 
such  a  Commission,  consisting  of  three  of  the  most  distinguished 
Cardinals.     It  was  thought,  however,  to  be  a  bad  omen  that  one 
of  the  number  was  the  learned,  upright,  and  sagacious  Cardinal 
Bartholomew  Guidiccioni,  who  was  well  known  to  be  thoroughly 
unfavourable  to  the  ecclesiastical  Orders.     From  this  quarter 
Ignatius  was  seized  with  great  alarm  as  to  the  fate  of  his  Order ; 
and  that  he  had  good  cause  for  this  anxiety  the  immediate  future 
disclosed.     Guidiccioni  at  once  declared  the  proposed  Society 
to  be  completely  inadmissible,  inasmuch   as,  according  to  the 
4th  Synod  of  Lateran  of  the  year  1215  and  the  2nd  of  Lyons 
of  the  year  1274,  it  was  distinctly  decided  that  no  new  Order 
could  in  future  be  founded.    And  even  were  this  prohibiUon  of 
the   Church  to  be  set  aside,  the  ratification  of  this  proposed 
society  of  Loyola  must  be  reünquished,  as  envy  and  jealousy 
would  be  aroused  thereby  among  the  Orders  already  exisUng; 


44 


HISTORY  Ot'   THE   JESUITS« 


LOYOLA  IN  ROME. 


46 


while,  as  so  much  hatred  and  disputation  already  reigned  ram- 
pant in  the  Church,  it  was  most  desirable  that  all  occasion  for 
new  conflicts  should  most  carefully  be  avoided.  "  Bather  abolish 
the  Orders  entirely,"  said  the  Cardinal  at  the  close  of  his 
judgment,  "  or  reduce  their  overwhelming  number,  than  create 
an  accession  of  monks  who,  we  all  know,  bring  at  present  more 
injury  than  advantage  to  the  Papal  throne."  Thus  judged 
Cardinal  Guidiccioni,  and  his  two  colleagues  agreed  with  him 
completely — at  least,  at  first — so  that  the  ambitious  Loyola  was 
almost  driven  to  despair.  At  last,  however,  after  an  opposition 
which  had  continued  for  almost  half  a  year,  the  ejfforts  of  Ignatius 
and  his  friends  succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  change  of  opinion, 
and  finally  even  Cardinal  Guidiccioni  came  to  be,  instead  of  an 
enemy,  one  of  his  most  zealous  supporters.  And  wherein  lay 
the  grounds  for  this  change  of  opinion  ?  Simply  and  solely 
because  the  cardinals  now  came  to  the  conviction  that  the  new 
Society  might  be  made  a  lever  by  which  Roman  Catholicism,  so 
greatly  shaken  by  the  Reformation,  might  be  raised  up  again— a 
lever  and  point  of  support  for  the  Pope  and  the  Papacy  such  as 
had  never  yet  existed.*  This  conviction  found  favour  for  itself, 
partly  in  that  the  statutes  of  the  Order  and  its  inherent  prin- 
ciples and  rules  had  survived  a  long-continued  and  very  searching 
trial,  and  partly  also  on  account  of  several  explanatory  additions 
proposed  to  be  made,  to  which  Loyola  and  his  friends  gave  their 
consent. 

It  was  after  this  that,  as  the  college  charged  with  the  exa- 
mination of  the  statutes  had  declared  itself  favourable  thereto, 

*  All  authors  unanimously  a^ee  that  the  Pope  ratified  the  Order  of 
Jesuits  solely  on  grounds  of  utüity,  that  is,  because  he  beheved  that 
through  it  the  degraded  Papal  power  might  again  be  resuscitated.  The 
learned  Schröck,  for  instance,  declares  his  views:— '♦The  acceptance 
of,  and  favour  shown  to,  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  by  the  Pope  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  from  the  state  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  that  time  ;  on  the 
C5ontrary,  it  must  have  been  heartily  welcome  to  the  Koman  Court.  The 
latter  had  ahready  lost  an  immense  deal  of  groimd  through  the  Reformation 
of  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  stood  in  danger  of  being  always  still  more  a  loser, 
as  the  former  means  of  the  Popes  for  securing  the  obedience  of  Christians 
^^^'^u  ^°°6®^  sufficient;  the  other  orders  and  ecclesiastical  societies 
^ich  had  hitherto  rendered  good  service  had  become  powerless  and 
effete,  and  enjoyed  but  little  consideration  in  their  own  proper  church. 
More  powerful  mstitutiona  and  more  active  defenders  than  the  Roman 
Cathohc  Church  hitherto  had,  were  required  against  such  formidable 
and  fortunate  opponents.  Now  a  society  offered  itself  which  promised 
to    devote    itself    to  all    the  requirements  of    the  Church,    and    render 

•  f^i^f«  implicit  obedience   to   the  Popes.     Why  should  it,  then,  bo 


the  Pope  himself  naturally  took  no  further  exception  to  the 
solemn  formal  ratification  of  the  new  Society  under  the  name  of 
"  Societas  Jesu,"  *  and  this,  in  fact,  took  place  on  the  27th 
September  1540,  through  a  special  Bull  commencing  with  the 
words,  "  Regimini  militantis  ecclesicE.'^ 

In  this  manner  was  the   Order   of    the  Jesuits  called  into 

existence. 

*  Most  of  the  remaining  orders  were  named  after  their  founders.    Loyola, 
however,  did  not  seek  for  LoyoHtes  or  Ignatianites,  but  for  Jesuits,  as  not 
m3  butJesus  he  wished  to  be  considered  the  head  of  the  Societj  he 
had  founded     On  that  account  he  had  from  the  first  the  intention  of  g^^n^ 
h?s  SoSety  the  expressive  title  of  "Phalanx  Jesu,"  and  also  ''Compa^ia  di 
Gfesu''"  Societas  Jesu  "  in  Latin,  and  it  was  not,  therefore,  Paul  IIL  who 
Svented  this  name,  which  originated  entirely  -itV^ftrLovX's'delth 
Lsimiation  "  Jesuit  "  came,  moreover,  into  use  only  after  Loyola  s  deatn, 
According  to  general  belief  originated  in  Paris  from  the  celebrated 
Etienne  Pasquier,the  advocate  of  the  Parisian  University  m  its  tra^actions 
Ähe  JesS  O^der  during  the  latter  half  of  the  ^^^1^-^^;^^^^^^^^ 
to   this   time    the    Jesuits  were    called,    as   has  been    already    related, 
"  Companions  of  Jesus," 


4& 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS, 


CHAPTEE    IV. 


THE  OBGANISATION  AND  STATUTE  BOOK  OF  THE  NEW 

OBDEB. 

The  reader  will  now  be  curious  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  statute  which  Loyola  submitted  to  the  Pope,  and  I  therefore 
place  it  before  him  in  a  verbal  translation.  Thus  begins  this 
very  memorable  document : — 

"  Whoever  will,  as  a  member  of  our  Society,  upon  which  we 
have  bestowed  the  name  of  Jesus,  fight  under  the  banner  of  the 
Cross,  and  serve  God  alone  and  His  representative  on  earth,  the 
Pope  of  Rome,  after  having  in  the  most  solemn  manner  taken 
the  vow  of  chastity,  must  always  recollect  that  he  now  belongs 
to  a  Society  which  has  been  instituted   simply   and  solely  in 
order  to  perfect  in  the  souls  of  men  the  teaching  and  dissemina- 
tion of  Christianity,  as  also  to  promulgate  the  true   faith   by 
means  of  the  public  preaching  of  God's  word,  by  holy  exercises 
and  macerations,  by  works  of  love,  and  especially  by  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young,  and  the  instruction  of  those  who  have  hitherto 
had  no  correct  knowledge  of  Christianity,  and  lastly  by  hearing 
the  confessions  of  believers,  and  giving  them  holy  consolation. 
He  should  always  have  God  before  his  eyes,  or,  more  correctly, 
the  aim  of  our  Society  and  our  Order,  which  is  the  sole  way  to 
God,  and  strive  with   his  best   exertions   to   bring   about  the 
accomplishment   of  this  aim.     On  the   other   hand,    each   one 
should  be  satisfied  with  the  measure  of  grace  dispensed  to  him 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  contend  in  judgment  with  others 


THE   OBGANISATION   OF   THE    NEW  OBDEB.  47 


who  are,  perhaps,  more  discreet.  In  order  to  effect  this  more 
easily,  and  with  the  view  of  upholding  that  order  rightly  which 
is  necessary  in  all  well-regulated  societies,  it  shall  be  for  the 
General  alone,  the  Chief  selected  from  among  us,  to  have  the 
right  of  deciding  how  each  should  be  employed,  and  of 
determining  who  would  be  most  suitable  for  this  or  that  office 

or  business. 

"Further,  this  Chief  or  General  shall  have  the  power,  with  the 
approval  of  his  associates,  to  frame  the  fixed  rules  and  constitu- 
tion of  the  Society,  and  judge  whatever  will  be  most  fitted  for 
the  attainment  of  the  chief  aim  of  the  Society,  not,  however, 
without  having  previously  asked  the  associates  and  consulted 
with  them.  On  all  important  occasions,  and  where  it  concerns 
permanent  regulations,  the  General  has  on  that  account  to  con- 
voke the  whole  members  of  the  Society,  or,  at  least,  the  greater 
number  of  them,  and  then  the  point  will  be  decided  by  a  simple 
majority.  In  the  case  of  less  important  matters,  however, 
especially  where  dispatch  is  needed,  it  shall  be  quite  sufficient 
to  call  together  in  council  such  of  the  associates  as  may  happen 
to  be  present  on  the  spot  where  the  General  resides.  The 
carrying  out  of  the  laws,  moreover,  no  less  than  the  proper 
right  of  command,  and  supreme  power,  belongs  solely  to  the 
Chief,  and  to  no  third  person. 

"Be  it  known  to  all  men  further,  that  it  must  be  engraven, 
not  only  on    the  doors  of   their  Profess-houses,  but  also  on 
their  hearts  in  capital  letters  as  long  as  they  live,  that  the  entire 
Society  and  all  and  sundry  who  enter  into  the  same  are  bound 
to  render  implicit  obedience  to  our  holy  lord  the  Pope,  as  also 
to  all  his  successors,  and   in  this  obedience  to  fight  only  for 
God.     However  learned   and  thereby  orthodox  they  may  have 
become  in  the  Bible,  all  Christian  believers  owe  obedience  and 
allegiance  to  the  Pope  of  Bome  as  visible  head  of  the  Church 
and  representative  of  Jesus  Christ ;  so,  also,  do  we  hold  our- 
selves bound  by  a  special   vow  of  general   obedience  for  the 
submission  of  this  Order  in  general,    as   also  for  the  formal 
spiritual  mortification  of  each  individual  among  us  in  particular, 
and  for  the  public  renunciation  of  our  own  proper  will.     This 
vow  requires  that  whatever  the  present  Pope  or  his  successors 
may  order,  provided  it  redound  to   the  advantage   of  souls  and 
the  propagation  of  the  faith,   that  for  whatever  mission  it  is 


'■  *i 


48 


HISTOBT  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


desired  we  may  be  employed  in,  whether  it  be  to  the  Turks  or 
other  unbelievers,  even  if  it  be  as  far  as  India,  or  to  heretics, 
Lutherans,  or  schismatics,  or,  lastly,  even  should  it  be  wished 
to  send  us  among  the  orthodox,  we  shall  immediately  obey 
without  any  delay,  and  without  offering  any  excuse  whatever. 
On  this  account  it  behoves  all  who  are  minded  to  join  our 
Society,  before  they  take  this  burden  upon  their  shoulders,  well 
and  maturely  to  consider  whether  they  have  the  command  of 
such  spiritual  means  as  would  enable  them  to  climb,  with  God's 
assistance,  those  steep  heights  ;  that  is,  whether  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  impels  them,  has  poured  upon  them  such  a  measure  of 
spiritual  grace,  that  they  may  dare  to  hope,  with  His  assistance, 
they  may  not  succumb  under  the  burden  of  their  vocation.  Are 
you  quite  prepared  to  range  yourselves  for  war  service  under 
the  banner  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  So  must  you  gird  up  your  loins 
day  and  night,  and  be  ready  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  to 
bear  the  burden  you  have  undertaken. 

"  No  one  belonging  to  the  Society  shall,  impelled  by  ambi- 
tion, carry  out,  of  his  own  accord,  this  or  that  mission  or  function, 
and  still  less  shall  any  member  have  the  right  to  enter  inde- 
pendently into  communication,  directly  or  indirectly,  with  the 
Roman  chair,  or  other  ecclesiastical  authorities ;  it  is  only 
God  alone,  or  rather,  that  is  to  say.  His  representative,  the 
Pope,  as  also  the  General  of  the  Order,  who  can  do  this.  All 
such  orders  must  proceed  from  them ;  but  when  a  member  has 
a  commission  given  to  him  to  execute,  he  shall  not  under  any 
circumstances  whatever  hesitate  to  undertake  the  same ;  on  the 
other  hand,  he  may  not  engage  to  concert  or  come  to  an 
arrangement  with  the  Pope  regarding  any  great  mission  work 
without  the  approval  of  the  Society.  All  and  every  one  must 
vow  to  render  implicit  obedience  to  the  decision  of  the  Chief  on 
all  points  relative  to  the  rules  of  the  Order ;  he  himself,  however, 
on  the  other  hand,  must  engage  to  issue  only  such  commands 
as  he  considers  conformable  to  the  attainment  of  the  object 
the  Society  has  in  view.  Also  must  he  in  the  administration  of 
his  office  always  have  before  his  eyes  the  example  of  the  good- 
ness, gentleness,  and  love  given  by  Christ  and  His  Apostles, 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  so  shall  he  also  instruct  all  his  councillors 
and  higher  officials.  Especially  must  he  take  care  that  the 
education  of  the  young,  and  the  instruction  of  ignorant  adults  in 


THE   ORGANISATION   OF   THE   NEW   ORDER. 


49 


the  principles  of  Christian  teaching,  in  the  Ten  Commandments 
and  the  other  elements,  both  as  to  time  and  place,  as  also  with 
regard   to  the  person  himself,   shall   never  be  neglected,  and, 
indeed,  this  is  the  more  necessary,  as  without  a  well-founded 
faith  no  true  edifice  can  be  erected.     Moreover,  it  is  clear  that  if 
the  General  should  not  take  the  business  strictly  in  hand,  one  or 
other  of  the  brethren,  erroneously  thinking  himself  more  accom- 
plished, and  believing  this  or  that  land,  or  this  or  that  district, 
to  be  much  too  small  and   inconsiderable  for  the  extent  of  his 
knowledge,  might  abandon  the  instruction,  whilst  in  fact  nothing 
could  be  more  serviceable  than  this  instruction,   as  well  for  the 
edification  of  his  neighbour  as  for  exercise  in  works  of  humility 
and  love,  and,  lastly,  for  the  attainment  of  our  chief  object. 
In  a  word,  the  members  of  the  Society  shall,  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  Order,  implicitly  obey  the  Chief,  or  General,  in  every 
particular,  and  on  all   occasions,  to  the  infinite  benefit  of  the 
Society,   and   the  continual    exercise  of  humility  never  to  be 
sufficiently  commended,  considering  him   with  becoming  rever- 
ence as  the  representative  of  Christ,  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  heavenly  hosts.     Now,  whilst  experience  teaches  that  there 
are  no  men  who  have  a  purer,  more  edifying,  or  more  agreeable 
life  as  regards  their  neighbours,  than  those  who  are  furthest 
removed  from  the  poison  of  avarice,  and  stand  closest  to  evan- 
gelical poverty  ;  and  while  we  further  know  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  provides  all  his  servants,  when  engaged  in  the  service  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with  all  necessaries  of  food,  drink,  and 
clothing ;  so  shall  each  and  every  member  of  our  Order  make  a 
vow  of  perpetual  poverty,  and  at  the  same  time  declare  that 
neither  for  themselves,  that  is,  for  their  own  proper  persons,  nor 
also  for  the  maintenance  and  use  of  the  Order  itself  in  common, 
shall  they  take  or  obtain  possession  of  any  lands  or  property, 
wherever  situated,  or  merely  the  income  derived  therefrom,  but 
rather  be  satisfied  with  what    they  can   voluntarily    spend  in 
administering  to  the  wants  and  necessities  of  others. 

"It  will  be  still  free  to  them  to  establish  one  or  more  colleges 
at  the  universities,  for  the  maintenance  of  which  the  acceptance 
of  lands  and  estates,  with  the  income  derived  therefrom,  need 
not  be  declined,  on  the  understanding  that  they  are  to  be  used 
for  the  good  of  the  students.  The  superintendence,  however, 
over  the  before-mentioned  colleges,  the  students  attached  to  them. 


60 


HISTOBT  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


THE  OBOANISATION  OP  THE   NEW  OBDEB. 


51 


as  well  as  the  administration  of  the  same,  and  of  the  incomes 
appertaining  to  them,  rests  entirely  with  the  General  and  with 
those  brethren  of  the  Order  entrusted  by  him  with  such  power, 
as  also,  indeed,  the  appointment,  dismissal,  recall,  and  expulsion 
of  the  teachers,  superiors,  and  students,  besides  whatever  con- 
cerns the  introduction  of  statutes,  regulations,  and  laws,  the 
instruction  of  the  pupils,  their  indoctrination,  their  punishments, 
their  clothing,  and,  above  all  things,  their  education,  guidance, 
and  management.  It  will,  in  this  way,  be  best  made  certain 
that  the  students  can  never  misuse  the  said  estates  and  incomes, 
nor  can  it  even  be  a  question  of  the  Society  employing  the  same 
for  their  own  benefit  and  advantage.  On  the  contrary,  the  entire 
interest  of  the  college  properties  shall  be  appropriated  to  their 
maintenance,  and  to  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  education  of 
the  pupils ;  the  latter,  however,  may  be  admitted  into  our  Society 
as  soon  as  they  have  obtained  sufficient  proficiency  in  science 
and  learning,  and  can  even  themselves  work  as  teachers.  All 
members  of  the  Order  who  are  consecrated  to  the  priesthood, 
though  they  enjoy  neither  any  church  benefices,  nor  any  other 
revenues,  still  have  the  duty  of  discharging  all  church  functions, 
and  are  also  bound  to  rehearse  the  office  after  church  usage 
privately,  that  is,  each  individually  for  himself,  but  not  in 
common  as  monks  in  cloister. 

"  This  is  the  statute  of  our  Order,  which  we  have  sketched 
by  the  suggestion  of  the  Holy  Father  Paul,  and  now 
submit  for  the  approval  of  the  Apostolic  Chair.  It  is  only  a 
summary  outline,  but  it  will  sufficiently  enlighten  those  who  are 
interested  in  our  doings  and  proceedings,  and  it  will  serve  as  a 
criterion  for  those  who  subsequently  join  this  Order.  Since  we 
now,  moreover,  know  exactly,  by  long  personal  experience,  with 
how  many  and  great  difficulties  a  life  such  as  ours  is  surrounded, 
we  have  likewise  found  how  advantageous  it  is  that  no  one  should 
be  allowed  to  join  our  Society  as  a  member  who  has  not  pre- 
viously undergone  an  exact  and  searching  examination.  First, 
then,  he  can  only  be  admitted  to  the  war  service  of  Christ  if  he 
has  been  found  efficiently  skilled  in  the  service  of  Christ,  and 
clean  and  pure  in  his  teaching  and  mode  of  life ;  may  he,  how- 
ever, to  our  small  beginning  add  his  grace  and  favour,  to  the 
honour  of  God  the  Father,  to  whom  be  glory  and  praise  in 
ptemity,  Amen." 


Thus  run  the  rules  of  the  new  Order,  which  Paul  III.  con- 
firmed, on  the  27th  September  1540,  under  the  title  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  but,  it  must  be  added,  with  the  addition  that  the 
number  of  members  should  be  limited  to  sixty. 

Still,  these  rules  formed  only  the  first  principle,  the  mere 
beginning  of  the  subsequent  organisation  of  the  Order  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  we  shall  be  informed,  in  the  next  chapter,  that 
the  more  precise  and  weighty  of  the  laws  and  constitutions  were 
only  added  afterwards.  Still,  in  this  initiatory  sketch,  or  rather, 
by  this  small  commencement,  indications  are  not  wanting  of 
something  eotirely  difibrent  from  what  at  first  existed.  First 
and  foremost,  in  addition  to  the  three  customary  vows  of  chastity, 
poverty,  and  obedience  to  superiors,  comes  a  fourth,  the  vow  of 
absolute  and  unlimited  submission  to  the  Pope  (obedientia 
illimitatCB  erga  Pontiflcem),  and  from  this  it  follows  that  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  are  nothing  else  than  an  army 
of  spiritual  warriors  who  devote  themselves  entirely  to  the  service 
of  the  Romish  Chair.  The  second  not  less  important  point  is 
that  the  new  Order  should  not  by  any  means  be  a  monkish  order, 
in  spite  of  the  obligation  of  the  above-named  vows.  Up  to  this 
time  the  monks  went  by  the  name  of  whatever  Order  to  which 
they  belonged  ;  they  lived  together  in  cloisters,  and  led  therein  a 
life  apparently  devoted  to  God ;  the  Jesuits,  on  the  contrary, 
were  to  live  in  the  world,  and  not  in  seclusion.  They  were  to 
possess,  it  is  true,  profess-houses,  that  is  to  say,  houses  of  accom- 
modation for  the  members  who  had  bound  themselves  by  all  the 
four  vows  ('*  profess  "  is  equivalent  to  "  vow  "),  but  none  of  them 
could  remain  stationary  anywhere  for  any  length  of  time,  and  each 
must  always  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  be  sent  about  here  and 
there  on  any  particular  duty  for  which  he  might  be  required. 
Their  task  was  not  that  of  following  a  life  of  contemplation,  but 
that  of  working  among  men  for  the  benefit  of  the  Pope,  and  of 
labouring  in  far  away  missions  among  the  heathen,  as  well  as  in 
their  native  Europe  fighting  against  heretics  and  schismatics. 
The  third  cardinal  point  is  that  they  acknowledge  education, 
secular  as  well  as  spiritual,  to  be  the  chief  object  of  their  lives. 
By  the  former  must  be  understood  the  education  of  adults  back- 
ward in  knowledge,  as  well  as  that  of  the  young,  in  the  true,  or 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  for  only  in  this  way  could  a  lasting  and 
effectual    stop  be  put  to  the  extension  of  heresy.     Spiritual 

4  * 


62 


mSTORT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


THE   OEGANISATIOS  OF  THE  NEW  OEDEB. 


63 


education,  on  the  other  hand,  would  be  prosecuted  among  the 
so-called  novices,  such  youths  merely  as  had  the  desire  of  pre- 
paring themselves  for  admittance  into  the  Jesuit  Order,  as  it  may 
be  supposed  that  the  novices  or  pupils  in  question  ought  to  be 
thoroughly  perfected  for  the  objects  of  the  Order.  With  the  view, 
moreover,  that  this  essential  principle  of  the  Order,  education^ 
should  be  eflFectual,  and,  indeed,  might  be  looked  upon  as  a 
fourth  cardinal  point,  it  was  required  that  the  vow  of  poverty 
should  be  modified  in  some  degree,  or,  rather,  raised,  as  it  wore, 
by  an  artificial  lever,  and  so  transformed  into  the  reverse.  The 
professed  brethren  themselves  should,  properly  speaking,  be  poor 
and  possess  nothing  of  their  own;  but  the  educational  institutions 
and  colleges,  on  the  other  hand,  which  were  entirely  under  the 
protection  and  control  of  the  members  and  General  of  the  Order, 
had  the  right  to  take  whatever  might  be  given  them,  and  the 
more  that  was  given  the  better  pleased  were  the  rectors  and 
directors  appointed  by  the  General.  As  the  fifth  and  last  car- 
dinal point,  which,  indeed,  gave  to  the  Order  from  the  commence- 
ment its  firm  internal  cohesion,  I  have  to  state  that  the  General 
or  Chief  was  elected  for  life,  and  was  endowed  with  completely 
absolute  sovereign  authority.  He  might  not,  indeed,  alter  or 
remodel  the  constitution  without  the  advice  and  approval  of  his 
associates,  but  in  all  other  matters  implicit  and  unconditional 
obedience  must  be  rendered  to  him,  without  any  one  having  the 
right  even  of  asking  questions  as  to  his  reasons,  and  he  might 
not  only  bestow  oflBces  and  commissions  according  to  his  judg- 
ment, but  he  had  to  be  looked  upon  as  Christ's  representative, 
the  embodied  Jesus. 

Under  such  circumstances  was  it  that  the  Order  must  neces- 
sarily obtain  such  a  unified  power  as  no  society  or  institution  in 
the  whole  world  had  ever  before  acquired,  seeing  that  each 
member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  on  his  admission,  gave  up  his 
own  will  and  became,  indeed,  henceforth  an  instrument  merely 
for  the  use  of  the  Order. 

These  are  the  five  cardinal  points  by  which  the  statutes  of  the 
Jesuit  Society  were  pre-eminently  distinguished  from  any  pre- 
ceding Order,  and  when  we  contemplate  these  points  the  more 
closely  we  cannot  but  be  astonished  at  the  extraordinary  wisdom 
which  they  reflect.  Not  the  less  are  we  struck,  at  first  sight, 
with  the  reason  why  the  Roman  Court  promised  for  itself  great 


advantages  from  the  new  Order,  especially  in  opposing  the 
increasing  progress  of  the  Reformation,  and  on  that  account 
we  need  not  wonder  that  Paul  III.  solemnly  confirmed  the 
institution.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  statutes  the  slightest  thing  that  detracts  from  the  prosperity 
and  advancement  of  the  human  race,  and  even  the  object  of  self- 
perfectibility,  which  among  religious  bodies  had  hitherto  been 
the  principal  one,  must  give  way  thoroughly  before  that  of  the 
•*  defence  of  Papal  things.'*  Leaving  all  this  aside,  the  new 
Order  presented  but  a  glaring  contradiction,  with  its  laws  of 
reason  and  morality,  because  it  required  of  its  members,  as  an 
indispensable  condition  of  their  admittance,  a  complete  surrender 
of  all  personal  wishes  and  inclinations,  of  all  personal  dealings 
and  striving  after  advancement ;  in  like  manner  must  all  thought 
of  domestic  life  and  friendship,  all  love  of  parents  and  sisters,  all 
thought  of  country  and  home,  all  desire  after  or  taste  for  beauty 
and  art,  be  abandoned  completely.  In  a  word,  all  sources  of 
the  inner  life  of  soul  and  body  must  be  extinguished,  in  order  to 
obtain  the  knighthood  of  Faith,  with  its  concomitants  of 
uninterrupted  zeal  and  obedience. 


■ 


u 


HtSTOBY  OF   THE   JESUltS. 


CHAPTER   V. 


lONATmS  LOTOLA  AB   GENERAL   OF   THE    ORDER. 


The  first  business  which  the  new  Order  had  to  take  in  hand  was 
to  elect  a  Chief  or  General,  and  the  choice  fell  unanimously  on 
Ignatius  Loyola,  the  founder  of  the  Society.  It  is  true,  certainly, 
that  there  happened  to  be  at  that  time  only  five  members  of  the 
Order  present  in  Rome,  namely  Lejay,  Pasquet-Brouet,  Laynez, 
Cordur,  and  Salmeron,  but  the  election,  nevertheless,  may  still 
be  termed  unanimous,  because  the  remaining  members  trans- 
mitted their  votes  in  writing.  Ignatius,  in  fact,  entered  on  his 
contemplated  oflBce  on  holy  Easter  Day  of  the  year  1541,  and 
it  must  have  been  uncommonly  flattering  to  his  fiery  ambition 
that  he  had,  through  immense  perseverance,  at  length  brought 
the  matter  so  far.  On  the  other  hand,  he  frequently  asked  him* 
self  whether  he  would  be  able  to  carry  out  even  a  small  part 
only  of  what  he  had  with  his  people  promised  to  perform, 
as  the  situation  in  which  at  that  time  the  Papacy  found  it- 
self was  a  superlatively  difficult  one.  Throughout  the  whole 
Christian  world  purity  of  the  faith  was  completely  obli- 
terated ;  and,  instead  of  Christian  fervency  and  love,  complete 
indifference  had  crept  in.  The  ecclesiastics  and  priests  had 
shown  themselves  to  be  unworthy  of  their  office  through  their 
almost  general  shameless  mode  of  life,  and  they  possessed  so  small 
a  knowledge  of  God's  Word  as  to  be  unable  to  determine  whether 
Melchisedec  had  been  a  butler  or  a  dancing-master.  As  to  the 
cloisters  I  will  not  at  present  speak^  and  still  less  of  the  chastity 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENERAL  OF  THE  ORDER.   65 


to  be  found  therein.  It  could  not  be  denied  that  even  in  Rome 
itself  more  heathenism  than  Christianity  prevailed,  and  so  little 
awe  was  there  for  the  Almighty  among  men,  that,  as  a  proof 
thereof,  in  lonely  churches  a  dog  even  might  be  seen  chained  to 
the  high  altar  to  protect  the  deeply  venerated  property,  and 
prevent  the  Pyx  being  stolen  out  of  the  tabernacle.  If  this  were 
the  case  in  Rome,  it  seemed  even  worse  throughout  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Spain  and  Italy  were  smothered  in  ignorance  and 
sloth ;  Germany  through  Luther,  France  through  Calvin, 
Switzerland  through  Zwingle,  and  England  through  its  own  king 
showed  a  great  falling  away  from  the  Catholic  faith ;  every  day 
added  to  the  number  of  heretics  as  well  as  heresies.  In  those 
regions  still  remaining  Catholic  the  most  shameless  and  wicked 
abominations  were  perpetrated  with  laughter  and  derision ;  as,  for 
instance,  wicked  grooms  were  not  ashamed  to  mix  the  consecrated 
Host  with  the  oats  they  gave  to  their  horses,  or  to  solemnise 
their  carousals  with  the  holy  cup.  And  who  now  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  miserably  down-fallen  Romish  Church  ?  Scarcely 
anyone  in  the  whole  wide  world ;  and  if  any  did  do  so,  it  was 
without  earnest  good -will. 

With  the  initiation  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits,  however,  all  this 
was  changed ;  things  soon  assumed  a  very  different  appear- 
ance, and  the  world  saw  with  astonishment  what  immeasurably 
great  things  a  small  society  could  accomplish  as  soon  as  it  was 
conducted  by  one  of  iron  will,  who  never  lost  sight  of  the  aim 
and  object  he  had  in  view.  This  same  iron  will  Ignatius— now, 
indeed,  in  his  fiftieth  year — possessed  even  in  a  still  greater 
degree  than  when,  formerly,  he  insisted  upon  his  half-healed  leg 
being  broken  again  in  order  that  he  might  not  appear  in  the 
world  a  mutilated  cripple.  Had  he  not  day  and  night  before 
his  eyes  the  victory  of  Christ's  Kingdom,  as  he  designated  the 
supremacy  of  the  Papacy  ?  As  he  now  considered  himself  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  Jesus,  he  at  once  severed  all  bonds 
that  still  tied  him  to  the  world,  especially  that  of  blood-relation- 
ship ;  as,  for  instance,  he  threw  into  the  fire,  without  reading 
them,  letters  which  after  a  long  interval  arrived  for  him  from 
his  home,  and  which  had  been  joyously  handed  to  him  by  the 
porter  of  the  profess-house.  He  claimed  also  from  his  associates 
the  absolute  renunciation  of  all  personal  relations,  and  especially 
required  of  them,  as  warriors  of  Christ,  the  same  unconditional 


66 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


blind  obedience  wbicb   a  soldier   owes  to  his  officer.     In  this 
respect  he  was  quile  inexorable,  without  the  slightest  considera- 
tion for  the  birth,  knowledge,  understanding,  or  attainments  of 
the  individual.     It  might  so  happen,  for  instance,  that  he  would 
suddenly  call  upon  the  most  learned  among  the  associates  to 
perform  the  duties  of  cook,  merely  with  the  object  of  exercising 
him  in  humility ;  or  he  would  require  another,  who  from  his  noble 
birth  might  consider  himself  capable  of  some  important  service,  to 
clean  out  the  kitchen  or  sweep  the  street.      He  was  especially 
severe  on  idleness,  and  two  younger  brethren  who  were  standing 
gaping  idly  about  them,  at  the  door  of  the  Roman  College,  were 
compelled  to  carry  up  a  heap  of  stones  to  the  upper  storey 
piece  by  piece,  and  to  bring  them  down  again  on  the  following 
day.     But,  above  all  things,  he  exhibited  the  greatest  severity 
upon  those  who  did  not  immediately  and  on  the  instant  attend 
to  his  orders,  or  who  in  the  least  seemed  to  allow  it  to  be  seen 
that  they  were  inclined  to  submit  those  orders  to   their  own 
judgment.     Even  Laynez  himself,  who  might,  so  to  speak,  be 
looked  upon  as  the  chief  in  the  Order,  was  obliged  to  apologise 
most  humbly,  as  he  on  one  occasion  disapproved  of  an  order  of 
Ignatius,  and  permitted  himself  to  raise  expostulations  against 
it.     He,  Ignatius,  the  Master  of  the  Order,  he  took  care  to  say, 
was  ready  day  and  night  to  comply  with  the  orders  of  the  Pope, 
and  exactly,  in  like  manner,  must  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  be   ready  to  comply  with    his   (Ignatius's)    orders.      A 
brother,  even  while  engaged  in  listening  to  a  confession  or  in 
performing  mass,  dare  not  delay  an  instant  if  wanted  by  the 
Master,  as  the  summons  of  the  General  was  to  be  looked  upon 
as  equivalent  to  the  call  of  Christ  Himself.     In  short,  Ignatius 
went  upon  the  principle  that  if  something  substantial  was  to  be 
effected,  it  could  only  be  when  one  mind  and  one  will  pervaded 
the  whole  Society,  and  that  it  was  only  by  carrying  out  this 
principle  to  the  utmost  that  the  end  in  view  could  really  be 
accomplished. 

As  soon  as  the  new  General  was  elected,  on  the  22nd  of  April 
1541,  he  organised  a  great  procession  to  all  the  most  remarkable 
churches  and  stations  in  the  city  of  Rome,  and  marched  along 
with  it  to  the  Church  of  St.  Paul,  outside  the  walls,  and  after 
reading  mass  he  took  before  the  high  altar  first  the  third  and 
then  the  fourth  vow,  and  finally  demanded  the  same  four  vows 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENERAL  OF  THE  ORDER.   67 


from  his  associates.  After  the  conclusion  of  this  ceremony 
began  the  proper  work  of  the  Society.  Ignatius  allotted  to  each 
of  his  associates  his  own  particular  sphere  of  action,  and  urged 
upon  every  individual  the  task  of  being,  before  everything,  most 
active  in  the  extension  and  augmentation  of  the  Society. 
Araoz  and  Villanouva,  two  newly-acquired  members,  he  sent  to 
Spain,  Rodriguez  to  Portugal,  Xavier  to  India,  Brouet  with 
some  others  to  England,  Lejay,  Bobadilla,  and  Le  Fevre  to 
Germany,  Cordur  with  fifteen  others  to  France,  Laynez  and 
Salmeron  as  Papal  legates  to  the  assembly  of  the  Church  at 
Trient.  In  short,  he  apportioned  off  the  world  among  his  asso- 
ciates, while  he  himself  remained  in  Rome  in  order  thence  to 
conduct  the  whole  affair.  The  results  completely  answered  the 
expectations  of  Ignatius  and  of  the  Pope,  and  even,  indeed,  sur- 
passed them,  for,  after  the  lapse  of  some  years,  there  arose  in 
the  great  majority  of  the  university  towns  Jesuit  colleges,  in 
which  there  was  no  lack  of  novices.  Wherever  there  was  con- 
tention in  religious  matters,  in  whatever  countries  the  princes 
and  people  were  at  variance  on  this  account,  and,  in  short, 
wherever  the  old  faith  strove  with  the  new,  there  now  also 
appeared  the  ambassadors  of  Loyola,  and  the  Black  Cloaks  with 
their  sagacity,  their  eloquence,  their  zeal  and  energy,  caused  the 
side  which  they  defended  to  triumph  almost  universally,  the  result 
being  that  they  obtained  for  themselves  a  firm  footing  * 

While  the  Pope  now  derived  so  much  benefit  from  the  new 
Society,  he  naturally  enough  could  not  prove  himself  ungrateful, 
and  Ignatius,  therefore,  easily  acquired  from  him  one  advantage 
after  another.  It  was  thus  that  the  Jesuit  General  obtained  the 
two  churches,  "  De  la  Strata  "  and  "  To  the  Holy  Andrew  "  ;  as 
also  sufficient  space  at  the  foot  of  Engelsburg  for  the  erection  of 
a  splendid  "  Profess-house  "  for  the  members  of  the  Four  Vows. 
He  thus  succeeded  in  bringing  into  existence  a  number  of  costly 
institutions,  as,  for  instance,  the  "  Rosenstift,"  designed  for  the 
protection  of  young  girlsi  and  as  a  refuge  for  fallen  women.  Also 
schools,  where  catechising  took  place,  for  Jews  who  had  embraced 
Christianity,  as  well  as  orphanages  for  parentless  boys  and  girls 
who  were  destitute.  The  chief  thing,  however,  which  occasioned 
Ignatius  to  rejoice,  was  the  amplification  of  the  privileges  for  his 

*  The  particulars  regarding  all  this  are  to  be  found  in  detail  in  the  second 
book  of  this  work. 


! 


68 


HISTORY   OF    THE   JESUITS. 


Order  under  Paul  III.,  for  without  such  proofs  of  favour  the 
Society  of  Jesus  could  never  have  been  able  to  raise  itself  to  that 
height  of  splendour  which,  as  history  teaches  us,  it  succeeded  in 
attaining. 

Already,  in  1543,  two  years  only  after  the  foundation  of  the 
Order,  it  became  apparent  that  the  number  of  sixty  members, 
which  was  at  first  determined  on  by  the  Pope,  had  been  found  to 
be  far  too  limited,  as  in  such  an  uncommonly  large  field   of 
labour  which  the  Jesuits  occupied,  what  could  be  accomplished 
by  sixty  members  only !     On  that  account  Paul  III.  issued  a 
new  BuD  on  the  14th  of  March  1543,  which,  by  the  words  with 
which   it   commences,   Injunctum  nobis,  gives    to  Ignatius  the 
power  to  take  as  many  members  as  he  wishes,  a  privilege  of 
which  advantage  was,  naturally  enough,  at  once  taken.     What 
was  even  a  still  more  valuable  addition  for  the  Order,  contained 
in  the  same  Bull,  was  an  authorisation  the  effect  of  which  was 
in  fact  immeasurable,  and  such  as  no  order  could  hitherto  boast. 
It  was  no  less  than  that  Loyola,  as  well  as  all  future  Generals  of 
the  Order,  could,  with  the  sanction  of  the  most  distinguished 
members  in  council,  alter,  expunge,  or  make  additions  to  the 
laws  of  the  Society,  or  create  entirely  new  regulations,  according 
as  it  appeared  under  the  circumstances  to  be  most  advantageous; 
and  it  was  decreed  that  these  altered  and  newly-framed  statutes, 
even  in  the  case  when  the  Boman  Chair  had  no  knowledge  of 
them,  should  have  the  same  validity  as  if  the  Pope  himself  had 
confirmed   them.      Although  it  seems  almost   madness   that  a 
Pope   should    impart    a  privilege   of    this  description  to   any 
General  of  any  Order,  it  thus  stands  verbally  written  in  the  Bull 
Injufictum  nobis.     It,  in  fact,  made   the  individual  in  question 
thereby  almost  independent  of  the  Papal  chair,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  despot  of  such  extraordinary  power  that  it  was  calculated 
to  render  all  States  distrustful  of  him.     For  instance,  does  not 
every  Government,  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  its  subjects  and 
for  its  own  stability,  require  that  the  rules  and  constitution  of  all 
such  societies  as  that  of  the  Jesuits  should  be  submitted  for  its 
acceptance  and  toleration?     Would  it  not  carefully   examine 
beforehand  the  contents  of  the  same  to  ascertain  exactly  whether 
they  were  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  country,  or  whether 
there  might  be  any  possibility  that  the  weal  of  the  State  might 
be   undermined  thereby  ?      Certainly   every   wise   Government 


IGI^ATIUS   LOYOLA  AS   ÖENEBAL   OF   THE   OEDÜB.       59 

would  naturally  thus  act,  and  the  Jesuits,  therefore,  as  well  as  all 
other  Orders  in  the  different  countries  into  whicb  they  had 
penetrated,  had  to  submit  their  constitution  for  approval. 
How  would  it  be,  then,  if  the  General,  after  permission  being 
granted,  was  pleased  to  alter  its  constitution,  and  incorporate 
among  its  rules  some  resolution,  perhaps,  highly  dangerous  to 
the  State  ?  Truly  the  above-described  authorisation  might 
well  startle  and  be  a  warning  to  any  State  in  allowing  the  Order 
of  Jesuits  to  become  rooted  among  them,  while  this  Papal  Bull 
made  it  indeed  a  chameleon  whereby  every  succeeding  General 
might  be  able  to  give  a  new  colour  to  the  rules,  so  that  conse- 
quently no  trust  could  be  placed  at  all  in  them. 

Ignatius  then  obtained  a  new  privilege,  through  another 
decree,  published  on  the  5th  of  June  1545,  which  also  contri- 
buted not  a  little  to  the  power  of  the  new  Order.  The  Pope 
thereby  conferred  on  the  Jesuits  the  right  to  ascend  any 
pulpit  wherever  they  went,  to  teach  in  all  places,  and  to  establish 
Professorial  chairs  everywhere ;  to  hear  confessions,  and  grant 
absolution  for  every  sin,  even  for  such  as  the  Papal  Chair  had 
reserved  for  itself  to  consider ;  to  exempt  from  all  Church  penal- 
ties and  curses ;  to  dispense  with  vows  and  pilgrimages,  and  to 
order,  as  well,  other  good  works ;  to  read  mass  in  all  places  and 
at  all  hours ;  to  administer  the  sacraments  without  necessarily 
having  the  acquiescence  of  the  local  priesthood,  or  even  the 
bishop  of  the  place. 

This  was  once  more  an  enormous  advantage  for  the  Jesuits 
over  rival  Orders,  none  of  whom  ever  possessed  such  extensive 
privileges ;  and,  indeed,  it  caused  them  to  burst  with  envy. 
What  embittered  the  ordinary  priesthood  still  more  against  the 
Black  Cloaks  was  that  in  granting  absolution  they  never  imposed 
any  very  severe  punishment,  even  for  grave  sins,  thereby  snatching 
from  their  rivals  many  penitents,  and  consequently  depriving 
them  of  no  inconsiderable  part  of  their  income  and  influence. 
But  indignation  was  of  no  avail  to  them,  and  even  the  com» 
plaints  of  distinguished  bishops  had  no  weight  with  the  Pope, 
who  entertained  a  particular  affection  for  the  Jesuits,  and,  in 
very  truth,  on  good  grounds. 

Moreover,  about  a  year  afterwards,  a  further  extension  of 
the  Order  occurred.  Hitherto  there  had  existed  only  two 
classes  of  the  same,  novices  and  professed  members ;   that  is  to 


f 


60 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Mii  ; 


say,  sach  as  had  taken  upon  themselves  the  four  vows,  and  such 
as  had  been  received  into  the  holy  colleges  as  pupils,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  properly  brought  up  as  regular  Jesuits.  The 
latter  were  as  yet  not  members,  properly  speaking,  but  only 
aspirants  or  candidates,  who  might  easily  be  again  dismissed  at 
pleasure,  on  being  found  unsuitable.  It  was  now,  however, 
indispensably  requisite,  if  the  Order,  as  Loyola  designed  it,  was 
to  be  spread  over  the  whole  world,  that  the  number  of  instru.- 
ments  should  be  increased,  as  with  the  hundred  or  hundred 
and  twenty  which  there  were  in  the  year  1546  the  claims  upon 
them  could  not  be  by  any  means  fully  satisfied.  How,  then,  was 
this  evil  to  be  remedied  ?  In  the  first  place  it  was  requisite, 
some  way  or  other,  that  a  greater  number  should  be  made  to 
take  the  four  vows,  becoming  thereby  professed  members. 
Loyola,  indeed,  had  the  power  of  doing  this  through  the  Bull 
Injunctum  nobis,  but  was  it  advisable  ?  The  professed 
members  formed,  so  to  speok,  the  privy  councillors  of  the 
General,  and  without  their  consent  the  constitution  of  the  Order 
could  not  be  altered.  A  large  conclave,  however,  would  make 
unanimity  difficult,  according  to  the  old  proverb,  "  Many  heads 
many  minds."  Some  plan  for  preventing  this  must  be  found, 
as  it  would  be  unwise  to  trust  a  large  body  of  men  with  the 
innermost  thoughts  and  ideas  of  the  Order,  for  there  must 
always  be  a  greater  number  of  scabbed  sheep  in  a  large  flock 
than  in  a  small  one.  Thus  prudence,  certainly,  strongly  forbade 
that  thousands  should  be  promoted  to  be  professed  members, 
and  Loyola,  as  well  as  his  associates,  held  the  opinion  that  the 
number  of  Jesuits  proper,  that  is  to  say,  of  professed  members, 
should  be  limited  as  much  as  practicable.*  While,  therefore,  no 
assistance  could  well  be  gained  in  this  direction,  more  instru» 
ments  must,  in  some  way  or  other,  be  found  at  any  price. 

It  then  entered  into  the  mind  of  Loyola  to  create  a  third 
class  of  members,  who  might  be  of  as  much  use  to  the  Order 
as  the  professed  members,  without,  however,  having  the  rights  of 
the  same.  This  class  he  designated  "  Coadjutors,*'  and  he  at  once 
divided  them  into  two  subdivisions,  "  the  secular  and  spiritual 

•  In  the  year  1715,  when  the  Order  had  attained  its  highest  state  of 
prosperity,  when  it  possessed  over  700  colleges  and  numbered  more  than 
22,000  members,  there  existed  only  twenty-four  profess-houses,  in  none  of 
which  lived  more  than  ten  professed  members.  Proof  sufficient  that  the 
principle  above  stated  remained  a  üzed  rule. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS   GENERAL   OP    THE   ORDER,       61 


coadjutors."    The  Pope,  also,  at  once  sanctioned  this  new  arrange- 
ment, in  a  special  Bull,  which  was  signed  on  the  5th  of  June  1 546. 
In  this  way  the  Order  of  Jesuits  had  the  following  organisa- 
tion.    The  novices  formed  the  lowest  grade,  out  of  which  the 
proper  stock  might  be  recruited.     The  most  talented  and  highly 
educated  youths  were  selected  and  first  brought  into  the  "  Trial 
House  "  (domus  prohationis),  where  the  novice  master  (maltster 
novitiorum)  kept  them  under  observation  and  watched  over  them 
with   an  assistant  during    a   period  of  twenty    days.       Should 
they  then  continue  firm  in  their  determination  of  entering  the 
Order,  and  should  this  inspection  prove  favourable  to  them,  ie, 
should  they  be  found  to  be  fit  and  suitable   subjects,  they  were 
then  promoted  to  be  true  noviciates,  and  came  into  the  Noviciate 
House,  where  they  had  to  remain  during  two  years.     In  the  first 
year  they  had  to  undergo  all  the  degrees  of  self-denial,  they 
had  to  castigate  their  flesh,  and  had  to  nurse  in  the  hospitals  the 
most  filthy   and   disgusting  patients;  they  were  also    kept  at 
the  occupation  of  begging  and  other  low  employments,  besides 
which  they  were  practised  by  the  master  in  frequent  confessions, 
and  compelled  to  lay  open  all  their  most  secret  thoughts  and 
desires  daily,  with  the  most  blind  obedience.     In  the  second 
year,  when  they  had  proved  their  humility  and  submission  to 
authority,  they  were  assigned   more  intellectual  than  corporeal 
employments,  and  were  exercised  especially  in  preaching,  cate- 
chising, and  in  other  things  concerning  the  welfare  of  the  soul. 
But  at  the  same  time,  care  was  taken  against  fatiguing  them  too 
much,  in  order  that  the  next  stage  should  not  be  rendered  dis- 
agreeable to  them,  and  several  amusements  even  were  not  denied 
them,  as,  for  instance,  attending  prosecutions  of  the  Inquisition 
and  other  similar  sights.     On  their  having  completed  the  two 
years  of  noviciate  successfully,  then  the  three  vows  of  poverty, 
chastity,  and  obedience  were  administered  to  them,  and   they 
were  promoted  to  be  spiritual  coadjutors.     As  such,  during  the 
first  two  years,   they  were  only  so-called  scholastics,  that  is  to 
say,   proved   pupils  who   might  be  employed  in    the  colleges, 
or,  also,  as  assistants  in  missions.     When,  however,  they  had 
acquired  sufficient  experience  to  render  them  more  independently 
useful,  they  were  advanced,  according  to  their  talents  and  ability, 
to  be  professors,  rectors,  preachers,   confessors,   &c.,  and  were 
now  designated  coadjuiores formati,  i.e.  true  assistants. 


62 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Besides  them,  there  were  secular  assistants,  or  coadjutores 
saculares,  who  acted,  so  to  speak,  as  lay  brethren,  and  without 
having  received  any  higher  ordination  were  charged  with  the 
house-keeping  duties  in  colleges,  missions,  and  profess-houses. 
They  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  priesthood,  i.e  with  the  cure  of 
souls,  or  with  education,  and,  as  they  had  to  perform  menial 
services,  were  held  in  but  trifling  esteem. 

The  superior  lay  brethren,  however,  not  infrequently  received 
the  title  of  secular  coadjutors,  to  distinguish  them,  on  account 
of  their  true  services  to  the  Order,  and  then  such  under- 
took no  definite  functions,  but  continued  to  remain  rather  in 
their  hitherto  worldly  position.  They  were  merely  confederates, 
or  *'  aflBliates  "  ;  they  were  also  called,  derisively,  short-coated 
Jesuits,  or  Jesuits  in  voto ;  and  the  pupils  of  Loyola  boasted 
that  even  crowned  heads  belonged  to  this  class  of  the  Order,  in 
the  persons  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  and  King  Louis  XIV. 

Lastly,  the  professed  members  formed  the  highest  grade  and 
proper  heart  and  soul  of  the  Society,  i,e,  those  who  had  taken  the 
four  vows  upon  them,  and  consequently  gave  implicit  obedience 
to  the  Pope,  and  such  were  selected  from  the  class  of  coadjutors 
distinguished  among  their  brethren  for  their  worldly  wisdom, 
knowledge,  fidelity,  and  experience.  To  these  only  were  entrusted 
by  the  General  the  highest  oflBces  and  most  important  posts,  as 
he  could  depend  upon  them  in  every  respect.  They  seldom, 
therefore,  lived  at  ease  in  the  profess-houses,  only,  indeed,  when 
unwell  or  temporarily  unemployed  from  some  other  cause ;  one 
would  serve  as  a  missionary  among  the  heathen,  another  as  a 
warrior  of  God  against  the  heretics,  a  third  as  a  ruler  of  some 
colony  in  a  distant  quarter  of  the  globe,  a  fourth  as  father  con- 
fessor of  some  prince  or  lady  of  distinction,  a  fifth  as  Resident 
of  the  Order  in  some  locality  where  it  had  not  as  yet  possessed 
a  college,  a  sixth  as  legate  of  the  Pope  in  some  special  mission, 
a  seventh,  eighth,  or  ninth,  as  assistant  to  the  General  in 
Bome,  or  as  supreme  leader  in  some  particular  province,  as 
provincial  or  as  superior  of  a  profess-house,  or  as  rector  of  a 
college.  Under  these  circumstances,  as  none  can  at  the  same 
time  serve  two  masters,  they  were  for  the  time  quite  exempt  from 
the  obligation  as  to  the  instruction  of  youth,  which  last  duty 
was  left  entirely  to  the  coadjutors.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
professed  members  had  from  time  to  time  to  make  their  appear- 


IGNATIUS   LOYOLA   AS   GENERAL   OF   THE   ORDER.       63 

ance  in  Rome,  at  general  chapters,  or  meetings,  in  order  to  take 
a  part  in  consultations  regarding  any  proposed  change  in  the 
statutes,  and  it  was  they  also  who  elected  from  amongst  their 
number  the  General  when  that  office  happened  to  become  vacant. 

From  the.  time  Loyola  conceived  the  idea  of  calling  the  class 
of  coadjutors  into  existence,  the  interior  economy  of  the  Order 
was  in  this  manner  henceforth  arranged,  and  one  may  perceive 
now  that  the  fixed  regulations  were  much  more  important  than 
at  first  sight  appeared. 

In  the  same  year,    1546,  in  which  the  new  classification  of 
the  Order  of  Jesuits  was  eflPected,  Loyola  gained  still  another 
important  victory.     It  happened,  namely,  that  King  Ferdinand, 
brother  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  came  to  form  so  high  an 
opinion  of  Lejay,  who,  as  we  have  seen  above,  laboured  for  the 
Order  in  Germany,  that  he  wished  him  to  be  made  Bishop  of 
Triest.     He  wrote  on  this  account  to  the  Pope,  who  was  natu- 
rally quite  ready  to  confer  a  favour  on  the  great  man.     The 
Society  of  Jesus  also  hoped  to  consolidate  its  power  through  the 
elevation   to  such   rank  of  a  member  of  their   Order,   as  the 
remaining  Orders,  such  as  the  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  Bene- 
dictines, or  whatever  else  they  may  be  designated,  always  courted 
such  dignities,  and  were  in  the  highest  degree  proud  whenever 
anyone  of  their  body  gained  an  important  Church  preferment  as 
Bishop  or  Archbishop.     One  might  easily,  therefore,  suppose 
that  this  would  be  the  case  with  Ignatius  Loyola,  and  that  he 
would  be  readv  to  clutch   with  both  hands   the   contemplated 
honour  for  one   of  his   associates,  more   especially   as  to  the 
Bishopric  of  Triest  a  considerable  income  was  attached.     To  the 
great  astonishment,    then,   of  the  Pope   and   King  Ferdinand, 
Loyola  took  quite  a  diff'erent  view,  and  opposed  the  elevation  of 
Le;ay,  through  think  and  thin,  as  soon  as  he  received  news  of  the 
same.     "We   members   of  the  Society   of  Jesus,"  said  he  to 
the  Pope,    as  he   afterwards  wrote  in  quite    similar   terms   to 
the  King,  "  are  warriors  of  Christ,  and  must  therefore  possess 
all  the  characteristics  of  good   soldiers.     We  must  be  always 
ready  to  advance  against  the  enemy,  and  be  always  prepared  to 
harass  him  or  to  fall  upon  him,  and  on  that  account  we  must 
not  venture  to  tie  ourselves  to  any  particular  place.     How  could 
we  else,  at  the  first  hint  from  your  Holiness,  which  is  certainly 
our  duty  above  everything,  fly  from  one  town  or  city  to  another, 


i; 


64 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


i  i 


or  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  another  ?  Besides,  the  lowly 
character  of  our  Order  forhids  that  one  of  us  should  accept  a  high 
Church  preferment,  and  we  must  he  most  careful  not  to  awaken 
again  the  jealousy  of  the  other  Orders  as  we  have  hefore  done." 
It  was  in  this  sense  that  Loyola  spoke,  and  it  may  he  that  he 
was  in  earnest  in  giving  the  arguments  he  advanced  as  the 
cause  of  his  dissent ;  but,  at  any  rate,  such  were  not  the  only 
reasons,  hut  besides  them  he  had  still  others  in  the  background, 
and,  indeed,  much  more  weighty  ones.  Why,  truly,  was  it  not 
much  more  probable,  as,  indeed,  it  became  in  the  future  the  rule, 
that  the  most  ambitious  among  the  Jesuits  never  would  remain 
quiet  until  they  had  secured  for  themselves  places  of  great 
honour  ?  We  know  now  that  the  Order  was  almost  deprived  of  its 
highest  glory,  and  its  transcendant  powers  were  taken  away,  owing 
to  this  cause.  Independent  of  this,  too,  how  would  it  be  with  the 
rigorous  monarchy  in  the  Order,  with  the  omnipotence  of  the 
General,  and  the  subordination  of  the  members,  were  there  a 
possibility  of  the  power  of  the  Grand  Master  being  in  any  way 
diminished  ?  Could  there  be  any  longer  a  question  that  the 
Bishops  or  Archbishops,  and,  together  with  them,  the  Prince 
of  the  kingdom  in  which  they  lived,  would  not  remain  in  such 
subjection  to  the  General  of  the  Order  as  had  previously  been 
the  case  ?  It  would  not  be  possible,  even  if  it  were  wished, 
because  a  prince  must  necessarily  fulfil  his  required  obligations, 
against  which  orders  from  Rome  would  be  of  no  avail. 

All  this  said  Loyola  to  himself;  therefore,  as  the  Pope  and 
King  Ferdinand  did  not  on  the  instant  assent  to  his  representa- 
tions, he,  without  any  more  ceremony,  finally  forbad  Lejay  to 
accept  the  proffered  appointment.  Indeed,  this  was  not  enough 
for  him  ;  but  he  made  it  from  this  time  an  irrefragable  law,  that 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  never  on  any  account 
accept  an  episcopal  chair,  and  for  this  reason  he  himself  declined 
the  oflBce  of  Cardinal  which  was  offered  to  him. 

What  did  the  "  I  "  signify  to  himself,  or  what  did  the  "  I  " 
matter  to  his  associates  ?  His  only  pride  and  pleasure  was  the 
success  and  prosperity  of  the  Society  he  had  founded.  Along 
with  the  continuously  increasing  extension  of  the  Order  of  Jesus 
their  wishes,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  kept  pace  ;  for  although 
individual  members  were  obliged,  for  themselves,  to  take  the  vow 
of  poverty,  as  has  been  above  explained,  they  still  retained  the 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENEKAL  OP  THE  ORDER.   65 

right  of  accepting  all  they  could  get  for  the  use  of  the  colleges 
they  had  founded,  and  of  this  right,  indeed,  they  made  the  most 
extensive  use.  They  also  showed  themselves,  from  the  very 
first,  not  at  all  scrupulous  in  regard  to  the  means  they  took  to 
acquire  this  or  that  possession,  and  as  a  proof  of  this,  I  will  now 
give  the  reader  an  instance. 

In  the  year  1542,  Laynez,  who  was  at  that  time  working  for 
the  Order  in  Venice,  caused  a  rich  old  nobleman,  of  the  name  of 
Andreas  Lippomani,  to  make  over  the  house  and  property  which 
he   possessed   in   Padua   to  the  Jesuit  Order  on  behoof  of  a 
college  to  be  founded ;  and  as  this  present  was  of  considerable 
value,    the  whole   farm   being   estimated    to   be   worth  40,000 
ducats,  Loyola  rejoiced  exceedingly.     He  felt  it,  however,  to  be 
all  the  more  disagreeable,  when   on  the  death  of  Andreas,  the 
rightful  heir  disputed  the  will  and  brought  an  action  before  the 
Venetian  Senate,  within  whose  jurisdiction  the  matter  rested.   At 
the  commencement  it  seemed  doubtful  which  party  would  gain 
the  cause,  and  the  balance  of  justice  for  some  time  oscillated 
considerably  backwards  and  forwards  undecidedly ;  in  the  end, 
however,  it  appeared  tolerably  clear  that  the  Senate  would  decide 
in  favour  of  the  legitimate  heir,  as  he  proved  that  his  deceased 
relative,  at  the  time  the  deed  was  drawn  up,  had  become  imbecile 
from  old  age,  and  had  not  his  clear  wits  about  him.     This  news 
drove  Loyola  into  despair,   and  in  his  agitation  he  promised  to 
the  Virgin  three  thousand  masses,  and  if  that  was  not  suflScient, 
two  thousand  more,  provided  that  she  would  win  over  the  minds 
of  the  senators  to  his  side.     At  the  same  time,  however,   as  ho 
made  this  appeal  to  Mary,  which  might  possibly  prove  ineffec- 
tual, he  did  not  forget  to  claim,  also,  human  assistance,  and 
forthwith  he  secured  for  himself  the  powerful  aid  of  a  Cardinal 
who  had  great  influence  with  the  Venetian  Senate.      He  was 
doubtless   very  well   aware   that  he  had  no  right  to  gain   the 
cause,  and  had  nothing  to  expect  from  justice;  he,  therefore, 
had  recourse  to  influence  from  another  quarter,  quite   uncon- 
cerned and  indifferent  that  he  was  thereby  cheating  the  legiti- 
mate heir  out  of  his  property.     But  Laynez,  his  principal  aider 
in  founding  the  Order  and  its  statutes,  went  a  step  further;  for 
as  soon  as  he  discovered  that  the  Doge,  to  whose  pipe— if  I 
may  be  allowed  to  use  a  popular  expression— all  the  Senate 
danced,  possessed  a  mistress  who  exercised  great  influence  over 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


ill 


hira,  ho  filled  his  pockets  with   gold,  and  therewith  had    not 
much  difficulty  in  gaining  over  the  mercenary  woman  to  his  side, 
the  result  being  that  the  final  decision  of  the  Senate  turned  out  to 
be  in  favour  of  the  Jesus  Association,  and  the  rightful  heir,  in 
spite  of  his  strong  claims,  was  non-suited  ;  hut  the  conscience  of 
Loyola  on  that  account  did  not  in  the  least  appear  to  trouble  him. 
The  same  diligence  that  was  exercised  in  the  acquisition  of 
riches,  was,   also,  employed  wherever  the  question  was  to  win 
over  substantial,  influential,  and  powerful  men  of  high  standing, 
to  be  patrons  and  abettors  of  the  Order,  if  not,  indeed,  members 
of  the  same ;  and  in  this  respect,  in  fact,   several  of  Loyola's 
desciples  rendered  signal   service.      Among  the   foremost  who 
distinguished  himself  in  this  particular,  was  Aroz,  the  delegate 
to  Spain,  as  he  was  successful  in  inducing  Francis  Borgia,  Duke 
of  Gandia,  and  a  grandee  of  Spain,  as,  also,  formerly  Viceroy  of 
Catalonia— a  very  weak  man,  however,  in  mental  capacity— to 
take  up  the  cause  of  Jesuitism ;  so  much  so,  that  this  nobleman 
was  the  first  person  in  Europe  who  founded  a  Jesuit  College  for 
the  education  of  youth.     He  shortly  afterwards,  too.  in  the  year 
1546,  endowed  a  University,  with  all  privileges.     Overjoyed  at 
this,  Loyola  commenced  a  correspondence  with  the  Duke,  and 
the  result  of  these  letters  was  that  Borgia  became  so  enamoured 
with  the  Society  of  Jesus,  that  he  at  length  came  to  the  firm 
determination  of  joining  it  as  a  true  member;  in  fact,  notwith- 
standing his  already  being  considerably  advanced  in  years,  he 
forthwith  put  off  the  purple,  and  began  the  study  of  theology. 
His  progress  therein,  however,  advanced  but  slowly,  and  conse- 
quently Loyola  allowed  him  to  take  the  four  vows  without  being 
previously  well  versed  in  theology,  or  even  having  gone  through 
the  course  of  exercises  required  of  noviciates.     Thus  the  Duke 
of  Gandia  became  Pater  Franciscus  Borgia,  and  the  newly-made 
member  showed  great  zeal  for  the  Society.     He,  however,  did 
not  at  once  enter  a  profess-house,  and  still  less  was  he  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  Order ;  Ignatius,  indeed,  permitted  him  to 
live  in  the  world  during  a  period  of  fully  four  years,  in  order  that 
the  newly-acquired  brother  might  be  able  to  settle  his  worldly 
affairs,  and  conveniently  make  arrangements  for  the  maintenance 
of  his  children.     It  was  natural  enough  that  such  a  highly-born 
man    as  Pater  Borgia  should  not   be   treated   exactly  like  an 
ordinary  member. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GEKEBAL  OF  THE  OBDEB.   67 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  privileges  which  the  Pope 
granted  to  the  Order,  even  in  the  first  year  of  its  existence ;  but 
what  did  these  prerogatives  signify  compared  with  those  which 
Paul  III.  conceded  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  on  the  18th  October 
1549.  One  would,  indeed,  be  perfectly  correct  in  calling  the 
Bull  which  refers  to  them  the  '*  Magna  Charta  "  of  the  Jesuits ; 
and  they  themselves  admitted  as  much  when  they  conceived 
such  a  designation  for  this  decree  as  "  the  great  sea  of  their 
privileges." 

If  one  should  inquire  what  could  have  been  the  reasons  which 
actuated  the  Pope  in  bestowing  such  conspicuous  favours  on  the 
the  new  Order,  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  preamble  of  the  Bull, 
which  terms  the  Society  a  fruitful  acre,  which,  effecting  much  for 
the  increase  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  faith — that  is  to  say, 
the  exaltation  of  the  Papacy  and  the  suppression  of  heresy — 
through  instruction  and  example,  therefore  well  deserves  to  be 
rewarded  with  special  favours ;  and,  in  fact,  favours  of  quite  a 
peculiar  description  were  given  them,  as  the  reader  will  suffi- 
ciently understand  from  the  following  extracts  : — 

1.  "  The  General  of  the  Order,  as  soon  as  he  is  nominated, 
shall  have  complete  power  as  to  the  government  of  the  Society, 
and  especially  also  over  the  whole  members  of  the  same,  where- 
soever these  latter  may  reside,  and  with  whatsoever  office  or 
dignity  they  may  be  endowed.  His  power  shall  indeed  be  so 
unlimited,  that  should  he  deem  it  necessary  for  the  honour  of 
God,  he  shall  even  be  able  to  send  back,  or  in  other  directions, 
those  who  have  come  direct  from  the  Popes."* 

Thus,  from  this  paragraph,  his  own  power  is  placed  over  that 
of  the  Pope.     How  does  it  fare,  then,  with  the  four  vows  ? 

2.  "  No  General,  without  the  consent  of  the  General  Con- 
vention, and  no  member  of  the  Society,  without  the  express 
consent  of  the  General,  shall  accept  a  bishopric,  archbishopric, 
or  any  similar  dignity ;  and  whoever  may  have  attempted  in  any 
way  to  obtain  any  such  place,  shall  be  considered  so  unworthy  of 

*  In  this  first  paragraph  there  is  also  a  question  regarding  the  deposition 
of  the  General,  which  could  be  pronounced  by  a  general  chapter  of  prof  essed 
membert,  whenever  he  coiüd  be  proved  guUty  of  heresy  or  of  leading  a  life 
of  vice,  or  was  useless  on  account  of  mental  derangement,  «fee.,  but  as  long 
as  the  Society  existed  there  never  was  an  instance  of  a  General  bemg 
charged  before  a  general  chapter,  and  still  less  deposed.  He  might,  in  fact, 
do  whatever  he  chose.  I  should  like  to  see  the  person  who  would  dare  to 
bring  an  aocusation  against  such  a  complete  despot  as  was  the  GeneraL 

6  * 


I 


68 


HISTOBT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  Society  of  Jesus,  that  he  shnll  never  more  he  employed  in 
any  important  commission,  office,  or  business."* 

3.  "  In  order  that  discipline  may  he  quite  strictly  maintained, 
there  shall  he  no  appeal  against  the  rules  of  the  Order  to  any 
judge  or  other  official  whatever ;  much  less  can  any  member  be 
released  from  his  vows  by  any  person."  Even  the  keys  of  Peter, 
therefore,  can  have  no  power  over  a  Jesuit,  and  it  was  the  Pope 
himself  who  pronounced  this! 

4.  "  Neither  the  General  nor  the  high  officials  of  the  Society 
shall  be  bound  to  hand  over  any  member  of  the  Order  for  the 
service  of  the  Church  to  any  prelate  of  the  Church,  be  he 
patriarch,  archbishop,  or  merely  bishop,  even  when  the  said 
prelate  shall  have  given  strict  orders  regarding  the  matter; 
should,  however,  such  cession  be  voluntarily  desired,  then  those 
whose  services  are  lent  are  still  to  be  considered  under  the  power 
of  their  superiors,  and  can  be  recalled  by  the  General  at  any 
moment."  Thus  the  power  of  even  the  highest  dignitary  of  the 
Church  is  inferior  to  that  of  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  ! 

6.  **The  General,  or  those  who  may  be  ordered  by  him,  shall 
have  the  power  to  grant  absolution  for  all  and  every  kind  of  sin, 
whether  committed  before  or  after  entrance  into  the  Order,  and 
from  all  ecclesiastical  and  secular  censures  and  penalties  (those 
few  cases  excepted  which  are  set  forth  in  the  Bull  of  Pope 
Sixtus  IV.  as  appertaining  solely  to  the  Roman  Chair),  to  all 
members  of  the  Order,  as  well  as  to  all  such  as  may  express  a 
wish  to  enter  the  Order  as  novices,  or  to  serve  as  lay  brethren  ; 
should,  however,  anyone  not  hitherto  a  member,  who  in  this 
manner  obtains  absolution  and  dispensation,  not  immediately 
thereafter  join  the  Order,  the  indulgence  and  dispensation  shall 
become  of  no  effect.'    That  is  an  unheard-of  privilege,  as  even 

•  The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  see  that  this  paragraph  has  the  above- 
mentioned  "  Affaire  Lejay  "  to  thank  for  its  origin.  It  was  also  soon  seen 
that  the  same  rule  was  quite  in  its  place,  and  by  its  strict  maintenance 
protected  the  Society  from  much  iniury.  The  Emperor  Charles  V.  saw 
with  displeasure  that  the  Duke  of  Gandia  had  laid  down  his  title  and 
entered  the  Jesmt  Order  as  a  simple  professed  member,  as  he  considered 
such  a  position  nauch  too  low  and  humiliating  for  a  prince.  He  had  on  this 
account  wished  the  Pope  to  raise  Pater  Borgia  to  the  dignity  of  cardinal 
and  his  Holiness  declared  himself  prepared  to  do  so.  But  what  a  loss 
would  this  have  been  for  the  Order  1  This  proceeding  of  Borgia's  might 
serve  as  an  example  to  the  most  noble  and  most  distinguished  ;  and.  more- 
over, his  opulence  would  be  such  an  excellent  thing  for  the  Society !  No  it 
would  never  do  to  allow  him  to  be  snatched  away  ;  and  it  was  simply  in 
allusion  to  the  above  paragraph  that  the  former  Prince  Loyola  was  induced 
to  refuse  at  once  a  cardinal's  hat. 


IGNATIUS   LOYOLA   AS   GENERAL    OF    THE    ORDER.        69 

the  worst  criminals  may,  in  this  way,  escape  with  impunity  as 
soon  as  they  enter  the  Jesuit  Order ,  that  great  advantage  should 
have  been  taken  of  this  privilege  can  well  be  imagined  ! 

6.  "  No  member  of  the  Order  shall  confess  his  sins  to  any 
other  than  the  General,  or  to  those  whom  the  General  may  have 
nominated,  especially  to  any  priest  or  monk  of  any  other  Order. 
Much  less  can  anyone  who  has  once  joined  the  Order,  be  he 
called  novice,  coadjutor,  or  profess,  quit  the  Order  again  except 
with  the  express  consent  of  the  General ;  nor  can  he  go  over 
into  any  other  Order,  that  of  the  Carthusians  alone  excepted. 
Should  anyone  infringe  this  command,  the  General  has  the 
power  to  prosecute  such  fugitives,  either  in  person  or  through 
authorised  agents,  to  excommunicate  them,  to  seize  them,  and  to 
put  them  in  prison,  and  with  this  object  the  assistance  of  the 
secular  authorities  may  be  invoked."  By  this  command  the 
secrets  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  are  prevented  from  ever  being 
betrayed,  and  the  means  adopted  have  proved  themselves  indeed 
to  be  very  eflBcacious.  I  may  here  remark,  with  respect  to  the 
permission  to  enter  the  Carthusian  Order,  that,  as  far  as  is 
known,  no  Jesuit  ever  took  advantage  thereof,  owing  to  the 
extreme  strictness  of  that  sect.  Who  can  be  ignorant  of  the 
command  of  perpetual  silence  ?  This  has  been  generally  re- 
ported to  be  one  of  the  rules,  and  no  doubt  Loyola  allowed 
the  exception,  as  regards  the  Carthusians,  on  this  ground 
alone. 

7.  "  The  whole  members  of  the  Society,  as  well  as  the  goods, 
incomes,  and  possessions  of  the  Order,  are  exempt  from  the 
jurisdiction,  supervision,  and  control  of  the  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops, and  shall  be  taken  under  the  special  protection  of  the 
Papal  Chair."  The  Jesuits  might,  so  to  speak,  do  anything  they 
chose,  and  no  Church  prelate  could  dare,  on  any  account,  to  say 
even  an  unpleasant  word  to  them. 

8.  **  Those  members  of  the  Order  consecrated  to  the  priest- 
hood, consequently  all  the  professed,  may,  wherever  they  reside, 
have  their  own  houses  of  prayer,  or  erect  an  altar  in  any 
other  suitable  locality,  and  may,  even  at  the  time  of  a 
Papal  interdict,  say  mass  there  with  closed  doors,  and  administer 
the  sacrament,  after  having  excluded  all  excommunicants  and 
heretics.  Also,  in  all  places  bound  by  interdict  or  exoom- 
munication,  the  young  men  and  servants  in  the  employment  of 


it 


70 


HISTORY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


the  Jesuits,  as,  also,  all  the  laity  helonging  to  them,  as  procurators, 
labourers,  and  officers,  are  exempt  from  excommunication  and 
interdict." 

9.  "  No  bishop  or  prelate  shall  have  the  power  of  imposing 
upon  any  member  of  the  Order,  or  any  layman  friendly  to  the 
Society,  an  excommunication  or  other  Church  penalty,  and  if 
any  presume  to  do  so  it  shall  be  null  and  void." 

10.  **  It  shall  be  quite  free  to  all  Christian  believers  to  attend 
the  worship  and  preaching  of  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  as  wall  as  to  receive  the  sacrament  and  absolution,  after 
confession,  from  them,  without  being  in  any  way  liable  to  inter- 
ference by  the  ordinary  clergy." 

11.  "Every  bishop  or  archbishop  is  bound  to  consecrate 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  presented  to  him  who  are  not 
already  priests,  without  any  payment  whatever,  or  promise  of  any 
such.*' 

12.  **  The  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  with  the  permission 
of  their  General,  have  the  right  to  settle,  in  the  countries  and 
cities  of  the  excommunicated  and  schismastics,  as  well  as  of 
heretics  and  unbelievers,  and  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  same." 

13.  **  They  shall  not  be  bound  to  allow  themselves  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  visitation  of  cloisters,  or  in  inquisitions  and  other 
church  functions,  as,  also,  when  they  desire  it,  they  are  to  be 
exempt  from  the  supervision  or  conscience-keeping  of  nuns.'* 

14.  "  They  shall  not  be  required  to  pay  tithes  on  their  estates 
or  possessions,  by  whatever  names  they  may  be  called,  not  even 
excepting  Papal  holdings ;  in  short,  they  are  not  to  pay  any  taxes 
or  dues  whatever." 

Ift.  "  The  donation  of  houses,  churches,  and  colleges  built, 
founded,  or  bequeathed  by  princes,  counts,  &c.,  shall  be  con- 
sidered from  the  moment  of  delivery  as  confirmed  by  the  Pope, 
without  any  special  deed  of  ratification  being  required  to  be 
drawn  up." 

16.  "  All  their  churches  and  places  of  interment  are  to  be 
forthwith  consecrated  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  without  any 
hesitation;  should  such  bishop,  however,  delay  doing  so  for 
more  than  four  months,  the  ceremony  may  be  performed  by  the 
fittest  prelate  at  hand.  Also,  all  archbishops,  bishops,  prelates, 
and  ordinaries,  as  well  especially  as  all  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
authorities,  are  strictly  prohibited  from  hindering  the  erection 


IGNATIUS   LOYOLA  AS   GENERAL   OP   THE   OBDER.        71 

and  occupation  of  such  buildings  and  possessions  by  the  Society 
of  Jesus." 

1 7.  **  The  General,  and,  with  his  approval,  the  provincials  and 
their  vicars,  have  the  right  to  receive  into  the  Order  all  and 
sundry,  even  should  they  be  the  ofispring  of  adultery  or  incest, 
as  also  all  burdened  with  any  description  of  sin  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  murder  and  bigamy),  and  the  mutilated,  to  consecrate 
them  as  priests,  and  to  employ  them  in  all  duties  and  offices 
appertaining  to  the  Society." 

18.  "  Whoever  during  the  year  has  for  once  visited  any  par- 
ticular church  or  other  holy  place,  fixed  on  by  the  General,  for 
purposes  of  devotion,  on  any  individual  day,  also  determined  by 
the  General,  obtains  for  himself  dispensation  from  all  his  sins, 
exactly  as  at  the  time  of  the  Jubilee  in  Rome ;  but  whoever 
does  so  on  any  other  day  obtains  remission  for  seven  years, 
or  seven  quadrayenen,  that  is  to  say,  seven  times  forty  fast 
days.*' 

19.  "  The  General  is  empowered  to  send  to  any  favourite 
University  such  as  he  deems  fit,  in  order  to  deliver  lectures  on 
Theology  and  other  sciences,  without  having  previously  obtained 
the  permission  of  anyone  whomsoever."  This  was  a  more  than 
unheard-of  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Universities,  as  well 
as  of  the  secular  governments,  and  consequently  entangled  the 
Jesuits  in  the  most  bitter  of  strifes. 

20.  **  Those  who  sojourn  in  countries  belonging  to  un- 
believers have  the  right,  as  missionaries,  to  grant  absolution  for 
such  sins  and  crimes  as  the  Papal  Chair  has  reserved  for  itself, 
according  to  the  Bull  In  coena  Domini,  so  called  from  the  words 
with  which  it  commences ;  and,  moreover,  it  rests  with  them  to 
perform  all  episcopal  duties  till  such  time  as  the  Pope  shall  have 
installed  there  a  true  bishop." 

21.  "  The  General  is  empowered  to  admit  into  the  Order  as 
many  coadjutors  as  may  seem  to  him  to  be  desirable.  He  can 
also  grant  permission  that  the  taking  of  the  fourth  vow — ^that  is, 
the  admission  of  professed  members — may  be  made    outside 

Rome." 

22.  "  Lastly,  all  clerical  and  secular  powers,  by  whatever 
name  they  may  be  called,  are  admonished  to  take  great  care  not 
to  hinder,  harass,  or  disturb  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  exercise 
of  the  above  privileges  and  liberties,  under  the  penalty,  indeed, 


72 


HISTOBY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


of  excomraunicBtion,  as  also  by  the  aid  of  secular  power  bein<» 
invoked  in  case  of  necessity." 

Such  is  the  great  charter  of  the  Jesuits,  their  "  Magna  Charta," 
as  I  have  above  termed  it ;  and,  so  armed,  was  it  to  be  wondered 
that  the  Society  soon  attained   to  enormous  power?     The  whole 
world  lay  open  before  them  and  all  their  proceedings ;  and  even 
upon  the  most  violent  and  unjust  of  them,  by  order  of  the 
Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Church,  could  no  restraint  whatever  be 
put.     Pope  Paul  III.,  the  great  patron  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
died  in  the  self- same  year  in  which  he  proclaimed  the  Magna 
Charta  Bull,  but  his  successor,  Julius  III.,  formerly  Cardinal 
John  Maria  del  Monte,  who  acted  as  Papal  legate  at  the  Council 
of  Trent,  and  who  had   there  become  well  acquainted  with  the 
utility   of  the  Jesuits,  followed   exactly  in  his  footsteps,   and 
forthwith  confirmed  all  the  prerogatives  hitherto    accorded   to 
them.     He,  too,  approved   of  the  establishment  of  a  large  new 
college  in  Rome,  as  also  of  a  new  profess- house,  to  both  of  which 
the  former  Duke  of  Gandia,  now  Pater  Borgia,  gave  10,000  ducats. 
His  Holiness,  too,  on  the  22nd   October  1552,  promulgated, 
although   after   a   considerable   amount   of   pressure   exercised 
by  Loyola,  a  Bull,  in  which  the  rights  of  the  Jesuits  were  still 
further  enlarged.     In  what,  however,  did  this  enlargement  con- 
sist ?      In    nothing   else   than   the   extensive   decree   that  the 
students  of  the  Jesuit  colleges,  if  the  rectors  of  the  universities 
in  which  the  colleges  were  situated  hesitated  to  promote  them  to 
be  doctors  of  philosophy  and  theology,  might  be  promoted  by 
the  General  himself,  or  by  any  provincial  or  rector  of  a  college 
under  his  authority,  with  the  assistance  of  three  doctors,  and 
that  such   graduates  should   have    the   same  honours,   rights, 
advantages,  and  privileges  as  those  promoted  by  the  universities 
themselves.     In  addition  to  this,  so  proceeds  the  Bull,  the  same 
privileges  were  held   to   belong  to  those  colleges   situated   in 
places  where  no  universities  exist ;  and  in  order  to  obtain  the 
highest  degree  of  distinction  in  philosophical  and  theological 
science,  it  was  decreed  unnecessary  to  enter  an  university,  but 
all  this  might  be  equally  well  attained  in  a  Jesuit  college.     In 
this  way  these  institutions  were  almost  completely  put  on  an 
equal   footing  with   the    universities,   and   the  rectors  of  the 
former  made  to  rank  with  those  of  the  latter.     While,  too,  only 
universally  accomplished  teachers  taught  in  the  high  schools. 


iGNAtlUS  LOYOLA  AS   GENERAL   OP   THE   OBDER.       73 

those  who  did  so  in  the  Jesuit  colleges,  as  may  be  easily  under- 
stood, were  only  such  as  had  received  their  education  and 
spiritual  bias  entirely  in  the  Jesuit  colleges  themselves !  It  was 
impossible,  therefore,  for  the  latter  to  accomplish,  even  approxi- 
mately, what  the  former  ofiered  to  do,  and  Julius  III.  must 
naturally  have  been  well  aware  of  this ;  but  was  it  to  be  expected 
that  Popes  should  consider  themselves  bound  to  know  anything 
about  science?  The  chief  thing  was  that  the  Jesuits  should 
attain  their  great  object — to  get,  as  much  as  possible,  the  sole 
education  of  the  young  into  their  own  hands  in  all  Catholic 
states,  and  the  surest  way  of  doing  this  was,  no  doubt,  by  means 
of  a  Bull.  Thus  the  whole  educational  institutions  of  the 
Jesuits,  namely  the  colleges  in  which  philosophy  and  theology 
{studia  superiora),  as  well  as  the  seminaries  and  schools  in 
which  Latin,  grammar,  and  rhetoric  as  preparatory  knowledge 
were  taught,  now  began  to  increase  in  numbers  in  an  enormously 
rapid  manner,  while  all  zealous  Catholics  hastened  to  gain 
heaven  by  giving  a  small  contribution  towards  their  establish- 
ment, and  there  was  soon  no  country,  or  rather  no  province, 
throughout  the  Catholic  world,  where  several  members  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  were  not  established  more  or  less  as  teachers. 
What  the  tendency  of  those  institutions  was  became  most  clearly 
apparent  from  the  Collegium  Germanicum,  a  German  college 
which  Loyola  himself  founded  in  the  city  of  Rome  immediately 
ou  the  accession  of  Julius  III.  to  the  government — a  very 
peculiar  name  will  the  reader  say,  a  German  college  in  the 
capital  of  Italy  !  What  can  that  signify  ?  We  shall  soon  see. 
Already,  before  the  foundation  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits,  there 
was  no  want  of  educational  institutions,  for  their  number  was 
simply  legion.  This  did  not  prevent,  however,  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  as  we  have  already  stated,  from  establishing  a  college 
also,  and  in  truth  a  very  magnificent  one,  as  well  in  regard  to 
its  internal  arrangements  as  to  its  external  appearance.  It  was 
called  Collegium  Romanum,  and  the  best  educational  instructors 
which  Loyola  could  find  were  engaged  for  it ;  but  so  many  rooms 
were  available  in  it,  that  it  could  satisfy  every  claim.  And  in 
spite  of  all,  a  new  college  ?  Certainly ;  and,  forsooth,  for  very 
cogent  reasons.  The  Collegium  Romanum  was  in  the  first 
place  established  for  Romans,  in  a  wider  sense  for  Italians, 
and  as  the  Italian  language  was  alone  employed  in  it,  none 


m 


II 


I 


u 


mSTOEY   OF   THE   JESÜIÜS. 


consequently  could  join  it  who  were  not  acquainted  with  that 
tongue.     Now,  however,  in  Germany  heresy  acquired  the  upper 
hand  more  and  more,  and  the  Romish  Church  was  daily  losing 
ground.     Envoys  must  therefore  be  despatched  there  who  could 
combat  with  this  heresy,  and  such,  be  it  understood,  as  could 
discourse  in  the  German  language  with  the  Germans.     Whence, 
however,  could  Loyola  take  these  ?     By  far  the  greater  part  of 
his   scholars    belonged   to    the    Spanish,   Italian,    and  French- 
speaking  nationalities,  and  only  a  very  small  portion  understood 
German — merely  one  or  two  here  and  there.     Thus  the  country 
in  which,  above  all  others,   the  presence  of  Jesuits  was  most 
needed,  in   which   lay  the   widest  sphere  of  duty,    and  where 
action  must  be  taken  with  as  little  delay  as   possible,    seeing 
that  the  complete  loss  of  the  Romish   position  must  otherwise 
take  place,  was  beyond  the  reach  of  Loyola  when  the  necessary 
forces  were  wanting.     Here,  then,   help   must  be   obtained    at 
any  price,  and  that  help  was   to  come  through  the  Collegium 
Germanicum.     Loyola  gave  the  order,  therefore,  to  those  mem- 
bers who  were  operating  in   Germany   to  send   to  Rome  from 
among  those  youths  who  were  desirous  of  joining  the  Jesuit 
Order  a  couple  of  dozen  of  the  aptest  and  most  zealous,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  induced  two  rich  cardinals,  Morano  and  San 
Cruce.  to  place  at  his  disposal  a  large  roomy  dwelling  in  which 
to  lodge  the  youths.     He  then  placed  teachers  there,  who  were 
required  to  bring  them  on  in  the  Italian  language.     As  soon, 
however,  as  the  students  were  sufficiently  advanced  in  it,  they 
now  had  to  turn  their  attention   to  theology,  as  may  be  well 
understood,  and,   above  all,  to  the   Theologia  Polemica,  along 
with  the  art  of  disputation.     The  object,  then,  which  he  now 
placed  before  himself  became  clearly  apparent.     The  Collegium 
Germanicum   was    to    become  a  nursery  for  such  as  in  future 
should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  combatants  for  the  Romish 
faith  in  Germany.     In  other  words,  the  pupils  of  the  college,  as 
soon  as  they  were  sufficiently  accomplished,  should  be  sent  back 
again  to  their  own  country,  in  order  there  to  conduct,  as  speaking 
German,  the  great  controversy  on  religion,  and  to  re-establish 
there  the  unlimited  authority  of  the  Pope  and  his  officers.     This 
was  Loyola's  object — he  completely  attained  it. 

Pope   Julius   IIL,    as  soon   as   he   had    assured   himself  of 
Loyola's  ultimate  design,  assigned  a  large  income  to  the  new 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENEBAL  OF  THE  ORDEB.   ?S 


college,  and  the  latter  thereby  progressed  so  quickly  that  it  was 
enabled  to  take  in  twenty-four  German  pupils  during  the  first 
year.  On  the  accession  to  the  Papal  throne  of  John  Peter  Carafa, 
Cardinal  of  Theate,  who,  as  Pope,  took  the  name  of  Paul  IV., 
Loyola  was  inclined  to  augur  not  much  good  for  his  Order,  as 
he  felt  convinced  that  the  same  would  favour  above  all  the 
others  the  Order  of  Theate ;  but  this  apprehension  soon  proved 
to  be  groundless,  at  least,  as  long  as  Ignatius  lived,*  for 
Paul  IV.  was  much  too  sagacious  to  injure  an  institution  which 
had  proved  so  useful  to  the  Romish  Chair.  Besides,  the  Order 
was  now  already  so  firmly  rooted  that  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  have  overturned  it,  and  if  the  Pope  had  ventured  to  attempt 
doing  so,  the  Society  of  Jesus  would  have  been  able  to  have 
offered  such  a  strenuous  resistance  that  he  would  soon  have  been 
compelled  to  desist. 

The  General,  from  his  seat  in  Rome,  now  ruled  with  almost 
unlimited  power  the  whole  body  of  his  subjects,  who  were 
trained  to  honour  him  as  the  visible  Saviour,  while  all  placed 
their  entire  services  at  his  disposal,  and  allowed  themselves 
to  be  guided  by  him  as  willing  puppets.  Thus  writes  a 
far- travelled  and  distinguished  author  of  a  history  of  the 
Jesuits  not  by  any  means  inimical  to  the  same : — **  He  ap- 
pointed and  discharged  all  the  higher  officials ;  he  disposed 
of  the  rank  and  efficiency  of  all  belonging  to  the  Order, 
who  must  act  exactly  according  to  his  will.  He  regulated 
everything  as  appeared  to  him  most  necessary  and  useful 
for  the  well-being,  discipline,  and  improvement  of  the  Society ; 
he  manipulated  the  privileges,  prerogatives,  fundamental 
principles,  and  constitution  obtained  from  the  Holy  Chair, 
which  he  took  upon  himself  to  accentuate,  abate,  or  disavow 
without  scruple ;  he  frequented  and  regulated  the  general  con- 
vents; he  decided,  in  short,  all  the  principal  afiairs  of  the 
community.'*  This  latter,  however,  possessed,  on  the  other 
hand,  four  assessors  or  assistants,  to  check  any  abuse  of  the 

•  Shortly  after  his  death,  in  the  year  1558,  an  attack  was  certainly  made 
by  Paul  IV.,  which  affected  the  Jesuits  rather  closely,  in  that  he  required 
they  should  perform  equally  all  religious  exercises,  chorus  singing,  &c., 
which  duty  had  hitherto  fallen  upon  the  other  ecclesiastics  and  priesthood, 
and  from  which,  owing  to  their  many  other  employments,  they  had  up  to 
this  time  been  exempt ;  but  he  soon  withdrew  again  this  request,  and  the 
sons  of  Loyola  continued  as  before,  and  were  not  in  any  way  obliged  to  lose 
their  time  in  lazy  stupor,  praying  and  singing.  Suoh  a  monk's  life  would 
hay«  ill  accorded  truly  with  their  aim  and  object. 


v 

76 


HISTOBY   OF   THE    JESÜITÖ. 


patriarchal  supreme  power.*     These  were  elected  hy  the  great 
electoral  college,  a  description  of  deputies  or  ministers,   whose 
duty  it  was  to  support  the  General  in  all  matters  of  difficulty 
with  their  advice  and  assistance,  and  to  call  his  attention  to  this 
or   that   error.      Indeed,    they   might   even   go   so   far    as   re- 
monstrance and  warning,  but  this  last  proceeded  from  the  mouth 
of  the  admonitor,  or  spiritual  adviser,  who  was  chosen  by  every 
General.     The  provincials,   or  heads  of  circles,  as  they  might 
also  be  called,  acted  as  leading  officials  of  the  Order,  while  the 
whole  Catholic  world  was  divided  by  the  General  into  smaller  or 
larger  circles — provinces— over  each  of  which  he  placed  a  vice- 
gerent.    Again,  to  each  provincial  were  assigned  four  assistants 
and  an  admonitor,  who  ruled  in  a  small  way  as  the  General  did  in 
Bomein  a  larger  way,  only  in  all  weighty  matters  such  person  was 
required  to  make  previous  reference,  and  was  himself  responsible 
in  even  the  very  smallest  transactions.     He  had  the  right  of 
proposal  of  the  so-called  Propositi  studiorum^  that  is,  the  super- 
vision of  the  stewards  of  the  colleges,  and  it  lay  with  him  to 
inspect  carefully,  at  least  once  a  year,  the  condition  of  the  whole 
circle  as  regards  houses,  persons,  incomes,  &c.      He  supervised 
in  the  colleges  and  other  educational  institutions  the  diligence  of 
teachers  as  well  as  pupils,  and  also  the  course  of  instruction  and 
discipline,  and  he  remained  the  whole  year  at  his  post,  unless 
sent  elsewhere  by  the  General.     Immediately  below  him  came 
the  superiors,  that  is,  the  heads  of  the  profess- ho  uses,  in  which 
resided  the  brethren  sworn  to  observe  all  the  four  vows,  and  their 
duties  were  to  supervise  discipline,  devotions,  and  other  affairs. 
The  rectors  coming  next  under  them— that  is  to  say,  the  heads  of 
colleges — had  equally  to  supervise  the  individual  teachers  as  well 
as  scholars,  and  to  hold  once  a  week  a  principal  examination.    In 
short,  all  was  well  ordered,  down  to  even  the  lowest  menial,  and 
there  was  no  State  in  the  world  which  could  exhibit  a  more  regular 
or  more  uniform  government.  The  thing,  however,  which  first  put 
the  seal  upon  it,  was  the  constant  correspondence  which  united  all 
circles  and  provinces,  all  lower  and  higher  officials,  partly  among 
each   other    and   partly   with    the   General.     The   rectors,  for 
instance,  as  well  as  the  superiors,  sent  in  a  weekly  report  to  the 
provincial,  and  the  latter  replied  thereto  every  month.     To  the 

•  The  four  first  Jesuits,  on  whom  devolved  the  duty  of  assistant,  were 
Jerom  Natalia,  John  of  Polanoo,  Goncalez  de  Camara,  and  Christofal  of 
Madnd. 


laNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENERAL  OP  THE  ORDER.   77 

General  himself  the  whole  of  the  provincials  wrote  once  a  month, 
and  the  rectors  and  superiors  once  in  three  months.  This,  how- 
ever, was  still  insufficient,  for  the  rectors  and  superiors  had  to 
send  in  a  report  every  fourteen  days  to  the  provincial,  as  well  as 
every  month  to  the  General.  Likewise  it  was  incumbent  on  the 
assistants  of  the  provincials  to  transmit  sealed  letters  twice  a 
year  respecting  their  provincials  for  the  time  being.  In  short, 
it  was  a  regular  system  of  reciprocal  supervision,  or,  rather,  it 
might  be  regarded  as  a  legal  espionage  entering  into  the  smallest 
details,  as  well  from  above  downwards  as  from  below  upwards, 
and  in  this  way  it  was  made  impossible  for  any  member  to  over- 
step the  prescribed  boundary  lines  of  obedience.  The  General, 
bv  this  means,  knew  from  each  individual  what  he  thought 
and  did,  and  while  all  the  wires  of  the  entire  machinery  ran 
together  into  his  cabinet  in  Rome,  he  could  guide  to  a  nicety  by 
leading  strings,  in  the  blindest  subjection,  individuals  as  well  as 

the  whole  fabric  ! 

Ignatius  Loyola  had  now  brought  his  matters  so  far,  steeped, 
forsooth,  in  nothing  else  than  worldly  pleasure  and  vanity ;  but 
the  future  warrior,  having  accomplished  this  much,  found  that  the 
time  had  now  arrived  when  he  must  pay  to  nature  its  usual  tribute. 
The  former  extravagant  punishments  he  had  inflicted  on  his  body, 
the  many  cares  and  vexations  he  had  to  encounter  in  the  forma- 
tion of  his  Order,  and,  lastly,  the  frightful  anxiety  inseparable 
from  the  duties  of  so  gigantic  an  office  as  that  of  a  Jesuit  General, 
gradually  weakened  his  naturally  very  strong  constitution,  and 
he  found  himself  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1556  obliged 
to  hand  over  the  greater  part  of  the  business  to  Pater  Jerom 
Natalis,  who  had  been  elected  to  be  his  vicar  by  those  professed 
members  present  at  that  time  in  Rome  He  himself  withdrew 
to  a  country  house  near  Rome,  which  had  been  presented  to 
him  by  a  rich  patron  of  the  name  of  Louis  Mendoza,*  in 
order  to  attend  to  the  state  of  his  health,  but  the  weakness 
increased  so  much  during  the  summer  that  he  caused  himself  to 
be  brought  back  again  to  Rome,  as  he  hnd  a  desire  to  die  in 
the  profess-house  among  his  own  people.  Towards  the  end  of 
Julv  he  there  dictated  his  will,  took  leave  of  the  world  and  his 

•  The  same  was  situated  close  to  the  picturesque  ruins  of  the  Villa  of 
Mercena,  and  was  not  only  beautifully  constructed,  but  also  surrounded  by 
a  charming  park.  In  this  way  the  good  Ignatius,  at  the  end  of  his  life,  did 
not  Beem  to  observe  very  oloaely  the  vow  of  poverty. 


i 


\    V, 


■i 


Ü  II 


78 


mSTOBY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS  GENERAL   OP   THE   ORDER.       79 


companions,  and  departed  this  life  on  Friday,  Bist  July,  an  hour 
before  sunset,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year,  consequently,  thirty-five 
years  after  the  date  of  his  being  wounded,  and  of  his  conversion  ; 
his  death  happened,  notwithstanding  the  declaration  of  his 
surgeon,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Alexander  Petronius,  that  there  was 
nothing  particularly  dangerous  in  his  condition. 

Only  four  of  his  first  colleagues  were  present  at  the  time, 
Rodriguez,  Salmeron,  Laynez,  and  Bobadilla;  the  remainder  were 
prosecuting  their  calling  in  far  distant  lands,  or  had  already  been 
overtaken  by  death,  as  in  the  case  of  Lejay  and  Le  Fevre.  But 
from  the  nine  original  associates  thousands  had  already  sprung 
up,  and  the  Order  had  established  itself  in  no  less  than  twelve 
countries— Italy,  Portugal,  Sicily.  Germany,  the  Netherlands, 
France,  Arragon,  Castile,  Andalusia,  India,  Ethiopia,  and  Brazil.* 
Incredible  things  had  been  accomplished  by  Loyola  in  a  com- 
paratively short  space  of  time,  but  not  so  much,  assuredly, 
through  his  wisdom  and  understanding.  In  this  respect  he  had 
not  particularly  distinguished  himself,  at  all  events  not  remark- 
ably. Laynez,  however,  had  made  up  for  his  deficiencies  more 
than  three  or  four-fold,  and  the  genius  of  a  Salmeron  and  a 
Le  Fevre  was  not  to  be  despised.  But  his  success  was  due 
rather  to  his  energy,  his  perseverance,  his  ambition,  his  iron 
will,  his  glowing  zeal,  and,  lastly,  through  his  heroic  soldierly  bold- 
ness, which  infused  quite  a  peculiar  spirit  into  the  Order  he  had 
founded.  Still,  whether  on  that  account  he  was  really  a  great 
man  ;  whether,  as  the  Jesuits  contend,  he  deserved  to  be  placed  in 
line  with  the  most  distinguished  persons  which  the  world  has  pro- 
duced, I  leave  the  reader  himself  to  form  a  judgment. t     I  myself, 

*  The  details  respecting  this  wiU  be  found  in  the  next  book,  to  which  I 
must  refer  those  curious  on  the  matter.  wmün  ± 

t  How  extremely  high  the  Jesuits  placed  their  founder  is  proved  bv  the 
mscription  on  the  naonument  which  the  Dutch  members  erected  to  his 
memory  m  the  year  1640. 

Cujus  animus 
Vastissimo  coerceri  non  potuit  unius  orbis  ambitu, 

Ejus  Corpus 
r^j  Humili  hoc  angustoque  tumulo  continetur. 

11«  magnum  aut  Fompejum,  aut  Caesarem,  aut  Alexandrum  cogitas, 

Aperi  oculos  veritati, 
Majorem  his  omnibus  leges 

IGNATIUM. 
Non  coerceri  maximo,  contineri  tamen  a  minimo,  divinum  est. 

IGNATIO 

Virtute  maximo,  submissione  minimo 

TotiuB  orbis  locus  angustus  est. 


for  my  own  part,  am  contented  with  referring  to  what  happened 
respecting   Ignatius  after  his  death,  as  I  presume   the  reader 

Hinc  animimi  gerens  mundo  majorem 

Plus  ultra  unius  orbis  et  aevi  terminos  saepe  quaesivit, 

Quo  opera  suae  pietatis  extenderet: 

Inde  de  se  cogitationem  habens  minimo  minorem, 

Minus  citra  communis  sepulcri  latebras  semper  optavit, 

Quo  inhumati  corporis  pondus  abjiceret. 

Coelum  animo,  Roma  corpori 

Uli  ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam  summa  spectanti 

Aliquid  summo  majus  attribuit: 

Huic  ad  majorem  sui  objectionem  ima  spectanti, 

Modum  posuit  mediumque  virtutis. 

Anno  M.CD.xci.  in  arce  LOJOLAE  loco  apud  Cantabros  illustri 

Mortalium  plane  bona  et  juvantis  hominibus  vere  natus, 

Suae  primum  gloriae  cupidus,  in  aula  et  campo  Catholici  regis, 

Naturae  dedit,  quod  dein  divinae  tantum  gloriae  studiosus, 

Sanctioribus  in  castris,  saluti  et  gratiae  consecraret. 

Cum  hostes  adversus  innumeros  unus  prope  Pompejopolim  tueretur, 

Idem  Sauli  instar  et  Pauli,  vi,  non  virtute,  victus 

Ita  cecidit,  ut  optandus  fuisse  casus,  non  fugiendus, 

Etiam  IGNATIO,  videretur:  arcem  perdidit;  servavit  ecclesiam. 

Ex  eo  non  jam  suus, 
Sed  ejus,  qui  stantem  tormento  perculit, 
Ut  prodigio  fulciret  abjectum 
Sacramentum,  quod  mundo  dixerat,  Christo  dedit. 
Per  militiae  sanctiori»  asperrima  rudimenta. 
Per  insidias  daemonum,  per  oppugnationes  hominum. 
Per  conjurata  in  unum  omnia 
Factus  Dux  e  milite,  ex  tirone  veteranus, 
Jesu  nomine,  non  suo, 
Legionem  in  ecclesiam  Dei  fortissimum  conscripsit, 
Quae  vitam  pro  divini  cultus  incremento  paciscens 
In  Romani  Pontificis  verba  juraret. 
Hie  ille  est,  in  quo  ostendit  Deus, 
Quantum  ei  curae  sit  ecclesiae  securitas, 
In  quo  miserantis,  Dei  bonitatem  atque  potentiam 

Ecclesia  catholica  veneratur. 
Quem  prostratum  tamquam  Paulum  erexit  Deus, 
Ut  nomen  suum  coram  gentibus  populisque  portaret:  . 
Quem  praelegit  Dominus,  ut  eorum  Dux  foret. 
Qui  sui  in  terris  Vicarii  authoritatem  defenderent. 
Et  Rebelies  haereticos  ad  unitatem  fidei  revocarent. 
Quem  suo  Jesu  commendavit  Pater  aeternus; 
Cui  ipse  Jesus  se  propitium  fore  promisit, 
Quem  Spiritus  sanctus  omnium  virtutum  genere  decoravit : 
Quem  praesens  toties  et  propitia  virgo  Mater  dilexit  ut  filium, 
Erudivit  ut  alumnum,  defendit  ut  clientem. 
Qui  Dei  amans,  non  coeli,  osor  mundi,  non  hominum, 
Paratus  pro  his  excludi  gloria,  pro  illo  damnari  poena ; 
Mortalis  apud  homines  vitae  non  prodigus,  sed  contemtor 
Vitalis  apud  inferos  mortis  non  metuens,  sed  securus, 
Profuit  vivus  mortuis,  quos  revocavit  ad  vitam  ; 
Mortuus  vivis,  quos  servavit  a  morte; 
Utrisque  se  partem  exhibens ; 
Dignus  haberi  potuit  Jesu  nomine. 
Qui  praeter  Dei  gloriam  et  salutem  hominum  nil  quaesivit. 
Anno  M.D.Lvi.  prid.  Kalendas  Augustas 
Nutu  summi  Imperatoris  jussus  a  statione  decedere, 
Curam  mortalium,  quam  vivus  habuerat, 
Etiam  mortuus  oon  amisit. 


80 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS, 


M 


i 


would  have  no  small  interest  therein  ;  and  it  may  be  truly  said 
that  there  are  not  too  many  men  who  have  a  history  after 
death. 

Ignatius  had  frequently  expressed  a  strong  wish  that  on  his 
decease  his  corpse  might  be  thrown  into  a  flaying  place,  in  order 
that  it  might  be  torn  and  picked  to  pieces  by  birds  of  prey  and 
wild  animals,  as  the  same  was  no  longer  anything  else  than  a 
lump  of  clay,  a  mere  heap  of  refuse.  In  this  respect,  however, 
his  associates  did  not  obey  him.  They  buried  him,  on  the  con- 
trary, with  great  pomp,  on  Saturday,  the  1st  of  August,  in  the 
church  of  Maria  da  Strada,  which  belonged  to  them,  and  there 
the  coffin  remained  until  the  year  1587,  when,  by  order  of  the 
General  Aquaviva,  it  was  conveyed  with  still  greater  pomp  into 
the  splendid  Jesuit  church  then  newly  built  by  the  Cardinal 
Alexander  Farnese.  As  on  the  occasion  of  this  latter  re- 
moval of  the  coffin  several  wonders  took  place,  and  as  after 
it  a  number  of  sick  men  who  called  upon  his  name  were  restored 
to  health,  Paul  V.,  in  the  year  1609,  pronounced  the  deceased  to 
be  holy;  and  in  the  year  1622,  thirteen  years  afterwards,  he  was 
translated  among  the  saints  by  Gregory  XV.  Since  that  time  a 
number  of  altars  have  been  dedicated  to  him,  on  the  whole,  more 
than  2,000 ;  and,  besides,  not  less  than  half  a  hundred  churches, 
of  which  some,  especially  that  erected,  in  the  year  1626,  by  the 
Cardinal  Ludovico  in  Rome,  close  to  the  Collegium  Romanum, 

Coelo  transscriptus,  sed  propensus  in  terras; 
Animarmn  avidus,  etiam  cum  Deo  plenus:* 
Ecclesiae  triumphantis  socius,  pro  müitante  solicitus, 

Quod  unum  potuit 
Corpus  suum  pignus  animi  fideique  depositum  hie  reUquit  • 
Cui  ne  quid  decesset  ad  gloriam,  ' 

Non  semel  angelicos  inter  cantus  submissa  de  Coelo"  lumina  micuenmt. 

Age,  quisquis  haec  leges, 
Beatos  immortalis  viri  et  patris  communis  omnium  cinerea  venerare 

Hos  tu,  cum  videris,  religiose  cole,  * 

Cum  habueris,  pie  complectere; 
Et  latere  sub  his,  etiam  nunc,  suam  ignem. 
Hoc  est,  servientem  humanae  vitae  et  saluti 
IGNATIUM  deprehendes. 
Vivit  annis  quinque  et  sexaginta  inter  mortales, 
A   r^  .    ^TT       öctoginta  quatuor  inter  immortales, 

A  Gregorio  XV,  Catholicis  aris  solenniter  additus  anno  hujus  Saec   XXII 
A  Deo  pennni  gloria  coehtum  ultra  omne  saeculum  feliciter  cumiüa^dus 
Hoc  sui  animi  et  venerationis  perpetuae  monumentum 
Non  structum   auro  vel  marmore ; 
Sed  tenaci  grataque  memoria  consecratum 
Optimo  Maximoque,  post  Deum,  Patri 
Minima  Jesu  Societas 
M.D.O.XL.  Anno  suo  SÄeculari  primo  poauit,  dedicavit 


IGNATIUS  LOYOLA  AS   GENERAL   OF   THE   ORDER.       81 

are  truly  elegant  buildings.  An  object  of  particularly  great 
veneration,  too,  was  the  altar  in  the  church  of  Aspeitia  before 
which  he  was  baptized  ;  and  still  more  esteemed  was  the  ancient 
castle  of  Loyola,  upon  which,  after  they  had  received  it  as  a 
present  from  the  Queen  of  Spain,  who  purchased  it  with  this 
object  in  the  year  1695,  the  Jesuits  bestowed  the  name  of  Santa 
Casa,  or  holy  house.  The  Jesuits,  however,  were  still  not  satis- 
fied, but,  in  addition  to  their  more  than  foolish  religious  worship, 
they  declared  afresh  that  their  holy  Ignatius  was  equal  to  the 
Apostles  in  worth,  and  that  in  heaven  he  would  hold  intercourse 
with  no  one  except  with  Popes,  as  the  holy  Peter,  with  em- 
presses, as  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  with  sovereign  monarchs,  as 
God  the  Father  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Such  great  honour 
fell  to  the  lot  of  Ignatius  Loyola  after  his  death,  an  honour 
which  was  truly  regarded  by  many  as  the  offspring  of  madness  ! 


6 


BOOK    II. 


THE  SHREWDNESS  OF  THE  JESUITS ; 


AND 


THE  GIGANTIC  PROGRESS  OF  THEIR  GROWTH. 


6  ♦ 


86 


CHAPTER   I. 


FioLU  son  d'  un  soldato,  odio  la  place: 

Naqui  fra  1*  armi,  ho  la  pieta  sbandita. 

Mi  fu  Madre  crudel  una  ferita. 

Onde  la  Morte  ed  il  sangue  d'  altrui  mi  piaoe. 

Son  barbara,  son  cruda,  e  son  rapace, 

E  nell'  armi  avezzai  1'  alma  in  fierita. 

E  86  in  mezzo  alle  stragi  ebbi  la  Vita 

Porto  Yo  unque  men  vado,  e  ferro  e  fooe. 

Non  conosco  altro  Dio,  oh*  il  proprio  orgoglio. 

L'  issesse  Monarchie  per  me  son  dome, 

E  nel  hipocrisia  ho  quel  che  voglio. 

Delude  il  Monat  ognor;  Me  si  sa  come 

Compagnia  di  Giesu,  chiamarmi  foglio 

E  non  ho  di  Giesu,  oh'  il  nudo  nome. 


THE  JE8UIT  MISSIONS  IN  DISTANT  REGIONS  OP  THE  WORLD. 

I. — The  Jesuit  Missions  in  Asia. 

According  to  tradition,  it  was  the  Apostle  Thomas  who  first 
spread  Christianity  in  India;  others,  however,  ascribe  this 
honour  to  a  rich  merchant  of  the  name  of  Max  Thomas,  who,  in 
the  6th  century,  lived  in  the  time  of  the  great  Emperor,  Ceram 
Perumal,  the  founder  of  Calicut ;  and,  through  his  great  mer- 
cantile transactions,  which  extended  even  as  far  as  Constanti- 
nople, became  acquainted  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Let  this  be  as  it  may,  this  much  is  certain,  that  the  Portuguese, 
as  they  became  possessed  of  the  whole  of  Malabar,  along  with 
Goa,  Ceylon,  Malacca,  and  the  Sunda  Islands,  under  the  cele- 
brated Alfonso  Albuquerque,  their  great  naval  hero,  and,  for  a 
long  period,  Viceroy  of  India,  had  already  found  their  way  to 
Asia  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  under  the  guidance  of  Vasco 
de  Gama,  about  the  same  time  as  the  discovery  of  America,  and 
had  met  with  persons  of  the  Christian  faith,  although  not 
Christians  "  according  to  the  Roman  Catholic  views  of  the  loth 
century."  On  the  contrary,  much  of  what  is  heathen,  both  as 
regards  their  customs  and  faith,  was  so  mixed  up  with  it,  that 
the  good  Catholic  ruler  of  Portugal  at  that  time,  being  much 
shocked  with  such  a  kind  of  Christianity,  sent  Franciscan^monks 
to  Goa — this  latter  city  being  at  that  time  the  central  point, 
and  the  capital  of  their  East  Indian  possessions— in  order  that 
the  true,  that  is  to  say,  the  Homan  Catholic  faith,  might  be 


irrgj 


86 


HISTOBr   OF    THE   JESUITS. 


promulgated  in  these  regions.     The  Franciscans  proved  them- 
selves to  be  but  very  ill  adapted  for  this  kind  of  work,  and 
showed  that  **  conversion,"  or,  as  it  was  more  correctly  expressed, 
"  the  mission  to  the  heathen,"  was  not  their  forte,  although  the 
Governor  and  Viceroy  placed  the  bayonets  of  his  military  force 
entirely  at  their  disposal.     The  progress  they  made  was,  there- 
fore, quite  insignificant,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Goa  itself, 
where  the  Bishopric  was  founded,  the  Catholic  faith  took  no 
root  to  any  great  extent.     The  Indians  continued  to  be  just  the 
same   as  before,  and   to   worship  their  gods  according  to  the 
fashion  of  their  fathers  and  ancestors ;  and  although  some  few, 
through  military   compulsion,    nominally    became  Papists,    the 
great  mass   of  the   worshippers   of  Bramah   and  Vishnu  still 
showed  themselves   to  be    as  stiflf-necked  as  ever.     This  state 
of  things  did   not   at  all   give    satisfaction   to   the   Kings   of 
Portugal,  and  John  III.,  who  reigned  from   >ö2i  to  1ö57,  was 
particularly    shocked   at    it,    as    he    was   not  only    an    extra- 
ordinarily pious  adorer  of  Rome  and  the  Papacy,  but  believed 
that  the  inhabitants  of  his  newly- acquired  possessions,  could  not 
become  good  Portuguese   subjects   until  they   had   prostrated 
themselves  at  the  same  cross  before  which  the  Portuguese  knelt. 
It  was  now  that  the  said  John  heard  of  the  new  Order,  instituted 
by  the  conception  of  Ignatius  Loyola  at  Rome — an  order  whose 
great  aim  and  object  was  said   to  be  "  the  conversion  of  un- 
believers " — and  he,  therefore,  soon  proffered  a  request  to  Loyola 
to  send  out  to  India  a  sufficient  number  of  missionaries.  Indeed, 
he  would  gladly  have  seen  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
proceed  thither  himself,  propria  persona,  as  he  entertained  the 
firm  belief  that  "  the  warriors  of  Christ  could  have  no  other 
design   than  the  Christianising  of  all    the  idol-worshippers  in 
the  world.**    Loyola,  however,  was  not  at  all  of  this  opinion,  and 
not  only  remained  in  Bome  himself,  but  explained  to  the  King 
that  he  was  only  in  a  position  to  send  forth  two  of  his  associates, 
Rodriguez    and  Francis   Xavier,    and    that    "he    required    the 
remainder  for  other  purposes/' 

This  took  place  in  the  summer  of  1540,  and  the  two  above- 
named  men  made  their  way  to  Lisbon,  where  the  monarch 
received  them  most  kindly.  They  could  not,  however,  proceed 
at  once  to  India,  as  the  fleet,  destined  to  proceed  there  annually, 
had  already  weighed  anchor;  but  they  would  have  been  very 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASU. 


87 


wrong  not  to  have  blessed  most  heartily  this  adverse  incident,  as 
they  won  the  favour  of  John  III.  to  such  a  high  degree,  that  the 
latter  was  quite  unwilling  again  to  part  with  them.  He,  in  truth, 
carried  this  out  to  a  certain  extent,  inasmuch  as,  with  the 
permission  naturally  of  Loyola,  he  retained  one  of  them,  Rod- 
riguez, who  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  Lisbon, 

Francis  Xavier,  however,   in  whom  the  zeal  for  conversion 
overcame  every  other  consideration,  was  not  to  be  diverted  from 
the  journey  to  India.     The  monarch  provided  him  in  the  best 
way  with   Papal  briefs   which  he  obtained   from  Paul  III.,  as 
also  with   letters  of  full   powers  made   out   by   himself.     By 
one  of  these  letters  Francis  Xavier  acquired  the   position   of 
**  Nuntius  Jpostolicus" ;    that  is  to  say,  representative  of  the 
Pope  for  the  whole  of  India ;  in  a  second,  in  virtue  of  the  right 
assigned   to   him  for  the  conversion   of  the   heathen,  he  had 
authority  to  claim  all  secular  influence  of  the  Portuguese  officials 
in  the  Asiatic  colonies ;  lastly,  in  a  third  writing.  King  John 
himself  recommended  him   most   earnestly   to   all  the   chiefs, 
princes,  and  governments,  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  the 
Ganges.      Thus,  well  provided,   Francis  Xavier  proceeded   to 
India  on  the  7  th  of  April  1541,  with  the  royal  fleet  destined 
thither  from  Lisbon,  and  his  heart  swelled  with  gladdening  hopes 
at  the  prospect  of  victory  which  he  wished  to  gain  for  the  banner 
of  Christ  over  the  unbelievers.     He  had  forgotten  one  thing, 
however,  and  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  chief  one  indeed ;  he  had 
not  thought  it  worth  the  trouble  to  make  himself  acquainted  in 
the  least  degree  with  the  language  of  the  populations  which  he 
had  set  out  to  convert.     **  God  gives  his  own  in  sleep,"  thought 
he.     And  might  not,  then,  the  Holy  Ghost  be  so  favourable  to 
him  as  to  work  a  miracle  ? 

The  voyage  to  India  was  a  very  slow  one,  and,  while  they  were 
compelled  to  make  an  involuntary  halt  of  six  months  in  Mozam- 
bique, they  only  arrived  in  the  harbour  of  Goa  after  a  lapse  of 
thirteen  months,  on  the  6th  of  May  1 542.  This  made  Francis 
Xavier  all  the  more  zealous  in  respect  to  the  task  he  had  to  fulfil ; 
and  although  a  royal  equipage  and  princely  residence  were  placed 
at  his  disposal  by  the  governor  of  the  city,  his  first  care  was  to 
betake  himself  at  once  to  the  hospital,  in  order  there  to  nurse 
the  sick  himself,  and  to  get  his  own  means  of  support  from  the 
public  alms.    Little  or  nothing,  however,  was  in  this  way  done 


I 


88 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


for  his  proper  object,  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  conse- 
quently, after  a  little  time,  he  presented  himself  to  the  Bishop  of 
Goa,  in  order  to  produce  before  that  prelate  the  full  powers 
"which  he  had  brought  along  with  him,  and  humbly  at  once  to 
crave  permission  to  set  about  the  conversion  of  the  heathen. 
For  him  this  authority  was,  indeed,  certainly  not  requisite,  since 
as  Pope's  nuncio,  he  superseded  the  bishop  ;  but  it  was  of 
consequence  to  him  to  make  sure  of  the  favour  of  the  latter, 
named  Don  Juan  d' Albuquerque,  descended  from  one  of  the 
very  highest  families,  and  possessing  great  influence  as  well  in 
Goa  as  in  Portugal  itself.  He,  in  fact,  completely  succeeded  in 
winning  over  Don  Juan  to  his  views,  and  consequently  the  work 
of  conversion  might  now  commence  without  further  delay. 
But,  0  Lord,  what  a  misfortune  !  The  stupid  natives  did  not 
understand  one  single  word  of  what  Xavier  chattered  to  them, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  did  not  render  him  any  assistance  "  with 
the  gift  of  tongues."  He  arrived  at  the  conviction,  at  last,  that 
nothing  could  be  done  as  long  as  he  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  language  of  the  country,  and  he  consequently  at  once  set 
about  the  study  of  Hindustani  with  the  greatest  zeal.  Along 
with  this  task,  however,  he  by  no  means  forgot  to  exercise 
further  activity  in  his  calling  as  a  Jesuit,  and  proved  it  by  the 
clever  way  in  which  he  at  once  set  about  establishing  a  college, 
the  first  in  the  heathen  world. 

The  pair  of  Franciscan  monks,  who  were  already  established 
in  Goa,  had  a  seminary  in  which  they  instructed  a  few  of  the 
native  youths  in  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  it  at  once  struck 
Xavier  that  their  building,  which  appeared  quite  well  adapted 
for  the  purpose,  might  be  made  available  for  his  future  plans. 
He  addressed  himself,  therefore,  to  the  superior  of  the  institution, 
Brother  James  Borbona,  produced  before  him  his  Papal  briefs, 
and  urged  him  so  much  that  he  not  only  gave  over  the  house, 
with  everything  appertaining  to  it,  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  but 
also,  in  his  own  person,  became  a  member  of  the  same.  It  is 
true  that  he  did  not  act  thus  from  entirely  disinterested  motives, 
as  he  made  the  condition  that  he  should  continue  to  be  the 
rector  of  the  institution  for  life.  But  what  did  that  matter  to 
Xavier?  He  had  now,  in  this  way,  got  rid  of  competition,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  had  the  glory  of  converting  the  seminary 
hitherto    denominated  "  Santa  F6,"  into  the  college  of  Holy 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA. 


89 


Paul.  He,  moreover,  took  care  to  turn  the  school,  hitherto 
small  and  poor,  into  an  educational  institution  of  the  richest  and 
most  brilliant  description,  not  so  much,  however,  by  means  of 
voluntary  gifts  obtained  by  begging,  but  rather  in  this  way,  that 
by  the  aid  of  the  vice-regal  troops  he  pulled  down  the  heathen 
temples  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Goa,  and  appropriated  their 
very  considerable  property  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  new 

college. 

As  soon,  now,  as  Xavier  had  made  sufficient  progress  in  the 
Hindustani  and  Malay  languages  to  enable  him  to  make  him- 
self in  some  degree  understood,  he  left  Goa  in  order  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  so-called  *'  peari  coast "  of  Malabar,  the  whole 
of  which  country  had  been  brought  into  subjection  by  the  Por- 
tuguese, and  as,  besides,  they  possessed  many  valuable  settlements 
there,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  sunk  in  the  grossest  kind 
of  heathenism,  it  would  be  possible,  for  that  reason,  to  bring 
about  some  considerable  result,  if  the  thing  were  but^  skilfully 
managed.      In   what   way,   then,  did  Xavier  proceed  ?      In  a 
truly  most  remarkable  manner,  which  the  missionaries  of  the 
present  day  might  be  inclined  not  a  little  to  despise.     He  took 
along  with  him  a  bell,  armed  with  which  he  ran  about  the  streets 
ringing  it  in  broad  mid-day,  unül  he  succeeded  in  drawing  after 
him  a  troop  of  boys  and  others,  attracted  by  curiosity,  who 
greeted  him  with  jeers  and  laughter.     When  he  had  thus  got 
together  a  considerable  auditory,  placing  himself  on  some  large 
stone,  he  forthwith  began  his  sermon,  which  was  delivered  m 
the  language  of  the  country  intedaxded  with  fragments  of  Latin, 
Spanish,  Italian,  and  French,  to  which  he  added  much  gesticu- 
lation with  both  hands  and  feet.     He  then  finally  produced  a 
large  cross,  which  he  piously  kissed,  and  required  the  crowd  to 
do  likewise,  presenting  each  one  who  complied  with  a  beautiful 
rosary,   thousands  of   which  he  had  brought    with  him  from 
Portugal.     This,  however,  was  only  the  first  part  of  his  method 
of  conversion.     The  second  was  much  more  effectual,  and  con- 
sisted in  pulling  down,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Portuguese 
troops,  which  he  called  into  requisition,  the  native  temples,  and 
breaking  in  pieces  the  idols  found  therein,  not,  however,  with* 
out  replacing  them  by  Christian  chapels,  with  the  image  of  the 
crucified  Jesus,  and  erecting  in  the  neighbourhood  a  handsome 
building  constructed  of  bamboo  canes,  for  the  instxuction  of  the 


I 


It 


• 


90 


•HISTOBY   OF    THE   JESUITS. 


yonug.     He  already  knew,  from  experience,  what  an  impression 
a  solemn  service,  with  the  sacrifice  ol  the  mass,  made  upon  the 
fanciful  imaginations  of  Orientals,  and   he   also   knew  that  in 
order  to  render  the  work  of  conversion  lasting,  it  was   neces- 
sary to  win    over   to   the   new   faith  the  growing  youth,  the 
foundation  of  the  population.     For  this  reason,  he  threw  him- 
self, with  great  zeal,  into  the  matter  of  education,  and,  partly  by 
means  of  friendly  presents,  and  partly  by  fear  of  the  Portuguese 
soldiery,  who  had  destroyed  the  heathen   temples,  succeeded  in 
inducing  many  of  the  native  boys  and  girls  to  attend  his  schools. 
It  was  but  an  easy  matter,  however,  from  a  missionary  point  of 
view,  as,  far  from  making  them   acquainted  with  the  principles 
of  Christianity,  he  merely  contented  himself  in  teaching  them  to 
say  the  Lord's  Prayer,  along  with  the  Creed,  and  causing  them 
to  understand  the  same,  as  also  to  cross  the  arms  with  humility 
over  the  breast.     After  getting  them  on  as  far  as  this,  Xavier 
now  accepted  them  as  Christians  through  the  performance  of  a 
solemn  baptismal  service,  and  he  soon  managed  in  this  way  to 
acquire  a  pretty  considerable  number  of  souls  for  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven.     In  spite  of  all  this,  the  business  of  conversion  went 
on  much  too  slowly  to  please  him,  and,  on  that  account,  even  in 
the  first  year  of  his  residence  in  India,  he  wrote  to  his  General, 
requesting  him   to  send  out  a  number  of  assistants.      Loyola 
comphed  most  willingly  with  this  demand,  and  sent  him  more 
than  twenty  of  them,  almost  all  being  Portuguese  whom  Kodri- 
guez  had  recently  gained  over  for  the   Order ;  amongst   them 
were  the  Paters  Anton  Criminal,  Anton  Gomez,  Casper  ßergäus, 
Paulus  Camerti,  Alonzo  Cyprius,  Melchior  Gonzales,  and  Fran- 
ciBcus  Peren,  who  all,  more  or  less,   subsequently  distinguished 
themselves.     He  was  now  able  to  carry  on  the  work  of  conversion 
in  a  wholesale  manner,  and,  during  the  next  six  years,  in  almost 
every  place  where  the  Portuguese  flag  waved,  and  especially  in 
Ceylon,  Cochin,  Negapatam,  Meliapur,  Malacca,   and  Ternate, 
he  succeeded  in  establishing  schools,  small  and  large.     The  prin- 
cipal seminary,  however,  which  served  as  a  nursery  for  the  educa* 
tion  of  native  missionaries,  was  the  college  in  Goa,  into  which, 
immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  assistants  from  Europe,  Xavier 
at  once  drove  before   him   120  sons  of  the  Hindu  gentry,   by 
means  of  a  military  force,  in  order  that  they  might  be  brought 
up  iu  future  for  the  purpose  of  converting  their  fellow  country. 


1:HE   JESÖIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA. 


9i 


men ;  and  there  could  be  no  question  that  the  power  of  the  Por- 
tuguese bayonets,  and  still  more,  the  fear  engendered  by  the 
Bame,  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  great  results  which 
Francis  Xavier  and  his  associates  obtained,*  and  this  circum- 
stance diminished  not  a  little  the  glory  of  the  great  apostolic 
hero,  who  was  often  so  thoroughly  tired  at  night  from  the  exer- 
tion of  baptising,  that  he  was  hardly  able  to  move  his  arms. 
Still  more  injury,  however,  was  done  to  this  glory  by  the  circum- 
stance that  the  baptised,  or  converted,  were,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
not  real  Christians,  but  remained  heathens  just  as  much  as  before. 
It  is  certainly  true  that  they   could  repeat  the  Creed,  and   that 
the  water  of  Christian  baptism  had  been  thrown  over  them,  as, 
also,  that  they  were  taught  to  have  some  sort  of  understanding 
of  the   matter,  that  they  took  part  in  processions,  and  could 
sing   some   hymns,    and   join    in   other   external    observances. 
In   truth,    however,    they  still   retained  all  their  old  manners, 
customs,    usages,    and   notions,    and   when    the    Padri,  as   the 
Christian  missionaries  were  denominated,  withdrew  from  one  con- 
verted neighbourhood,  being  of  the  opinion  that  it  had  been 
completely  won  over  to  Christianity,  and  proceeded  elsewhere  in 
order  to  prosecute  the  work  of  conversion,  it  so  happened  that 
the  native  priests,  the  Brahmins,  had  not  the  least  difficulty  in 
bringing  the  people  back  again  to  the  religion  in  which  they  had 
been  born  and  bred.     I'his  was  now,  indeed,  an  embarrassing  di- 
lemma, and  one  of  Xavier  s  companions,  Anton  Criminal,  who  had 
gained  proselytes  at  Cape  Comorin,  became  so  furious  on  that  ac- 
count against  the  Brahmins  that  he  persecuted  them  with  the  most 
inhuman  cruelties.  They,  however,  in  their  despair,  at  once  appealed 
for  aid  against  this  Criminal  and  his  handful  of  soldiers  obtained 
from  the  Governor  of  Goa,  which  he  had  brought  along  vrith  him, 
to  a  tribe  of  people  which  had  not  as  yet  come  under  subjection 
to  the  Portuguese,  the  latter  being,  in  fact,  in  point  of  numbers, 
in  a  very  small  minority.   A  battle  thereupon  ensued,  in  which  all 
the  Portuguese,  Criminal  himself  not  excepted,  were  massacred.f 

♦  It  was  thuB»  for  example,  that  the  King  of  Condi,  in  CeyloD,  was  corn^ 
tv^ilpalv  force  of  arms  to  receive  the  Cross,  also  was  constramed  by 
^3  /-Lr^^r^o  6e6apfuerf,  by  whose  directions  also  his  lieutenants  and 
7o:er/o^7v^^^^^  any  resistance  to  the  baptismal  ceremony 

tTe  threÄ  with  confiscation  of  their  property.  It  was  easy  m  this 
way  to  gain  over  thousands  daily  to  Christianity. 

+  Thftre  were  no  less  than  four  lance-wounds  through  the  heart  oi 
Criminarand,  when  dead,  he  was  so  hated  by  the  Brahmms  that  they  cut 


da 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Some  time  now  elapsed  before  any  other  missionary  attempted 
to  show  himself.     The  Brahmins,  however,  did  not  by  any  means 
improve  their  position  by  their  strenuous  resistance,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  rather  made  it  worse,  for  Francis  Xavier  took  occasion 
on  this  account  to  institute  in  Goa  a  religious  tribunal,  after 
the  pattern  of  the   Spanish  Inquisition,  over  which  he  ruled 
without  opposition,*  and,  being  aided  by  the  Portuguese  arms, 
he  proceeded,  with  the  most  frightful  severity,  against  all  those 
who  oflFered  any  hindrance  to  the  spread  of  Christianity,  or  who 
also  dared  to  beguile  the  baptised  natives  back  again  to  their 
©Id  idol-worship.      In  this  way,  then,  innumerable  Brahmins, 
and  more  particularly  the  richest  among  them,  lost  their  lives 
by  the  executioner's  hands,  or,  at  least,  were  exiled  from  their 
country  in  order  that  their  property  might  be  seized  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Society,  and  thus,  by  degrees,  all  opposition  to 
the  reception  of  the  Christian  religion  presently  ceased  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  countries  under  subjection  to  the  Portu- 
guese.    As  a  matter  of  course,  the  effeminate  Hindus  now  pressed 
forward  to  have  themselves  baptised,  rather  than  make  acquaint- 
ance with   the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition,  or  run  the  risk  of 
being  roasted  alive  over  a  slow  fire !      After  this  fashion  did 
Francis  Xavier  and  his  associates  conduct  themselves  in  India, 
and  the  consequence  was  that  Jesuit  colleges  sprang  up  in  all 
suitable  places,  being  enriched  by  the  property  of  the  slaughtered 
and  banished  heretics.      And   still    more  numerous  were   the 
churches  which  were  erected,  as  they  no    longer   hesitated  to 
destroy,  with  fire  and  sword,  all  the  heathen  temples  which  they 
were  able  to  get  at,  and,  indeed,  it  almost  seemed  as  if  the  Jesuits 
had  taken  for  their  example  the  cruel  conduct  of  Charles  the 
Great  against  the  Saxons.     Xavier  now,  after  he  had   carried 
things  to  this  height,  thought  it  was  time  to  extend  still  further 
his  Christian  conquests,  and  this  he  did   by  an  acquaintance 
he  had  made,  in    1Ö49,  with   an  inhabitant   of  Japan.     The 

his  head  off.  The  Jesuits,  on  the  other  hand,  made  him  out  to  be  the  fii^t 
martyr  of  the  Order,  and  there  was  but  little  wanting  that  he  should  have 
been  placed  m  the  category  of  saints* 
♦  The  Portuguese  governors  and  lieutenants  rendered  every  assistance  on 
nl*^??^^*  ^  the  great  converter  of  the  heathen,  because  they  knew  very 
well  that  they  would  otherwise  be  denounced  to  King  John  in.,  and  that 
whoever  was  m  this  way  singled  out  might  rest  assured  that  he  would  be 
oertam  to  lose  his  appointment  and  be  recalled  to  Lisbon  to  render  an 
aoogunt  of  his  actions« 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN   ASIA, 


93 


latter,   a  rather  cunning  fellow,  but  springing  from   a  good 
family,   called  Anger,  who  had    at  least  one   murder  on  his 
conscience,    directed   the  attention  of   Xavier    to  the    infinite 
resources  of  Japan,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  he  at  once  deter- 
mined to  convert  the  great  Empire,  with  its  millions  of  in- 
habitants, and  to  claim  possession  of  its  enormous  riches  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Order  of  Jesus.     He  first  began,  then,  by 
baptising  Anger,  the  same  thereby  receiving  the  name  of"  Paul  de 
Saint  Foi,"  and  at  once  proceeded  to  Goa  to  make  sure  that  things 
there  might  not  get  into  disorder  during  his   absence.     After 
he  had  accomplished  this,  and  had  nominated  Paul  Camerti  as 
his  representative,  under  the  title  of  General  Superior,  and  Anton 
Gomez   as  Rector  of  the  now  very   important    college  of  the 
"Holy  Paul,"   he  embarked  in  the  summer  of  1549,   and,  in 
company   with   Anger   and   the   very    zealous  Pater  Come   de 
Torrez,  proceeded  to  Japan,  where  he  landed,  on  the  15th  of 
August,  in  the  harbour  of  Canxawa,  or  Gang  Xuma,  the  capital 
of  the  kingdom  of  Sazuma,  or  Hsuma ;  this  happened  in  the 
fifteenth  year,  to  the  very  day,  from  the  taking  of  the  vows  at 

Montmartre. 

In  those  days  Japan  formed,  as  it  does  now,  nominally  one 
single  monarchy,  or,  indeed,  an  empire,  with  its  capital,  Miako, 
in  which  the  Emperor,  under  the  name  of  a  Dairi,  or  Mikado, 
sat  on  the  throne.  At  the  same  time  the  whole  was  divided 
into  several  provinces  or  kingdoms,  the  rulers  of  which  reigned 
quite  independently;  amongst  the  number  was  the  kingdom 
of  Hsnma.  It  now  so  happened  that  the  above-mentioned 
Anger  had  formerly  been  on  fairly  friendly  terms  with  the 
ruler  of  Hsuma,  in  consequence  of  which  Francis  Xavier, 
was  not  only  hospitably  received  at  Court,  but  at  once  ob- 
tained permission,  from  the  very  tolerant  king,  to  preach  the 
Christian  religion.  Xavier,  as  we  may  well  imagine,  immediately 
took  advantage  of  this  privilege,  but  unfortunately  not  with  the 
result  he  had  promised  himself,  as  his  preaching  was  almost  un- 
intelligible to  his  hearers,  while  the  little  Japanese  that  he  had 
picked  up  from  his  intercourse  with  Anger,  was  mixed  up  with  a 
variegated  jargon  of  Spanish,  Italian,  and  Latin,  to  say  nothing 
of  his  peculiar  manners.  Bell  in  hand  he  collected  the  people 
together  as  he  had  done  before  in  Goa  and  its  neighbourhood, 
^  proceeding  which,  to  the  Japanese  of  a  rather  higher  degree  of 


94 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA, 


96 


oaltivation,  conveyed  the  impression  of  charlatanism  and  absurdity. 
This  Xavier  himself,  after  the  lapse  of  some  little  time,  felt  but 
too  plainly ;  and,  seeing  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  gain  his 
end  in  this  way,  he  shortly  resolved  to  alter  his  mode  of  opera- 
tion, and  from  a  Jesuit  to  become  a  Bonze.     A  Bonze  ?  asks 
the  astonished  reader ;  but  he  will  cease  to  be  astonished  when 
he  calls  to  remembrance  that  the  Bonzes  are  nothing  more  than 
the  higher  priests  of  Buddhism,  which  is  by  far  the  most  widely 
.   diffused   religion   of  Japan,  and  that  this  Buddhism  itself  has 
many  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.     In 
one,  as  in  the  other,  there  are,  cloisters  with  nuns  and  monks,  and 
even  hermits  are  not  wanting.     The  Buddhists,  like  the  Roman 
Catholics,  have  connected  with  their  worship  pictures  and  relics, 
as  well   as  processions,  pilgrimages,   and  holy  proclamations! 
Both  make  use  of  rosaries  in  saying  their  prayers,  and  chastise 
their  bodies  with    fasting   and   other   similar  privations      The 
Bonzes  or  Lamas,   as   they   are  called   in  Tibet,  shave  their 
heads  exactly  as  the  Roman  priests  do,  and  both  are  dedicated 
to  celibacy.     Further,    both  are   regarded  by    the  people  with 
much   reverence,  and  exercise  a  decided  influence  over  them. 
Such   is  the  state  of  matters  which  obtains  in  Japan,  and  it 
cannot  therefore  be  wondered  at  that  Xavier  determined,  under 
these  circumstances,    to  become    a   Bonze   so  far  as  clothing, 
habits,   manner  of   life,  and  customs   went.      As  plain   Jesuit 
he   had  as  yet  only   rendered  himself  offensive.      As  Bonze, 
however,  he  hoped  to  gain  influence  as  much  as  his  heathen 
colleagues,    and   then    might   be    able    to    insinuate    Christian 
doctrine  underhand  in  place  of  Buddhist  polytheism.     It  was 
perceived  that  his  design  was   good,  and  therefore  there  was 
not  the  least  difficulty  raised  as  to  the  dishonesty  of  the  means 
adopted,  as  the  Jesuits  were  never  scrupulous  in  this  respect ; 
but  still  this  artifice  did  not  lead  him  to  the  attainment  of  his 
aim.     The  legitimate  Bonzes,  to   wit,  began  to   move  heaven 
and  earth  in   order  that  the  obtrusive  new  comer  should  be 
sent  about  his  business,  and  represented  to  the  king  that  the 
greatest  danger  would  threaten  the  kingdom  were  he  to  allow  a 
miserable  stranger  to  throw  ridicule  on  the  old   tutelary   gods 
of  Japan,  and  introduce  in  their  stead  a  new  and  hitherto  quite 
unknown   God,   whom    no  neighbouring    deity    might   endure. 
They  also  added  a  warning  to  this  representaüon,  threatening 


to  call  upon  the  other  kings  of  Japan  for  assistance,  if  Xavier 
were  not  expelled  from  the  kingdom ;  and,  indeed,  little  was 
wanting  for  the  breaking  out  of  a  great  revolution  at  their 
instigation.  Under  such  circumstances  the  king  now  resolved 
to  abandon  the  principle  of  toleration,  which  he  had  hitherto 
followed  and  issued  a  decree  in  which  he  forbad  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity  to  all  his  subjects,  under  the  penalty  of  death, 
and  advised  Francis  Xavier  that,  if  he  put  any  value  upon 
his  life,  he  must  leave  his  dominions  in  the  shortest  space  of  ,^ 

^'There  was    of  course,  now  nothing  else  for  the  great  heathen- 
converter  to'  do  but  to  obey  instantly  this  order,  and  he  quitted 
the  city  of  Canxawa,  after  a  residence  in  it  of  nearly  one  year, 
without  having  accomplished  anything  whatever.      But  where 
was  he  now  to  bend  his  steps?     Was  he  to  return   again    to 
Goa  ?  or  at  the  risk  of  meeting  with  the  same  kind  of  treatment 
as  he  had  experienced  at  Hsuma,  to  try  some  other  Japanese 
kingdom^     He  did  not  require  to  remain  long  undecided,  as 
there   happened  to  be  at  that  time,  as   he   immediately   ascer- 
tained,  several  Portuguese  ships  in  the  harbour  of  Ferando    the 
capital   of  a  neighbouring  province  of  the  same  name    and  as 
he  naturallv  thought  it  possible  that  he  might   meet  with    a 
more  friendly  reception,  under  the  protection   of  these  ships 
from  the  King  of  Ferando  than  he  had  done  from  the  ruler  of 
Hsuma    he   therefore    at    once   made  his  way   to   the   above- 
mentioned  sea-port.     Nor  did  he  deceive  himself  in  this  res^^^^^^^ 
the  less  so  that  there  happened  to  subsist  a  deadly  feud  at  that 
time  between  the  Kings   of  Ferando  and  Hsuma,   and   conse- 
nuently  permission  was  at  once  granted  to  him  to  make  as  many 
Iselytes  as  he  was  able  to  find.     He  therefore   turned  this 
Jermission  to  such  good   use  that  he   effected   more  baptisms 
Sn  a  period  of  twenty  days  in  Ferando  than  during  the 
rhole   jel  that  he  had  been  in  Hsuma.     So,  at  least,  it  is 
Reported  by  his  biographer,   and  we  leave  it  to  be  determined 
Xth  r  this  be  the  case  or  not.     The  fact,  however,  was  that 
r  «till  despaired  of  effecting  anything  of  much   consequence 
;:til  he  haTcrverted  the  Dairi  himself,  inhis  capital  of  Miako, 
or  had  at  least  got  from  the  latter  permission    o  proselytise; 
so  on  that  account  he  himself  cleared  the  way  after  a  residence 
of  some  weeks,  for  the  further  operations  of  Come  de  Torrez, 


96 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


wbom  he  left  behind.  He  did  not,  however,  proceed  alone, 
but  took  along  with  him  two  newly-converted  Japanese,  called 
Matthias  and  Bernhard,  as  also  an  interpreter  of  the  name  of 
Fernandez.  After  meeting  with  many  dangers  in  trying  to 
make  proselytes  on  the  way,  he  was  more  than  once  nearly 
stoned.  It  seems  to  be  clear,  from  the  report  of  his  most 
intimate  followers,  that  he  was  only  allowed  to  escape  owing 
to  his  being  looked  upon  as  a  description  of  fool,  which,  in 
the  east,  is  a  better  protection  than  any  other  weapon. 

He  at  last  arrived  in  the  great  capital  of  Japan  in  February 
Tool,  and  at  once  betook  himself  to  the  largest  public  place 
with  the  object  of  proclaiming  the  Gospel  to  the  people.  it 
what  kind  of  a  sermon  was  it  that  he  preached  ?  O  Lord ! 
one  can  hardly  believe  it  possible  that  any  man  of  the  least 
common  sense  could  think  that  he  could,  in  such  a  way,  convert 
anyone  to  his  opinion.  He  certaitily,  indeed,  did  not  allow 
himself  to  repeat  the  hocus  pocus  of  Goa,  but  he  preached  by 
means  of  his  interpreter,  as  he  still  was  so  badly  acquainted  with 
the  Japanese  language  that  he  was  unable  to  put  two  consecutive 
sentences  together.*  It  can  be  readily  surmised,  then,  how  laugh- 
able was  the  situation  !  as  one  may  further  easily  imagine  that  Fer- 
nandez understood  Spanish  badly,  and  consequently  that  all  that 
Xavier  said  was  expounded  in  complete  confusion.  It  was  truly, 
then,  no  wonder  that  the  religion  which  Xavier  preached  was  re- 
ceived with  general  misunderstanding,  and  that  he  could  nowhere 
make  his  appearance  in  public  without  being  followed  by  the 
street  boys,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  sort  of  half-witted  fool. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  he  had  the  audacity  to  request  an  audience 
with  the  Emperor,  which,  however,  was  refused  with  disdain 
and  derision  by  the  imperial  employes;  consequently  nothing 
else  remained  for  the  zealous  missionary  to  do,  but  to  seek  for 
good  fortune  elsewhere,  and  he  betook  himself  to  Amanguchi, 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom  or  province  of  Mangate.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  he  met  there  with  no  better  success, 
although  he  was  careful  enough  to  make  his  appearance  attired 

•  Xavier  thus  wrote  verbatim  to  Ignatius  Loyola :— "  If  I  but  understood 
their  language  (Japanese)  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  unbelievers  would 
accept  the  Christian  religion.  Would  to  God  that  I  had  sooner  acquired 
knowledge  of  it !  for  I  might  then  have  hoped  to  render  some  service  to  the 
Church.  At  present  we  are  only  like  statues  which  cannot  talk.  They 
speak  much  to  us,  but  we  cannot  reply,  as  we  do  not  know  what  they  say 
to  us." 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA. 


97 


in  rich  Bonze  vestments,  and  took  the  precaution  of  sending 
beforehand  certain  presents  to  the  King,  as,  for  instance,  a 
beautiful  repeating  watch,  a  musical  instrument  of  good  tone, 
and  other  such  trifles. 

The  Japanese,  however,  still  continued  to  look  upon  the 
foreign  Bonze  as  a  fool,  and  considered  their  own  established 
religion  to  be  much  more  sensible  than  that  preached  by  such  a 
ninny.  As  Xavier  now,  however,  learned  that  this  said  religion 
originated,  property  speaking,  in  China,  and  as  he  was  of  opinion 
that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  Christianise  the  Japanese  Em- 
pire after  he  had  first  of  all  converted  the  mother  country,  he  forth- 
with determined  to  make  a  descent  upon  the  Celestial  Empire. 

The  way  thither  brought  him  to  the  sea-port  of  Bun  go,  the 
residence  of  another   Japanese  king,  and  at  that   time  there 
happened  to  lie  several  Portuguese  ships  at  anchor,  commanded 
by  Edward  de  Gama,  a  descendant  of  the  renowned  Vasca  de 
Gama.     This  was  for  him  a  fortunate  circumstance,  as  Edward 
de  Gama  was  aware  of  the  favour  in  which  the  missionary  stood 
with  John  TIL,  and  he  was  not  the  less  conscious  that  political 
wisdom  demanded  the  encouragement  of  missionary  enterprise, 
as  the  only  way  bv  which  it  was  possible  to  open  up  to  European 
trade  this  carefully- closed  kingdom.  On  that  account  it  appeared 
to  him  necessary  that  Xavier  should  be  received  with  marks  of  the 
greatest  honour,  amid  the  thunder  of  cannon;  the  consequence 
being  that  the  ruler  of  Bungo  wished  to  know  what  was  the 
reason  of  all  these  salutes.     He  was  duly  informed  that  all  this 
parade  was  in  honour  of  a  holy  European  Bonze,  who  had  come 
on  board  the  Admirals   ship ;    and,  in   reply  to  the  Prince s 
question,  whether  he  might  not  be   afforded  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  and  becoming  acquainted  with  this  distinguished  indi- 
vidual, he  was  told  that  the  latter  had  the  intention  of  paying 
his  respects  to  His  Majesty  very  shortly. 

This  interview,  in  fact,  took  place  ;  not,  however,  in  any  ordi- 
narv  manner,  but  with  every  degree  of  pomp  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  observe.  The  entire  line  of  ships  hoisted  their  pennants, 
and  salutes  were  fired,  the  whole  of  the  crews  participating  on 
the  occasion,  and  all  the  officers  being  decked  out  in  the  greatest 
gala.*     In  a  word,  everything  was  done  to  impress  upon   the 

•  The  whole  train  proceeded  to  the  land  in  three  ^jats,  decorated  as  for 
ft /ete  an  ornamental  awnmg  being  spread,  and  the  benches  being  covered 


98 


BISTORT  OP  THE  JESUITa. 


THE  JESUIT  MISSIONS  IN  ASU. 


99 


inhabitants,  as  well  as  the  King,  that  Francis  Xavier  was  a  man 
worthy  of  the  hijjhest  consideration,  and  he  was  consequently 
not  only  received  by  the  whole  standing  army  as  the  great  Bonze 
of  Europe,  but  welcomed  with  much  distinction  by  the  Regent 
himself.  He,  moreover,  at  once  obtained  leave  to  proceed 
with  his  work  of  conversion  to  Christianity,  wherever  he  chose 
and  he.  naturally  enough,  took  the  fullest  advantage  of  this 
permission. 

Matters,  however,  soon  took  a  different  turn,  as  the  native 
Bonzes,  fearing  to  lose  their  influence,  sought  to  stir  up  the 
people  against  the  «Bonze  of  Chemachicogin."  as  they  called 
Portugal,  and,  moreover,  represented  to  the  King,  before  heaven 
and  hell,  how  dangerous  the  new  teaching  was  to  the  State 
Now.  as  the  King  did  not  at  once  yield  to  their  solicitations.' 
being  desirous  of  not  giving  offence  to  the  Chinese,  he  called 
together  a  sort  of  Bonze  council  in  the  city  of  Bungo  •  at  this 
appeared  about  three  thousand  heathen  priests,  who  called  upon 
the  stranger  to  defend  his  doctrines  before  the  assembled  council 

This  religious  conference,  in  fact,  which  took  place,  led  as 
may  be  easily  imagined,  to  no  result  In  other  words,  each 
party  ascribed  the  victory  to  itself,  and  each  had  reason  for 
80  doing,  as  neither  of  them  in  any  way  understood  each  other 
The  people,  however,  sided  entirely  with  the  native  priests  and 
such  a  commotion  ensued  that  the  Portuguese  themselves  com- 
pelled  Xavier  to  withdraw,  fearing  that  a  revolution  might  be 
the  consequence. 

The  upshot  of  the  matter  was,  that  the  missionary  quitted  the 
city  of  Bungo,  after  a  residence  in  it  of  forty-seven  days,  on 

cannon  thundered  ^ay  iJd  the  whol«  nf  tl,"""'-!  ^^^^*i^"l  »^^8,  while  the 
On  arriving  on  shore  Edward  d^Gaml  *tVvf'^<>"  «touted  out  hurrahs  I 
marshal's  staff  in  his  hand  placed  him^«?f  ^l^  .«^covered  brow  and  hie 
after  him  five  of  the  ffiluese  J  th^  ^^^^^^^ 

uncovered,  bore  the  preseÄestined t'r  fh?*Sn/Äto'  r^%"'^" 
ornamented  sceptre  of  chisled  gold    a  riohlv  h!.„«?T»ui  ^^°^°'.to  wit,  an 
slippers  embroidered  with  pearls   a  rSnf  f.J^t.^^^Tr?'*'  ®'  *  P*"*  «^  ^ack   . 
oU  flours,  and  a  bea^ifufÄella^   T^^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^    ' 

attired  in  a  choir  shirt  of  iS  muslS^  stuS^'r'^'  ^*^^"'  ^^'^«*'"' 
also  a  stole  of  gold  brocade  orr,»^^^^A  -^^^-^  ^^*^  precious  stones,  as 
thirty  richly-clXd  ravtuTce«  a^^^^^  and  surrounded 'by 

with  gold  chains  and  prec  ous  stoAes  Thl  ^  °°^^®  ^'"^^  *^^  B,domeä 
saüors  and  marines,  alCf  course^  d^^^^^^  procession  was  closed  by  the 

ing  along  with  hat  n  hand  as  fn  ord^^^^^^^^^  ^  their  Sunday  clothes,  march- 
Xfvier  if  was  necessary?';  J^erhÄVte^^^*  "^^"^  *^  ^'^^^ 


Novemher  20th,  1551,  not,  however,  without  leaving  behind 
him  a  shepherd  for  the  small  flock  which  he  had  collected 
together,  and  sailed  away  in  a  ship  placed  at  his  disposal  by  the 
Admiral,  for  the  city  of  Canton,  which  was  the  nearest  place  in 
the  Chinese  Empire. 

A  storm,  however,  compelled  him  to  land  on  a  small  island 
on  the  way,  and  here  he  was  informed  by  certain  Portuguese 
merchants  that  it  was  not  permitted  for  any  stranger  to  cross 
the  frontier  of  China  unless  he  came  in  the  capacity  of  an  am- 
bassador. He,  therefore,  caused  the  ship,  thus  detained  by  the 
storm,  to  direct  its  course  back  again  to  Goa  instead  of  to 
Canton,  and,  on  his  arriving  there,  urgently  solicited  the  Viceroy 
—now  Don  Alphonso  de  Norogna— to  despatch  an  embassy  to 
Peking,  under  whose  auspices  he  might  be  able  to  penetrate  into 
this  empire,  so  closed  against  the  outer  world. 

At  first  the  Viceroy  was  unwilling  to  entertain  this  project, 
but  in  the  end  he  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  into  it  by  a 
rich  merchant  of  the  name  of  Jaques  Pereira,  who  was  anxious 
to  speculate  in  Chinese  wares  ;  on  him  he  conferred  the  patent  of 
an  ambassador,  and  Francis  Xavier,  along  with  some  other 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  whom  he  selected  from  the 
College,  accompanied  him.  leaving  on  the  14th  of  April  1552. 

The  route  lay  via  Malacca,  where  a  landing  was  first  made, 
but  it  would  have  been  better  for  them  had  they  passed  on  with- 
out stopping.  It  appeared  to  the  Portuguese  governor  here,  a 
proud  noble,  called  Don  Alvarez  d'Atayde,  that  it  was  a  per- 
fectly  preposterous  thing  that  a  common  bourgeois  merchant 
should  be  sent  as  an  ambassador  to  one  of  the  greatest  monarchs 
of  Asia,  and  he,  therefore,  declared  that  the  Embassy  could  not 
be  allowed  to  proceed  until  he  had  received  further  intelligence 
from  the  Viceroy  of  Goa.  Francis  Xavier  protested  agaiast  this 
detention,  and  excommunicated  Don  Alvarez,  as  the  latter 
would  not  in  any  way  acquiesce  in  his  wishes.  This,  however,  did 
not  improve  matters  in  the  slightest,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the 
proud  man  felt  so  provoked,  that  he  forthwith  put  the  whole 
ambassadorial  fleet  into  arrest  until  something  further  was 
heard  about  the  afl*air.  This  circumstance  drove  Francis 
Xavier  almost  frantic,  and  he  made  his  escape  in  a  small  barque, 
leaving  behind  him  most  of  his  companions  in  Malacca,  his 
destination  being  the  island  of  Sancian. 


B-- 


100 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESUITS, 


The  said  island  being  situated  on  the  southern  coast  of  China 
not  far  from  Canton,  he  hoped  to  be  able   to  smuggle  himself 
from  it  with  ease  into  the  Celestial  Empire;  and  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  Chinese  merchant  whom  he  had  bribed,  would  no 
doubt  have  succeeded,  had  not  the  providence  of  God  ordained 
it  otherwise  for  him.     He  had  hardly  landed,  after  a  stormy 
passage  of  nearly  one  month's  duration,  when  he  was  laid  up 
with  a  violent  fever,  and,  being  treated  by  an  unskilful  doctor,  he 
succumbed  to  the  disease  twelve  days  afterwards,  on  the  2nd  of 
December  1 552,  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty-six  years.* 
Such  was  the  end  of  a  man    who    underwent   the   greatest 
dangers  in  order  to  spread  in  distant  lands  what  he  called  the 
Christian  religion — of  a  man  whose  courage  and  constancy  could 
not  be  daunted  or  overcome,  even  by  the  greatest  of  misfortunes, 
and  who,  on  that  account,  had  the  right  to  range  himself  side 
by  side  with  the  most  valorous  of  soldiers ;  but  also  of  a  man 
who  was  never  in  the  service  of  mankind,  but  merely  in  that  of 
the  Papacy,  and  who,  from  his  more  than  unwise  zeal,  never 
hesitated  in  the  least  to  render  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  in 
truth,  really  laughable,  and  to  bring  down  upon  it  the  ridicule 
of  unbelievers.     His  Order,  however,  had  much  for  which   to 
thank  him,  as  he  laid  the  foundation  of  many  establishments  in 
India,  China,  and  Japan,  in  which  only  a  few  decades  afterwards 
it  might  well  rejoice;  and,  without  his  animating  example,  his 
followers  in  missionary  undertaking  could,  certainly,  never  have 
accomplished  what  they  eventually  notoriously  brought  about  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  world.     On  that  account  he  was  most 
highly  honoured  and  revered  by  his  fellow  Jesuits,  who,  after 
the  lapse  of  two  years,  conveyed  his  corpse,  which  at  the  time  of 
his  death  had  been   buried  with    quite   sufficient   ceremony  at 
Sancian,  to  Goa,  in  order  that  it  should  be  deposited  with  great 
pomp  and  solemnity  in  the  College  of  the  Holy  Paul.     There, 
later  on,  also,  they  erected  a  splendid  mausoleum  for  him  in  the 
Jesuits*  church,  and   a  similar  monument  was  also  raised  to  his 
memory  in  the  Jesuits'  Church  in  Rome,  where,  by  the  command 
of  the  General  of  the  Order,  Claudius   Aquaviva,   an  arm  of 
Xavier  was  brought.     The  principal  thing,  however,  was  that 
the  Pope,  Paul  V.,  pronounced  the  apostle  of  India,  as  Francis 

•  He  was  born  in  the  year  1506,  at  the  Castle  of  Xaviero,  in  Navarre,  at 
the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees. 


The   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA» 


101 


li( 


Xavier  was  designated  after  his  death,  to  be  holy,  and  Gregory 
XV.,  on  the  l2th  of  March  J62Ji,  translated  him  into  the 
category  of  saints,  an  act  which,  however,  was  only  announced 
to  Christendom  on  the  6th  of  August  of  the  year  following  by 
Pope  Urban  VIII.  Still  later,  in  the  year  1747,  Pope  Benedict 
XIV.  bestowed  upon  him  the  honourable  title  of  "  Protector  of 
India,"  and  kings  as  well  as  queens  hastened  to  erect  churches 
to  his'  honour,  which  were,  of  course,  named  after  him. 

I  have  dilated,  I  admit,  very  considerably  on  the  work  ol 
Francis  Xavier  in  Asia,  as  he  was  in  fact  a  much  too  interest- 
ing personage  to  be  passed  over  in  a  short  description.  lu 
regard,  however,  to  his  successors  in  office— I  allude  to  the 
associates  and  soldiers  of  Christ,  who  after  him  carried  on  the 
missionary  work  in  Japan,  China,  and  the  East  Indies,  and 
the  different  fates  they  met  with-I  will  content  myselt  with  a 
much  shorter  description,  and  rather  look  to  the  results  upon 
which  they  ultimately  had  to  congratulate  themselves. 

In  East  India,  Xavier  had  completely  paved  the  way  for  them, 
as  in  all  places  of  any  consequence  which  had  become  subject  to 
the  Portuguese,  Jesuit  establishments-by  whatever  name  they 
were  called,  be  it  colleges,  residences,  or  missions-were  founded, 
and  it  only  remained  to  increase  their  number,  as  also  to  enlarge 
those  already  existing.     For  the  sons  of  Loyola  it  was  always 
everywhere  an  easy  matter  to  succeed  in  doing  so,  as,  m  the 
first  place,  the  Portuguese  governors  (Don  Alvarez  d'Altay de  being 
almost  a  soütary  exception),  by  order  of  the  king,  played  into 
their  hands;  and  as,  secondly,  they  could  get  the  better  of  any 
opposition  to  their  projects  very  easily  with  the  assistance  of  the 
tribunals   of   the   Inquisition,  established   by   themselves,     lo 
increase,  too,  the  number  of  missions  was  by  no  means  difficult, 
as  in  every  place,   wherever   the   Portuguese   or   other   Euro- 
pean despoilers  had  penetrated,  the  Jesuit  missionaries  pressed 
forward,  and,   by  very  simple  means,  contrived  to  plant  their 
feet  firmly,  as  well  as  to  form  Christian  communities.     In  what, 
then,  did  these  simple  means  consist  ?     The  mode  was  nothing 
else  than  this  :  these  missionaries  attired  themselves  as  Indian 
priests   or   Brahmins    (throughout   all  India    the  Brahminical 
religion  prevailed),  in  order  that,  before  the  Indians,  who  enter- 
tained a  strong  inborn  repugnance  to  foreigners,  they  might  pass 
themselves  off  as  natives,  while  they,  at  the  same  time,  actually 


102 


HISTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


THE    JESUIT    MISSIONS   Vi    AStA. 


103 


amalgamated  the  Christianity  which  they  taught  with  the  already 
8ubs,sung  heathenish   views  and  customs  of  the  inhabitanJ. 
The  good  Hindus  (or  naüve  Indians)  might  thus  still  continue 
to  be  Hindus  as  long  as  they  merely  submitted  to  be  baptised 
and  to  bear  the  name  of  "  Christians ! "    It  was,  indeed,  not 
even  necessary  to  adopt  a  Christian  name  in  baptism,  as  the 
people  might  retain  their  own  heathenish  ones,  as  St.  Paul  him- 
self said  " one  should  be  all  things  to  all  men! "    It  would,  of 
course,  be  very  easy  for  me  to  form  a  complete  list  of  all  the 
Jesuits  who,  as  Brahmins,  travelled  about  the  country,  and  who, 
11  they  did  not  exactly  trample  on  the  Cross  of  Christ,  at  aU 
events  denied  the  same.     But  I  will  content  myself  in  noting 
merely  two  of  them,  hoping  from  these  examples  to  give  to  the 
reader  a  clear  notion  as  to  the  nature  of  Jesuit  work  and  pro- 
ceedings in  India.     One   of  them,   namely.  Pater  Constantino 
Beschi.  who  had  most  carefully  studied  the  Hindi  language,  as 
well  as  Sanscrit,  imitated  the  customs  and  manners,  no  less  than 
the  mode  of  life  of  the  Brahmins  so  correctiy  that  the  people 
of  the  Dekkan.  where  he  for  a  long  time  resided,  actually  began 
to  honour  him  as  a  saint-as  a  saint,  however,  be  it  well  under- 
stood  m  the  heathen  heaven ;  and,  as  he  published,   besides, 
popular  poems  in  the  native  language,  he  thus  became  celebrated 
throughout  all  lands.     What  was,  then,  the  consequence  of  this  ? 
The  ruler  of  the  Dekkan,  in  the  belief  tiiat    he  was  a  true 
Brahmin,  raised  him  to  be  his  first  court  official  and  minister, 
and  Constantino  Beschi  did  not  trouble  himself  in  the  least  to 
explain  the  mistake.     On  the  contrary,  the  worthy  Pater,  hence- 
forth completely  renouncing  all  European  customs  and  origin, 
attired  m  a  fine  oriental  costume,  appeared  in  public  riding  upon 
a  nchly-caparisoned  horse,  or  carried  in  a  palankeen  by  slaves, 
and  always  accompanied  by  a  numerous  escort  on  horseback, 
who  cleared  the  way  for  the  great  man.  proclaiming  his  going 
and  coming  at  the  same  time  with  a  flourish  of  trumpets     No 
one  could  have  supposed  that  he  was  in  reality  a  European, 
and  much  less  a  baptised  Christian.     A  Jesuit,  however,  he  stiU 
remained  to  the  end  of  his  days,  and  his  companions  of  the 
Order  were  not  a  little  proud  of  him. 

A  perfectly  different  character  was  presented  in  the  very 
worthy  Pater  Barthelemi  Acosta,  the  second  example  which  I 
now  brmg  to  notice,  as  he  did  not  frequent  the  society  of  the 


great  ones  of  the  land,  but   rather   contented  himself  with 
mixing  among  the  very  lowest  dregs  of  the  people ;  influenced, 
of  course,  by  the  same  aim  and  object  as  that  of  Constantino 
Beschi,  the  Prime  Minister  and  Grand  Vizier.    He  sought  out, 
namely,  the  ill-famed  dwellings  of  the  public  dancing  girls  and 
courtesans,  and  the  huts  of  those  called  "  Bayaders."  being  well 
aware  that,  always  ready,  at  any  day  and  hour,  to  sacrifice  to 
the  god  of  love,  they  thereby  possessed  great  influence  over  the 
male  sex,  and  he  thus  soon  found  himself  on  the  most  intimate 
terms  with  them.      He  was  in  the  habit  of  playing  with  them, 
as  well  as  dancing  and  drinking  with  them,  by  which  means 
he  become  their  dearest  friend  and  confidant.  The  poor  creatures 
were   quite   delighted  with  him,   and  desired    nothing  better 
than  to  become  translated  into  heaven  at   the   hands  of  him 
who  made  the  matter  so  easy  for  them.     One  thing  only  stood 
in  the  way  of  their  embracing  the  Christian  religion,  which  was 
that  they  had  been  told  that  Christian  priests  condemned,  as  a 
sinful  vice,  the  trade  by  which  they  Uved,  and,  consequently, 
they  delayed  from  hour  to  hour  to  receive  the    sacrament  of 
baptism.     What,  then,  did  the  worthy  father  do  ?     He  taught 
them  that  they  might  become  Christians  and  still,  without  com- 
mitting sin,  might  continue  to  devote  themselves  to  the  god 
of  love,  provided  they  dedicated  a  portion  of  their  gains  to  the 
Christian  church,  and,  at  all  events,  did  their  best  endeavour  to 
convert  those  persons  to  whom  they  were  in  the  habit  of  yielding 
their  charms.     By  these,  and  other  similar  ways,  the  Jesuits 
contrived  to  insinuate  themselves  everywhere  throughout  the 
whole  extent  of  India,  and,  as  long  as  the  dominion  of  the 
Portuguese  lasted,  they  made  themselves  absolute  masters  of 
the  soil;  that  is  to  say,  they  found  themselves  all  alone  at 
Uberty  to  despoil  the  whole  of  the  enormous  territory,  without 
being  interfered  with  by  other  Orders,  making  proselytes,  or 
founding  colleges  and  residences,  as  they  were  beloved  almost 
beyond  all  measure  by  the  King  of  Portugal,  as  we  shall  here- 
after see.     But  how  was  it  after  the  lapse  of  a  century  ?    When 
other  sea-faring  nations  also  came  forward,  especially  the  French, 
Dutch,  and  English,  to  participate  in  the  great  hunt  after  the 
riches  of  India,   and,  as  by  degrees  the  power  of  the  first 
despoiler  collapsed  on  all  sides,  then  came  also  the  downfall  of 
the  Jesuit  dominion.    As  1  shall  hereafter,  in  the  fourth,  fifth, 


104 


HISTOET   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


I 


and  seventh  books  of  this  work,  come  to  speak  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Jesuits  conducted  themselves  during  the  height  of 
their  glory  in  India  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  at  present 
that,  during  the  period  of  a  hundred  years,  the  Society  of  Jesus 
was  the  sole  ruler  in  India  in  matters  connected  with  religion 
and  the  Church. 

They  were  also  quite  as  fortunate  in  Japan,  although  with 
much  greater  trouble  than  in  India,  and  so  far  back  as  the  year 
1573,  only  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  Xavier,  they  were 
able   to  congratulate   themselves   on   the   possession   of  large 
establishments  in  about  half  of  the  hundred  small  kingdoms 
into  which  the  great  Empire  was  divided.     Moreover  it  was  a 
fact,   that  already  at  that  time  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
Japanese,  exclusive  of  women  and  children,  had  come   under 
their  banner,  and  it  may  be  considered  no  exaggeration  at  all  to 
say  that  the  Popes   of  Rome  exulted   over  this  circumstance, 
declaring  that  they  would  never  rest  satisfied  until  they  had 
brought  the  whole  of  Japan  under  the  dominion  of  Christen- 
dom.    But  what   had   the  Jesuits  to   thank  for  this  result? 
Simply  and  solely  their    own  cunning,    and  the  circumstance 
that  Japan  formed  no  single  and  entire  sovereignty  ruled  over  by 
one  single  monarch.     It  had  from  the  first,  become  obvious  to 
Xavier  that,  in  order  to  gain  over  the  Japanese  to  his  opinions, 
it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  mix  himself  up  with  theirs  also, 
and  on  that  account,  as  we  have  already   seen,  he  commenced 
his  operations  as  a  Bonze.     The  associates  he  had  left  behind 
him  in    Japan,    namely   Come    de    Torrez,  Juan    Fernandez, 
Cosmos,  or  whatever  might  be  their  names,  adopted  the  same 
convenient  system   of  morality,  and   each   took  good  care  of 
himself,  as  it  is  said,  to  get  into  the  house  by  the  door.     The 
place,  thought  they,  cannot  be  carried  by  storm,  but  by  quite 
gently  creeping  on  nil  fours;  and  protected  by  trenches,  the  holy 
fathers  made  their  advances,  and  placed  before  the  garrison  such 
easy  and  agreeable   conditions  that   they  could  hardly  fail  to 
yield.     After  conversion  the  Jesuit  fathers  still  allowed  their 
followers,  although  they  had  received  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  to 
frequent  the  heathen  pagodas,  and  to  pray  on  their  knees  before 
their  gods  Jebischu,  Daitotu,  Fatziman,  Fottei,  or  by  whatever 
other  names   they  might  be   called,  if  they  in  thought  only 
transferred  their  worship  and  adoration  to  Christ !     Still  their 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN   ASU. 


105 


conquest   would   not  have  been  so   easy,  nor  would   it   have 
certainly  been   extended  within  so  wide  a  circle,  had    it  not 
been  assisted  in  a  large  measure  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  great 
empire.     Each  of  their  diflferent  smaller  kings  merely  sought, 
indeed,  his  own  aggrandizement,  and  not  that  of  the  common 
fatherland ;  a  continual  jealousy  consequently  reigned  amongst 
all,  and  an  ever-enduring  envy  and  hatred  prevailed  among  the 
rivals.     To  none  of  them  was  anything  else  at  heart  than  the 
depreciation  and  disparagement  of  their  neighbour,  and  every 
means  that  tended  thereto   was  hailed   with   hearty   welcome. 
Especially   several   of  these  petty   despots  believed  that  great 
advantages  would  accrue  to  them,  if  they  entered  into  commercial 
relationship  with  a  seafaring  nation  such  as  the  Portuguese,  or 
if  they  succeeded  in  forming  an  alliance  with  those  brave  men 
who  had,  just  at  that  time,  despoiled  India.     By  what  means 
could  they  attain  this  object  more  easily  than  through  inter- 
course with  the  Jesuits  ?     I  have  already  apprised  the  reader  of 
the  reception  given  to  Francis  Xavier  by  Edward  de  Gama  in  the 
seaport  of  Bungo ;  and,  as  the  Jesuits  were  universally  met  by 
the  Portuguese  sailors  with  servile  submission,  wherever  a  Portu- 
guese ship  lay  at  anchor  in  a  Japanese  harbour,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
might   indeed  be  certain  that  their  captain  would  be  sure  to 
place  the  men  at  their  disposal,  as,  at  the  same  time,  their  Order 
was  all  powerful  at  the  Court  of  Lisbon.   Not  a  few,  accordingly, 
of  those  minor  kings  made  haste  to  make  themselves  as  friendly 
as  possible  with  the  Loyolites,  and,  on  the  principle  that  "  one 
hand  washes  the  other,"  gave  them  as  much  assistance  as  they 
possibly  could.     Some  of  them,  indeed,  even  allowed  themselves 
to  be  baptised,  by  which  example  their  subjects  were  naturally 
led  to  do  the  like,  and  then,  conjoined  to  the  act  of  baptism,  for 
the  most  part  a  liberal  donation  of  lands  was  at  the  same  dme 
given  to  the  Jesuits,  upon  which,  after  becoming  settled,  they 
might    erect   their    respective    colleges  and    residences.      We 
learn,  for  instance,  respecting  the  King  of  Omura,  that,  in  the 
year  1562,  he  assigned  to  the  Jesuits,  for  their  own  particular 
'  use,  the  town  of  Vocoziura,  with  all  the  villages  within  a  radius 
of  five  miles  ;  and  if  other  princes  did  not  go  quite  so  far  as  this, 
they,  at  least,  presented  the  missionaries  with  all  the  cloisters 
for  which  they  had  occasion.     The  Jesuits  then,  in  short,  after  a 
few  decades,  acquired  a  most  extraordinary  influence  in  Japan, 


B— 


106 


HISTOÄT  OF  THE   ;fESüfTS. 


and  even  in  Miako,  the  seat  of  the  Dairi,  they  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  college  along  with  a  noviciate  ;  and,  as  they  were 
once  before  known  to  do,  even  made  use  of  their  power  to 
threaten  therewith  the  rulers  inimical  to  them.  What  do  I  say- 
to  threaten  I  That  is  by  far  too  mild  an  expression,  as,  from 
threatening  they  often  came  to  action ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Black 
Cloaks  beguiled  the  converted  princes  into  making  an  attack  on 
the  unconverted,  and  exerted  their  whole  power  and  influence,  in 
this  way,  to  obtain  a  victory  for  the  former. 

Many  volumes  might  be  written  concerning  these  everlast- 
ing machinations,  excitations,  and  houndings  on  of  the  Japanese 
one  against  the  other,  the  consequence  being  that  the  history  of 
Japan  at  that  time  consisted  iu  nothing  else  than  a  constant 
catalogue  of  insurrections,  rebellions,  conspiracies,  wars,  and 
massacres ;  each  of  these  fraternal  feuds,  however,  and  each  of 
these  rebeUions,  &o.,  ever  aided  the  Jesuits  to  a  new  triumph, 
and  at  last  to  such  a  pitch  did  matters  come  that,  in  the  year 
1585,  three  of  the  converted  kings,  namely,  those  of  Bungo, 
Arima,  and  Omura,  organised  under  their  guidance  a  brilHant 
embassy  to  the  then  reigning  Pope,  Gregory  XIII.,  in  order  to 
render  homage  to  the  head  of  Christendom. 

This  was  glory,  indeed  I  Truly  such  splendid  results  could 
hardly  have  been  brought  about  by  all  the  other  Orders  put 
together;  but  the  Pope  himself,  also,  showed  himself  grateful, 
and  forthwith,  through  a  Special  Bull,  forbade  for  the  future 
all  monks  or  other  ecclesiasücs  from  going  to  Japan,  with  the 
object  of  exercising  any  ecclesiastical  function  whatever,  without 
his  express  permission,  under  the  penalty  of  being  subjected  to 
the  greater  excommunication. 

In  this  manner  was  Japan  given  over  to  the  unrestrained 
spoHation  of  the  Jesuits,  and  one  may  easüy  imagine  that  they 
well  knew  how  to  make  fuU  use  of  their  opportunity.  In  what 
respect,  however,  did  Christianity  gain  by  this?  Certainly 
in  none  whatever,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  simply  hurtful 
to  it,  as  the  Chrisüanity  which  was  taught  by  the  Jesuits 
in  Japan  had  nothing  whatever  of  its  character  but  the  name/ 
not  even  its  tenor,  as  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  Jesuits,  in 
tact,  fabricated  a  life  of  Christ  especially  adapted  to  meet  the 
ideas  of  the  Japanese,  in  which  they  represented  the  son  of  the 
wüe  Ol   the   carpenter  as  coming  into   the  worid  arrayed  in 


l!HB   JESUIT   MISSIONS  tN   ASU* 


107 


purple,  governing  as  King  of  Judah,  and  dying  on  his  bed  of 
state  in  all  the  glory  of  a  monarch.  Still  less  was  done  for 
the  education  of  the  baptised  Japanese ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
were  allowed  designedly  to  retain  all  their  old  superstitions 
along  with  their  depraved  habits  and  vices  of  sensuality.* 

It  was  much  more  difficult,  however,  for  the  Jesuits  to  pene- 
trate into  China  than  into  Japan,  as  at  that  time  the  former 
empire  was  completely  closed  against  all  foreigners,  and  the 
strong  door  could  not  be  opened  either  by  force  or  artifice. 
Francis  Xavier,  as  we  have  already  been  made  aware,  died 
within  sight  of  its  inviting  coasts ;  nor  did  it  fare  any  better 
with  others  of  his  Order,  more  especially  with  brethren  Michael 
Euggieri,  and  Pazzio,  who,  coming  one  from  Goa,  the  other 
from  Macao,  attempted  for  thirty  years  to  climb  the  Chinese 
rocks,  as  Father  Valigno  expresses  himself.  This  difficult 
problem  was,  however,  at  last  solved  by  one  of  them,  no  other 
than  the  celebrated  Mathias  Ricci. 

Born  in  the  same  year  in  which  Xavier  died,  to  wit,  on  the 
6th  of  October  1552,  his  birth-place  was  the  town  of  Macerata, 
in  the  district  of  Ancona.  He,  at  a  very  eariy  age,  showed  great 
capabilities,  and,  after  acquiring  to  some  extent  the  old  lan- 
guages, he  proceeded  to  Rome  in  the  year  1568,  in  order  there 
to  study  law.  He  then  became  acquainted  with  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  and  more  especially  with  Laynez  and  Salmeron,  and 
their  persevering  efforts  at  length  succeeded  in  winning  over  the 
highly-gifted  young  man  to  their  Order.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, he  entered  as  a  novice  into  the  Collegium  Romanum,  and 
began  to  go  through  the  ordinary  course  in  it;  but  Pater 
Balignano,  who  at  that  time  was  the  head  of  the  Novice 
House,  soon  discovered  that  young  Mathias  possessed  an  extra- 
ordinary talent  for  mathematics  and  mechanics.  Who  could 
have  been  more  rejoiced  at  this  than  the  Jesuit  fathers  ?  For 
several  years  had  they  endeavoured  in  vain  to  get  hold  of  some- 
one possessed  of  this  talent. 

•  In  the  years  1633-35  the  pious  ecclesiastics,  Antoninus  de  St*  Malria» 
Francis  Almeda,  and  Jean  Baptist,  travelled  all  over  the  East  by  order  of 
the  Pope,  and  from  their  statements  it  is  apparent,  as  is  allowed  by  Uie 
Jesuits,  that  the  Japanese  continued  still  to  carry  on  all  their  old  idol 
ceremonies,  and  only  practised  that  of  Christianity  secretly.  The  Jesuits 
themselves  do  not  at  aU  deny  this,  but  on  the  contrary  adnut  it.  The 
Apostles  had  employed  the  same  means  towards  the  converted  Jews  and 
heathens. 


108 


Bistort  of  the  jesüits. 


I 
r  i 


As  soon  as  it  had  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
General,  through  the  reports  current  in  India  and  Japan,  that 
the  Chinese  of  distinction  had  an  especially  great  leaning  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  so-called  exact  sciences,  as,  for  example, 
mathematics,  chemistry,  and  astronomy,  as  well  also  of  the 
mechanical  arts,  and  that  anyone  who  distinguished  himself 
in  those  paths  would  be  highly  esteemed  by  them,  it  was 
determined  to  send  into  the  "  Empire  of  the  Centre,"  in  the 
garb  of  a  Chinese  savant,  a  well-armed  Jesuit,  deeply  instructed 
in  such  knowledge,  and  it  was  not  unnatural  therefore  that 
the  Chief  of  the  Order  should  rejoice  in  having  at  last  found 
the  long-sought-for  talent. 

The  pursuit  of  theology  was  consequently  instantly  thrown 
aside  by  Ricci,  in  order,  on  the  other  hand,  to  prosecute  his 
studies  in  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  astronomy,  and  with 
this  object  the  most  celebrated  teachers  and  professors  of  those 
sciences  available  at  the  period  in  Rome  were  had  in  requisi- 
tion for  him.  This  young  man  was  at  the  same  time  instructed 
in  mechanical  learning,  and  more  especially  in  the  art  of 
making  physical  instruments,  that  of  watch-making  not  being 
neglected.  Ricci  acquired  a  knowledge  of  all  these  branches 
with  wonderful  acumen,  as  well  in  practice  as  in  theory.  It 
nevertheless  took  him  fully  eight  years  before  he  had  entirely 
perfected  himself. 

He  now  embarked  for  the  East,  not,  however,  immediately  for 
China,  but  for  Goa,  the  head  and  central  point  of  the  A'siatic 
mission.  It  was  here,  in  the  College  of  the  Holy  Paul,  that  the 
finishing  touches  were  given  to  his  education,  and,  more  parti- 
cularly, he  there  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language 
so  perfectly,  that  he  was  quite  capable  of  being  taken  for  a  native 
of  the  Celestial  Empire.  He  applied  himself  to  it  with  untiring 
zeal,  and  at  last,  after  four  years  more,  he  was  now  considered 
to  be  perfect  in  this  respect 

Nothing  further  was  now  wanting  to  hinder  him  from  pro* 
ceeding  to  his  destination,  and  he  therefore  embarked  in 
September  1583,  in  the  attire  of  a  Lama,  or  Fo  priest,  for  China, 
where  he  presently  landed  in  a  small  sea-port  town  called 
Tschao-tcheu.  Fo  is  only  another  term  for  Buddha,  and  a 
Lama,  or  Fo  Priest,  thus  signifies  the  same  in  China  as  Bonze 
does  in  Japan.     He  did  not  dare,  at  first,  indeed,  to  approach 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN   ASIA. 


109 


Canton  or  any  of  the  other  large  cities,  for  fear  of  being  recog- 
nised as  a  European  ;  he  held  it  to  be  more  prudent  to  work 
quietly   from  below   upwards,    and    on   that    account  had  he, 
indeed,  dressed  himself  in  the  modest  attire  of  a  Lama.      He 
advanced  so  far  during  the  first  year  as  to  give  instruction  to 
the  young  in  mathematics   and  the  other  sciences,   and   thus 
soon  won  confidence   for  himself  in  the   neighbourhood.     He 
also  succeeded  in  interesting  in  himself  several  of  the  superior 
officials,  or  mandarins,  as  they  are  called  in  China,  by  executing 
a  Geographical  chart  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  a  thing  unheard  of 
before  in  China.     For  his  main  object,  however,  that  is  the  con- 
version of  the  Chinese  to  the  Christian  religion,  he  dared  not  at 
first  attempt  much,  at   all  events  in  public,  but  he  contented 
himself  in  this  respect  rather  by  insinuating  in  the  intervals  of 
his  teaching  some  points  of  Christian  doctrines  but  only  such 
as  did  not  appear  to  be  in  contradiction  to  therehgious  views  of 

the  Chinese.  „      .  ^  ix. 

There  existed  at  that  time  in  this  large  Empire,  and  there 
now,  indeed,  are  to  be  found,  k^o  systems  of  religion,*  which 
maintain  themselves  side  by  side  without  being  mimical  to  each 
other,  both  possessing  an  equal  right  to  flourish,  both  having 
equal  support  from  the  Emperor  and  his  officials.    Regarding 
the  one.  the  Buddhist  religion,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  China,  the 
religion  of  Fo,   we    already  know   something   in   Japan,   con- 
sequentlv  T  have  nothing  farther  to  say  of  it  here  than   this, 
that  its  "followers  are.  for  the  most  part,  to  be  found  among 
the  lower  classes  of  the  people;  it  is  polytheism,  with  its  monks 
and  nuns,  its  cloisters,  its  miracles,  and  its  superstitions.     The 
other  religious  system  was  that  established  by  Confucius,  or 
more  correctly  Knng-fa-tse,   and  which,   as  I    have    already 
remarked,  and  now  repeat,  consists  merely  in  a  pure  morality 
having  much   resemblance  to  Christianity.      The  followers  of 
this  latter  system,  also,  to  whom  belong  all  the  educated  classes, 
along  with  the  whole  Court  and  body  of  Mandarins  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  grade,  bestow  upon    the  founder    of  it 
divine  honour,  although  they  admit  that  he  was  a  mere  man ; 

•  A  third  religious  system  was  =?*-!»  »rrTs°Ä  "^h^^^^^^^^ 
as  it  was  called  the  "  Religion  of  the  "ght  way.      """I  WStMQ,  üoweve  . 

long  been  almost  completely  »•»»lg''™**fl7^^„?ÄT  * 
«ocount  not  necessary  to  make  any  particular  mention  ol  »t. 


110 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


THE   JESTJIT  MISSIONS  IN  ASIA. 


Ill 


tbey  reject  all   polytheism,  along  with  miracles,  and,  further, 
heathenish  religious  pomp  and  decoration. 

Under  such  circumstances  as  these  it  was  easy  for  Ricci  to 
insinuate   into   his   teaching  the  moral  fundamental  truths  of 
Christianity,  without  coming  into  collision  with  the  Chinese, 
and  he  was  thus,  indeed,  enabled,  without  showing  any  antagon- 
ism to  them,  to  proceed  so  far  "  as  to  compose  expressly  for 
the  Chinese  a  Christian  catechism,"  as  everything  in  this  little 
book  harmonised  with  the  teaching  of  Confucius.     On  the  other 
hand,  he  carefully  avoided  all  mention  to  any  of  his  scholars 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  birth  and  ascension  of 
Christ,  ofthe  Redemption,  or  of  any  other  Christian  mystery,  and, 
in  the  said  catechism  all  such  matters  were  omitted.     One  thus 
sees  that  he  advanced  stealthily  with  double  craftiness,  in  that 
in  the  first  place  he  merely  here  and  there  insinuated  some- 
thing of  Christianity,  and,  secondly,  he  adapted  such  Christianity 
to   Chinese  ideas;    in  other  words,  he  re-modelled  it  to  suit 
China.     After  that  Ricci  had  thus  carried  on  his  operations  for 
some   years  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tschao-tcheu,  and  made 
himÄlf  otherwise  thoroughly  master  of  Chinese  manners  and 
customs,  he  went  on  into  the  neighbouring  kingdom  of  Kiang-Sy, 
and,  somewhat  later  on,  into  Nanking,  where  he  passed  himself 
off  as  a  literary  savant  of  the  religion  of  Confucius,  in  the  rich 
attire  worn  by  such,  whilst  he,  at  the  same  time,  practised  as  a 
physician.     In  the  latter  capacity  he  became  acquainted  with  a 
mandarin  of  very  high  rank,  who  called  him  in  on  account  of 
the  illness  of  a  sick  son,  who  had  been  badly  treated  by  the 
Chinese    medical    practitioners,  and,   as    he  was  successful  in 
bringing  him  round,  the  mandarin  invited  him  to   Peking,  the 
capital  of  the  Chinese  empire.     This  was  precisely  what  Ricci 
had  for  a  long  time   striven  to  accomplish,  and   he  therefore 
responded  to  the  call  in  the  yenr  1595  with  the  most  joyful 
feeling  of   zeal.      He   soon  came  also  to  get  acquainted  with 
the  higher  classes  of  the  community  among  the  Fetisches  of  his 
highly-conditioned    patron,    and  everyone  was  amazed  at  the 
wonderful  knowledge  which  he  brought  to  light.     He,  moreover, 
strove   especially  to  make  friends  at    Court,  in   order  that  he 
might  obtain  an  introduction  to  the  Emperor  himself,  and,  that 
he  might  the  more  easily  attain  his  object,  he  approached  even 
the  lowest  Court  oflBcials  with  the  most  cringing  flattery,  wbiJe 


he  tried  others,  according  to  their  dispositions,  with  presents 
and  bribes.      He  finally,  in  the  year  1601,  caused  himself  to  be 
so  much  talked  about  among   those  immediately  surrounding 
the  Emperor  Van- Lie,  that  the  latter,  hearing  of  the  wonders 
produced    by  the  learned  Ricci,    especially  concerning  a  self- 
striking  clock,  became  curious  to   inspect  the  apparatus,  and 
ordered  the  possessor  of  it  to  be  brought  before  him.     Ricci 
presented  himself  before  the  monarch,  and  not  only  brought  with 
him    the    *' self-striking   clock,"  made    by  himself,   which  had 
a  very  fine   appearance,   but    also   several    other  mechanical 
curiosities  which   had  hitherto  been  unknown  in  China.      Of 
course,  he  brought  these  not  alone  to  exhibit  them,  but  to  lay 
them,  as  presents,  at  the  feet  of  the  Emperor,    who   was   so 
delighted  with  them,  and  especially  with  the  clock,  that,  after 
the  dismissal  of  the  disguised  Jesuit,  he  spent  several  hours  in 
watching  the  action  of  the  works,  the  revolution  of  the  indicator, 
as  well  as  the  means  for  striking.     Not  contented  with  this,  His 
Majesty  required  that  his  wives,  along  with  the  Empress  mother, 
should  also  be  brought  to  inspect  this  marvellous  production. 
But,  alas  !  what  with  the  constant  manipulation,  making  it  per- 
petually strike,  and  winding  it  up,  it  happened  that  it  suddenly 
got  out  of  order  and  stopped,  whereupon  Van-Lie  became  in- 
consolable at  this  *'  extinguished  life,"  and  with  *a  complaining 
expression  exclaimed  to  Ricci,  who  had  been  quickly  summoned, 
**  She  is  dead."     The  Jesuit,  however,  comforting  him  with  these 
words,  "  She  shall  soon  live  again,  if  the  Son  of  Heaven  [the 
title  given  to  the  Emperor]  orders  it,"  took  the  clock  home  with 
him,  and  put  it  all  right  again  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours 
without  much  trouble.     From  this  time  forth  Ricci  had,  as  may 
be  said,  the  game  in  his  own  hands,  as  the  Emperor  could  now 
no    longer   do   without   him,    or,    rather,   Ricci    contrived   to 
render   himself  indispensable  to  His    Majesty.      He  knew    at 
once  how  so  to  make  use  of  the  monarch's  weakness  for  machin- 
ery, to  obtain  a  commission  from  him  for  a  whole  quantity  of 
clocks  and  watches,  and,  as  they  were  procured  from  Goa,  they 
were,  of  course,  accompanied  by  other  Fathers,  and  he  naturally 
was  himself  appointed  to  be  supervisor  of  clocks,  as  who,  besides 
him,  was  capable  of  keeping  the  numerous  works  in  order? 
Then,   again,   this  Father  Mathias,   as  it  appears,   engaged  in 
another  of  the  favourite  sciences  of  the  Emperor,  namely,  in  that 


112 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


i» 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   ASIA. 


It 


of  astronomy,  and,  lastly,  the  wily  Jesuit  managed  to  show  his 
acquaintance  as  well  with  chemistry  and  mathematics.     Such 
uncommon  endowments  as  these  certainly  deserved  recognition, 
^nd,  consequently,  Van-Lie  could  no  longer  refrain  from  hestow- 
ing  upon  the  Father  the  distinction   of  Court  Mandarin,  con- 
sisting in  the  position  of  a  superior  Court  official.     Moreover, 
he  made  him  the  present  of  a  large  house  in  the  city,  in  order 
to  establish  a  college,   and  endowed  it  with  an  enormous  in- 
come, as  in  it  astronomers,  mathematicians,  chemists,  opticians, 
and   other  artists    of  every   description    were    to  be  educated. 
It  was,  thus,  no    Christian   college,    nor    in    any  respect    an 
educational    institution    for    future    priests    of  any   particular 
denomination,  but  merely  a  high  scientific  institution  where  the 
chief  inhabitants  of  Peking  might   send   their   sons,  in    order 
that  they  might  be  instructed   and  made  as  skilful  as  Mathias 
Kicci  and   his   newly-arrived   associates.     Of  course.  Christian 
instruction  was  not  altogether  excluded  from  the  place,  but  it 
was  only  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to  rouse  against  it  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  young  nobility  and  their  Mandarin  parents.     On  the 
contrary,  Ricci  and  his  associates  only   taught  what  Confucius 
had  taught  before,  and  what  had  won  for  that  religious  founder 
his  well-merited  place  in  Heaven.     They  avoided  either  attack^ 
ing  Chinese    habits   and  customs,  or  even  making  but  slight 
objections  to  them,  but  on  the  other  hand,  they   rather  just 
allowed  their  pupils  to  live  on  quietly  in  the  way  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  do.     They  might  continue,  for  instance,  to  pray 
as  before  to  their  household  gods,  if  they  had  any.     They  might, 
as  before,  attend  their  lantern-feasts,  and  soul-fJasts,  the  fete  of 
Phelo,  and  all  similar  Chinese  religious  festivities.     They  might 
sacrifice  at  the  graves  of  deceased  relatives,   and,  when   sick, 
might  provide    themselves  with  the  "Luin,"  that  is.  with  the 
prescribed  Passe-par-tout,  which  the  Lama  priests  require  as  an 
entrance  into  the  other  world  ;  they  might,  on   arriving  at  the 
age  of  puberty,  observe  the   custom  of  the  plurality  of  wives, 
and  take  to  themselves  as  many  spouses  and  concubines  as  they 
desired;      they    might   even    take    to    wife    their    own    sisters, 
should  they  wish   it,  and,  moreover,   relationship  of  any  kind 
formed  no  impediment  to  marriage.     They  might  do  all  this, 
and   still    more,   if    they    would  only   allow   themselves   to  be 
baptised,  and  just   declare   their  wish   to  become   Chrisüans; 


113 


so,  with  the  view  of  avoiding  any  opposition,*  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  carried  out  to  the  fullest  extent  all  such  customs  and 
ceremonies.  It  was  thus  certainly  made  as  easy  and  convenient 
for  them  as  it  reasonably  could  be  !  and  as  little  as  possible 
was  demanded  in  return.  On  the  other  hand,  such  immense 
advantagas  were  promised  them,  that  it  would  have  been  indeed 
a  perfect  marvel  had  they  not  been  entrapped.  All  the  science 
of  Europe  was  freely  offered  them  for  the  present  life,  and  by 
means  of  such  knowledge  they  might  thus  be  enabled  to  surpass 
all  their  fellow-countrymen,  so  that,  for  the  future,  the  Emperor 
would  only  select  from  their  number  his  governors,  generals, 
and  ministers.  As  regards  the  life  to  come,  too,  they  might 
thus  secure  for  themselves  such  an  eternally  enduring  happiness, 
and  a  glorious  place  in  Tien,  i.e.  heaven,  that  all  the  rest,  and 
even  the  souls  of  those  who  were  burning  in  hell-fire,  must  on 
that  account  greatly  envy  them,  and  all  this  might  be  attained 
for  nothing  more  of  a  sacrifice  than  merely  a  declaration  of 
the  desire  of  being  henceforth  called  Christians.  No,  indeed, 
nothing  more,  I  repeat,  than  this ;  but  along  with  this  declara- 
tion, be  it  well  understood,  was  the  obligation  conjoined  of 
having  no  other  spiritual  advisers  than  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 
Herein  lay  the  point,  for  when  the  Fathers  became,  first  of  all, 
the  confessors  and  spiritual  advisers  of  a  family,  it  was  as  much 
as  if  all  the  members  of  the  family  had  sworn  allegiance  to 
them. 

In  this  manner  Ricci  succeeded  in  securing  an  extremely 
influential  position  at  the  Court  of  Pekin,  and  the  consequence 
was  that  he  was  not  only  permitted  to  build  a  church  adjoining 
the  college,  but  he  was  enabled  also  to  establish  colleges  and 
churches  in  other  towns  in  the  great  Empire,  by  means  of 
his  associates,  of  whom  iie  constantly  obtained  an  accession  in 
numbers  from   Goa.     It  must  not  be  believed,  however,  that  he 

•  This  is  reported  in  a  letter  from  the  Jesuit  Ignatius  Lobo,  dated  12th 
September  1635,  to  the  Franciscan  Father,  Antonio  de  Saint  Marie.  I  may 
especially  mention,  once  for  all,  that  what  is  related  here  concerning  the 
Christian  teaching  of  the  Jesuits  in  China  is  but  an  extract  taken  from 
the  reports  of  the  Jesuits  themselves.  As,  for  instance,  from  the  great 
work  on  China  by  Du  Halde,  from  the  memoranda  of  Fathers  Le  Conte  and 
Martini,  from  the  report  of  Father  Boym,  as  also  from  the  posthumous 
writings  of  Bioci  himself ;  allusion  is  not  made  to  the  false  imputations 
emanating  from  enemies  to  the  Jesuits,  but  to  facts  confirmed  by  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  themselves. 

8 


'  I 


114 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


liad  no  difficulties  to  contend   with   in  this  respect.     On  the 
contrary,    the    priests   of   the    Fo    religion,    in    particular,    did 
everything  in   their  power  to  throw  suspicion  on  him  and  his 
associates,  and  succeeded  so  far  at  Canton,  in  the  year  1608,  that 
the  Governor  there  ordered  Franz  Martinez  to  he  hastinadoed, 
to  which  punishment  he  succumbed,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost. 
Father  Longobardi,  also,  nearly  shared  the  same  fate,  and  even 
Ricci  himself  was  within  an  ace  of  heing  overthrown  by  a  cabal 
got  up  against  him  by  the  great  Bonze  of  Peking.   He  contrived, 
however,  to  make  such  good  use  of  the  friendship  which  the 
Emperor  entertained  towards  him,   that   he   came   off  at  last 
triumphant,  and  the  blow  intended  for  him  and  his  associates 
fell   back   upon  his   enemies  *      On  the  whole,   therefore,   his 
mission  had  been  so  marvellously  successful  that,  in  J  610,  when 
death  overtook  him,  it  might  be  correctly  boasted  concerning 
him     that    he    had    effected,   during   his    twenty-seven   years 
operations  in  China,  as  much,  if  not  more  than  Francis  Xavier 
Jiad  done  in  India  and  Japan ;  not,  however,  had  he  effected 
anything  of  consequence  for  Christianity,  for  what  he  taught 
certainly  had  but  little  more  than  just  the  name  of  Christianity, 
and  totally  deviated  from  the  religious  principles  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.      But   so   far  as   his   Order  was  concerned,  he 
opened  up  for  it  the  largest  empire  in  the  worid,  in  which  was  to 
lie  gained  an  immensity  of  power,  riches  and  glory ;  in   this 
respect  things  had  been  properly  handled.f 

Not  long  after  the  death  of  Ricci,  his  great  protector  and 
patron  the  Emperor  Van-Lie  also  died,  and  under  his  successor, 
Tien-ki,  who  also  did   not  reign  long,    the  native   priests  fre- 

•  The  Court  intrigue  to  which  I  have  alluded  above  was  occasioned  by  a 
master-stroke  of  ignominy,  in  that  the  Emperor  was  made  to  suspect  the 
GrandJ3onze  by  means  of  a  libel,  circulated  through  the  Court  of  Peking,  a 
document  probably  having  Ricci  for  its  author,  being  not  only  spread 
about  but  also  clearly  fabricated.  The  Governor  of  Canton,  too,  who  had  so 
maltreated  Father  Martinez,  came  off  badly,  as,  for  his  officiousness,  he 
was  removed  from  his  government  to  one  of  less  importance,  and  must 
have  held  himself  to  have  been  fortunate  in  escaping  with  so  mild  a 

punishment.  _,,    .  ,.     .,     ,. 

t  The  best  proof  of  how  Ricci  troubled  himself  about  Christianity  He« 
in  the  fact  of  his  literary  activity.  He  wrote  for  the  Chinese  and  the 
support  of  his  mission,  among  others,  the  following  works  :—(l)  The 
Practical  Mathematics  of  Clavius,  (2)  the  six  first  books  of  Euchd,  (3)  the 
Spheres  of  Euclid,  (4)  a  Treatise  on  Physics,  (5)  a  Method  of  Making  Sun 
Dials,  (6)  the  Art  of  Employing  Astrolobiums,  (7)  on  the  Use  of  the  Spmet, 
(8)  a  Catechism  of  Moral  Philosophy— the  same  in  which  he  develops  his 
Chinese  Christianity.  From  these  posthumous  publications  I  think  we  can 
beat  form  a  judgment  respecting  the  *'  Apostle  of  China." 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN  ASIA« 


116 


quently  renewed  their  endeavours  to  obtain  a  decree  prohibiting 
the  proceedings  of  the  intruding  foreigners.  Intrigue  followed 
intrigue,  calumniation  calumniation,  complaint  complaint,  while 
at  one  time  this  party,  at  another  that  party,  appeared  likely  to 
get  the  upper  hand. 

It  would  naturally  be  of  but  little  interest  to  the  reader  were 
I  to  enter  more  fully  into  detail  regarding  these  matters,  and  I 
will,  therefore,  only  remark  that  the  Jesuits  were  at  one  time  on 
the  point  of  being  completely  foiled.  The  Governor  of  the  king- 
dom of  Kiang-Nan,  for  example,  who,  in  the  year  1615,  resided 
in  Nanking,  declared  himself  to  be  their  particular  enemy,  and 
not  only  published  a  circumstantial  decree  against  them,  which 
he  transmitted  to  the  Court,  but  also  actually  commenced  to 
expel  them,  even  without  waiting  for  the  approval  and  sanction 
of  higher  authority.  The  Governor  of  the  neighbouring  pro- 
vince of  Quang  Tong  now  followed  his  example  in  this  respect, 
and  in  these  portions  of  the  enormous  empire  the  Jesuits  suffered 
the  most  cruel  persecution.  Their  colleges  were  closed  and 
their  churches  pulled  down  ;  they  were  themselves  thrown  into 
the  closest  prison,  bastinadoed,  and  then  packed  into  a  ship  like 
bales  of  goods,  and  transported  out  of  the  country  to  Macao. 
The  authorities  ought,  however,  to  have  waited  a  little  before 
acting  thus,  lest  the  Court  of  Peking  might  possibly  interfere, 
seeing  that  the  Jesuits  still  remained  in  the  highest  repute  there, 
as  mathematicians,  astronomers,  chemists,  musicians,  and  mecha- 
nicians. This  interference,  however,  did  not  take  place,  and  the 
Nanking  decree  of  expulsion  was,  on  the  contrary,  immediately 
confirmed,  probably  from  the  fact  of  the  memorandum  of  the 
Governor  of  Kiang  obtaining  unanswerable  support  on  the 
points  of  complaint.  And  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  Jesuits 
themselves  observed  unbroken  silence  regarding  this  circum- 
stance in  their  hitherto  most  detailed  reports  on  China. 

Political  events  now,  however,  occurred,  which  had  the  effect 
of  bringing  the  pious  Fathers  into  higher  honour  than  they 
had  ever  before  enjoyed.  The  Tartars,  a  numerous  and  brave 
race  of  people,  whose  home  lay  in  the  northern  frontier  of  the 
empire,  had  for  a  long  time  past  given  rise  to  frightful  trouble 
to  the  Emperor  of  China,  who  had  been  only  able  to  repel  the 
inroads  of  these  nomad  hordes  by  mustering  his  whole  forces 
against  them.     It  was  an  inroad  of  this  description  that  took 

8* 


I 


116 


laiSTOHY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN    ASIA. 


117 


plftce  in  the  year  1618,  and  the  Khan  of  Tartary,  called  by  the 
Chinese  historians  the  thief  "  Thien-Min,"  penetrated  almost  to 
the  very  walls  of  Peking.  The  Emperor  was  now  in  great 
.fitraits,  as  his  cowardly  people  fought  badly,  and  it  was  much 
to  be  feared  that  even  Peking  itself  might  fall  into  the  hands  of 
•the  enemy.  Then,  agaiti,  Mandarin  Seu,  one  of  the  highest 
oflBcials  of  the  Empire,  whom  the  Jesuits,  through  his  pious 
daughter,  Kandide,  who  had  been  baptised  by  them,  and 
solemnly  proclaimed  to  be  a  saint,  had  got  completely  into 
their  power,  counselled  the  Emperor  to  solicit  the  pious  Fathers 
to  obtain  the  assistance  of  Portuguese  officers  and,  in  par- 
ticular, artillerists,  in  order  that,  from  their  superior  attain- 
ments in  the  art  of  war,  the  enemy  might  be  driven  back.  The 
Emperor  with  great  joy  welcomed  this  counsel.  The  Jesuits,  of 
course,  most  readily  complied  with  his  wishes,  not,  however, 
except  under  certain  conditions,  among  which  were  included 
naturally  the  solemn  abrogation  of  the  Nanking  decree  of  ex- 
pulsion. The  result  was  that  after  the  successful  defeat  of  the 
Tartars  the  Emperor  fell  completely  into  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  at  the  same  time  in  this  way  obtained  the  keys  of 
government.  Full  power  was  then  again  accorded  to  them  to 
erect  colleges  in  all  the  cities  of  the  Empire,  and  also  churches 
as  well  in  connection  with  the  former  ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  they  made  the  most  unrestrained  use  of  this  privilege. 

The  incursions  of  the  Tartars  did  not  by  any  means  cease 
with  the  defeat  of  Thien-Min,  but  were  still  renewed  more 
than  ever  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Hoai-tsong,  the 
successor  of  Tien-ki.  Matters,  however,  became  still  worse 
when  Prince  Li-tse-tching  raised  a  rebellion,  and  with  the  aid 
of  70,000  Tartar  cavalry  advanced  on  Peking.  There  could  not 
be  any  question  of  long  resistance,  and  in  despair  Hoai-tsong 
along  with  all  his  wives  committed  suicide  in  his  Palace,  where- 
upon Li-tse-tching  took  possession  of  the  throne.  But  if  the 
capital  paid  him  homage,  it  did  not  thereupon  follow,  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  that  the  whole  province  should  do  so  likewise, 
and  such  infinite  confusion  ensued  throughout  the  Chinese 
Empire  that  shortly  no  one  could  distinguish  between  a  cook 
find  a  butler.  Deep  was  the  misery  that  reigned  among  all  the 
friends  of  the  fatherland,  and  still  more  dire  were  the  necessities 
pf  the  people.     The  Jesuits,  however,  on  the  other  hand,  rubbed 


their  hands  with  joy,  well  knowing  how  to  fish  in  troubled  waters, 
and  to  each  of  the  difierent  pretenders  who  were  striving  with 
each  other  for  the  mastery  they  promised  mountains  of  gold  in 
return  for  certain  advantages.  The  two  Fathers,  Cofler  and 
Schall,  made  themselves  more  particularly  conspicuous  in  this 
respect,  and  it  is  really  worth  while  to  look  a  little  more  closely 
into  their  conduct,  whilst  both  of  them — not  on  their  own  account, 
it  is  true,  but  by  the  order  of  their  General  in  Kome,  who  held 
all  the  threads  of  the  machinery — operated  in  entirely  opposite 
camps.  Thus,  while  Turn-Lie,  a  grandson  of  the  Emperor 
Van-Lie,  allowed  himself  to  be  proclaimed  Emperor  in  the 
province  of  Chan  Sy,  Father  Cofler  at  once  attached  himself  to 
his  side,  bringing  along  with  him  Doctor  Lucca,  a  good  engineer 
oflBcer,  and,  still  better,  Jesuit,  besides  several  other  Fathers 
among  whom  was  Martin  Boym.  Moreover,  besides  those 
mentioned  were  several  lay  Portuguese,  all  of  them  being 
officers,  who  were  sent  to  him  by  the  Governor  of  Macao,  to  be 
attached  to  his  suite,  so  that,  consequently,  he  could  make  an 
appearance  with  some  ostentation.  Cofler  thus  acting.  Tum  Lie 
was  thereby  soon  brought  to  the  conviction  that  it  would  now 
be  no  difficult  matter,  while  the  Christians  had  ranged  them- 
selves on  his  side,  to  bring  the  whole  of  China  under  subjection. 
Here  was,  then,  already  an  influential  party,  and  Cofler  promised 
their  unanimous  support  as  soon  as  the  Prince  had  been  himself 
baptised,  along  with  his  wives  and  children.  The  latter  con- 
sidered a  little,  as  he.  did  not  quite  know  at  this  time  whether 
he  might  not,  by  so  acting,  give  too  much  offence  to  the 
great  mass  of  the  Chinese  people  ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  as  news 
came  of  the  defeat  of  his  forces  by  the  enemy,  he  consented  to 
allow  his  wives  and  children  at  least  to  be  publicly  baptised, 
though  he  himself  did  not  "outwardly"  recognise  Christianity. 
In  return  for  this  concession,  it  was  agreed  that  Peter  Cofler 
should  create  a  Christian  army,  under  the  command  of  Lucca. 
Both  of  these  events  took  place,  that  is,  the  baptism  and  the 
commencement  of  the  assembling  together  by  Lucca  of  a  small 
army.  The  two  spouses  of  Tum-Lie  received  the  names  of 
Helena  and  Anna  ;  these,  first  of  all,  were  immediately  required 
to  send  to  the  Pope  Alexander  VII ,  through  Pater  Michael 
Boym,  autograph  letters,  dated  4th  December  1650,  wherein  they 
assured    the    Holy    Father,   the  representative  of  Christ  upon 


I 
I 


118 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN    ASIA. 


119 


earth,  that  the  whole  of  China  had  subjected  itself  to  him  with 
the  most  profound  devotion.*  The  heir  to  the  throne,  how- 
ever, Tum-Tym,  was  christened  "  Constantine,"  and  Cofler  drew 
up  his  horoscope  in  the  following  words :  "  The  child  born  at 
midnight,  like  the  Son  of  God,  shall  be  fortunate  in  everything, 
and  resemble  a  sun  which  will  overspread  all  China  with  good 
fortune."  Considering  all  this,  then,  one  would  have  naturally 
been  inclined  now  to  come  to  the  conviction  that  the  Jesuits 
had  thoroughly  sided  with  the  pretender  Turn-Lie,  and  had  col- 
lectively worked  to  procure  for  him  the  victory  over  all  his 
opponents  for  the  throne.  It  wag  not  so,  however,  for  they  played 
quite  the  same  kind  of  game,  besides,  with  another  of  the  pre- 
tenders ;  seeing  that,  without  doubt,  one  or  other  of  these  must 
eventually  succeed  in  carrying  off  the  palm.  To  wit,  then,  after 
that  Li-tse-tching  had  seized  upon  Peking,  Osan-Quei,  a  brother 
of  the  deceased  Emperor,  collecting  in  M^ntchuria  a  large  army 
by  means  of  the  treasure  which  he  had  brought  along  with  him, 
placed  himself  at  the  head  thereof,  and,  entering  China,  laid 
siege  at  once  to  Peking,  and  compelled  Li-tse-tching  to  abdicate 
the  throne. 

He,  however,  immediately  after  this,  died,  and  bequeathed 
the  inheritance  to  his  only  son,  Schun-tchin,  who  forthwith 
armed  himself  with  his  whole  power  in  order  to  subjugate 
also  the  remaining  provinces  of  China,  and  put  an  end  thereby 
to  all  other  pretenders  to  the  throne.  He  was  known  to  be  a 
brave  commander,  and  as  he  could  place  confidence  in  his  well- 
exercised  army,  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  the  result  of  the  coming  struggle  would  turn  out  anything 
else  than  favourable  for  him.  Nevertheless,  while  he,  like  so 
many  brave  warriors  before  and  after  him,  was  wedded  to 
belief  in  the  influence  of  the  stars,  before  commencing  operations 
he  determined  to  consult  them  and  ascertain  what  was  to  be  his 
fate.  He  therefore  ordered  Adam  Schall,  the  Jesuit  who  at  that 
time  held  the  position  of  astronomer  to  the  Peking  College,  to 
consult  the  heavens  nightly.  Schall,  like  another  Seui,  did  what 
was  demanded  of  him,  and  foretold  to  the  valiant  Schun-tchin 

•  This  document  also,  to  which  the  Jesuits  attach  not  a  little  importance, 
as  it  was  a  proof  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  they  were  held  at  the 
Court,  can  be  read  in  extenso  in  Du  Halde's  Description  de  la  Chine,  tom.  iii. 
p.  801. 


that  he  would  not  only  obtain  a  most  glorious  victory,  but  that 
he  should  also  secure  for  himself  and  his  posterity  easy  pos- 
session   of    the    whole    eelestial    empire.      Schun-tchin    now 
advanced  with  his  army,  conquering  one  province  after  another, 
and  ended  by  overthrowing  Turn-Lie.     He  took  him  prisoner, 
indeed,    along    with    his    whole    family,    and   caused   all    the 
members  thereof,  including  his  firstborn,  Tam-Tym,  to  whom 
Andreas  Xavier  Cofler   had  predicted    such   a  glorious  future, 
to   be   miserably   strangled.     Nothing,    however,  happened   to 
the   Jesuits   who   had  been  hitherto  working  at  the  Court  of 
the  conquered  one,  as  they  came  over  in  a  body,  by  order  of 
Schall,  into  the  camp  of  the  conqueror,  he  having  all  this  time 
the  patent  of  Vicar-General  of  the  China  Mission  in  his  pocket, 
given  to  him  by  the  General  of  the  Order.     It  turned  out,  then, 
that  the  Jesuits  had  been  working  at  the  same  time  in  each  of 
the  two  hostile  camps,  and,  no  doubt,  had  the  goddess  of  fortune 
shown  herself  favourable  to  Tum-Lie,  they  would  likewise  have 
come  over  just  the  same  to  him.     They  now,  however,  extolled 
immensely  the  mighty  Schun-tchin,  and  he  proved  himself  to 
be  so  gracious  to  them  that,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1661, 
although  not  more  than  eighty  years  from  the  advent  of  Ricci  in 
the  country,  they  possessed  no  fewer  than  thirty-eight  colleges 
and  residences,  along  with  15 1  churches.     Moreover,  Pater  Adam 
Schall  carried  matters  to  such  an  extreme  extent  that  his  most 
gracious  monarch  actually  bestowed  upon  him  the  dignity  of  a 
mandarin  of  the  first  rank,  nominating  him  also,  at  the  same 
time,  supreme  head  of  the  European  Bonzes  and  president  of  the 
Tribunal  of  Mathematics  of  the  Celestial  Empire.     This  was  one 
of  the  highest  and  most  influential  positions  in  China,  and  Adam 
Schall  was  no  longer  to  be  seen  in  public  unless  attired  in  the 
richest  stuff's,  covered  all  over  with  precious  stones,  sitting  in  a 
palankin  borne  by  twelve  slaves,  and  escorted  by  a  squadron  of 
his  own  body-guard,  being  protected  from  the  rays  of  the  sun  by 
ah  enormous  umbrella,  under  which  he  was  continually  fanned 
by  numerous  attendants,  and  regarded  with  the  utmost  respect 
by  crowds  of  people,  who  made  way  for  him  obsequiously  in  order 
to  escape  being  driven  aside  by  blows  from   bamboo    staves. 
Moreover,  the  great  Emperor,  besides  loading  him  with  riches, 
presented  him  with  a  large  palace  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  his  residence,  and  on  more  than  twenty  occasions  visited 


I' 
111 


K 


120 


HISTORY   OF    THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUIT   MISSION   IN  AFRICA. 


121 


Lim  personally,  whilst  it  is  well  known  that  in  China  the  etiquette 
is  for  the  sovereign  never  to  cross  the  threshold  of  a  subject.  To 
put  a  crown  upon  the  matter,  indeed,  he  gave  him  permission  to 
address  the  throne  directly  on  all  matters,  whereas,  in  the  instance 
of  all  other  Crown  and  Court  officials,  it  had  to  be  approached 
only  through  the  Tribunal  of  Petitions  ;  and,  lastly,  he  entrusted 
to  him  the  education  of  his  firstborn  son  and  successor ! 

Such  was  the  magnificent  position  accorded  to  the  Jesuit  Adam 
Schall  at  the  Court  of  Peking,  and  no  less  splendid  was  the 
position  of  the  successor  to  his  post,  given  after  his  death  by  the 
General  of  the  Order  to  the  venerable  Pater  Verbiest,  who  was 
also  a  grand  mandarin  and  president  of  the  Tribunal  of  Mathe- 
matics, and  who  obtained,  moreover,  the  title  of  Ma-Fa,  stepping 
along,  not  as  an  humble  preacher  of  the  Christian  faith,  but  as 
a  grand  dignitary  of  the  great  Chinese  empire.  What  was,  then, 
in  those  glorious  days,  done  in  respect  to  the  colleges  which  the 
Jesuits  conducted  ?  Much,  as  regards  mathematical  instruments, 
pianos,  watches,  astronomical  tables,  and  all  such  studies,  but, 
as  regards  the  progress  of  the  Christian  religion,  nothing  at  all. 
They  turned  out,  it  is  true,  a  number  of  architects,  painters, 
geographers,  musicians,  astronomers,  mathematicians,  mechanics, 
physicians,  and  even  diplomatists  *  But  as  for  Christian  theo- 
logians and  preachers,  none  were  produced.  Verily,  a  cannon- 
foundry  was  erected  by  the  worthy  Fathers,  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  venerable  Verbiest,  close  to  the  Peking  college,  and 
the  guns  made  there  proved  to  be  much  more  perfect  than  those 
manufactured  by  the  Chinese.  Nothing  was  heard  or  under- 
stood, however,  about  what  the  Fathers  did  as  regarded  the 
diffusion  of  the  spirit  of  God  among  the  Chinese  people. 

II. — The  Jesuit  Mission  in  Africa. 

We  have  above  seen  how  greatly  extended  had  become  the 
Jesuit  missions  in  Asia ;  so  much  &  \  indeed,  that  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  comprehend  all  within  anything  like  a  narrow 
compass.  Entirely  different,  however,  was  this  the  case  as  to 
the  Jesuit  mission  in  Africa,  which  was  limited  to  a  single 
locality  and  to  a  comparatively  very  short  space  of  time. 

*  yiie  Jesuits  were  also  employed  by  the  Emperor  Kang-hi  (tue  same  as 
had  been  educated  by  Schall)  especially  in  the  latter  capacity,  Is  it  wrthey 
who  m  the  year  1689,  concluded  treaties  witii  Russia,  regulating  the 
boundanea  between  Siberia  and  Mantchuria. 


When  embarking  on  the  Nile  in  Egypt,  with  the  view  of  pro- 
ceeding to  the  frontier,  as  soon  as  the  latter  is  passed,  one 
reaches  Nubia,  which  has  now  become  a  province  of  Egypt; 
but  on  proceeding  still  further  south,  there  are  extensive  high- 
lands, which  reach  out  between  the  great  plain  of  Kordofan  and 
the  Red  Sea,  whose  waters  separate  them  from  the  peninsula  of 
Arabia.  This  region  figures  in  geographical  works  under  the 
names  of  Abyssinia  (or  Habesch)  and  Ethiopia. 

These  fertile  lands,  in  which  are  the  sources  of  the  great 
neighbouring  river  Nile,  as  well  as  other  fine  streams,  and  in 
which  the  fniits  of  the  south  flourish  along  with  those  of  more 
temperate  regions,  formed,  at  one  time,  during  the  1st  century 
of  our  era,  a  mighty  kingdom,  called  Azumitia,  after  its  great 
capital  Azum,  while  Byzantine  authors  inform  us,  respecting 
the  same,  that  its  rulers  had  extended  their  conquests  as  far  as 
Yemen  and  Saba  in  Arabia,  and  on  its  frontiers,  more  especially, 
had  shattered  the  power  of  both  Romans  and  Parthians.  At  the 
time  these  events  took  place,  the  heathen  religion  was  there 
naturally  prevalent,  and  we  read,  for.  instance,  that  the  valiant 
King  Aizanes,  who  reigned  at  the  commencement  of  the  4th 
century,  after  having  gained  a  glorious  victory,  erected,  in 
the  year  333,  some  statues  in  honour  of  Aries  and  Mars. 
Immediately  after  this,  however,  about  the  year  340,  two 
wandering  missionaries,  named  Frumentius  and  Adesius,  after- 
wards designated  the  Apostles  of  Ethiopia,  coming  from  the 
direction  of  Egypt,  began  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, and,  as  King  Aizanes  himself  was  one  of  the  first  to  be 
baptised,  their  doctrines  found  such  great  favour  with  high  and 
low,  that  in  less  than  ten  years'  time  two- thirds  of  all  the 
heathen  temples  were  converted  into  Christian  churches.  In 
addition  to  which,  numbers  of  cloisters  and  hermitages  were 
established,  as  a  matter  of  course,  after  the  pattern  of  the 
Egyptian  ones,  as  Egypt  supplied  hundreds  of  secular  priests 
who  were  required  for  the  performance  of  divine  worship,  and,  as 
may  well  be  supposed,  the  entire  ritual  was  no  other  than  that 
customary  in  the  mother  country.  In  order,  however,  to  put  a 
seal  upon  the  whole  affair,  the  Patriarch  of  Alexandria  conse- 
crated the  missionary  Frumentius  to  be  the  first  bishop  of  the 
newly-converted  country,  and,  from  that  time  forth,  it  became 
the  privilege  of  the  Patriarch  to  nominate  the  "  Abuna  "  as  the 


w 


122 


HISTOBT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUIT   MISSION   IN   APElCA. 


123 


primate  bishop  was  designated.  It  was  thus  that  Ethiopia 
became  the  most  remote  bulwark  of  Christiaüity  in  Africa,  and 
many  attempts  were  then  made  to  gain  a  footing  for  this 
faith  even  in  Arabia;  but,  the  religion  of  Mahomet  starting 
into  existence  in  the  7th  century,  a  completely  different  com- 
plexion was  given  to  the  whole  matter.  Mahomedanism,  which, 
as  is  well  known,  made  proselytes  sword  in  hand,  seized  not 
only  upon  Arabia,  along  with  all  the  coasts  bordering  upon 
the  Red  Sea,  comprehending  therein  the  territory  of  the  Kings 
of  Azum,  but  also  subjected  £gypt  up  to  the  frontiers  of  Nubia, 
thereby  rendering  Abyssinia,  as  it  were,  a  Christian  oasis  in 
the  midst  of  countries  now  become  Mahomedan.  Not  contented, 
indeed,  with  this,  the  Khalifs  (Mahomet's  successors)  sought  to 
penetrate  into  Abyssinia  itself,  and  not  merely  weakened  it  much 
by  successive  aggressive  raids,  but  continued  their  efforts  until 
they  had  gained  over  to  Islam  a  portion  of  the  population.  What 
was  still  worse,  they  gradually  excluded  the  country,  both  by  sea 
and  land,  from  all  intercourse  with  other  nations  in  such  a  way 
as  to  draw  a  cordon  round  it;  so  isolated,  indeed,  did  it 
thus  become  that  for  centuries  nothing  was  heard  of  it  in 
Europe.  It  was  not  till  the  Middle  Ages  that  a  tradition 
sprang  up  regarding  the  lost  Christian  monarchy,  when  much  was 
talked  of  respecting  a  certain  **  Priester  John  "  who  governed 
this  kingdom,  and  who  was  said  to  be  the  lineal  descendant  of 
King  Solomon  Still  no  one  could  give  any  very  distinct 
information  about  the  matter,  and  many  thought  it  to  be  a 
myth  and  an  idle  dream,  until  the  end  of  the  year  1483,  when  an 
Abyssinian  made  his  appearance  at  the  Council  of  Florence 
giving  himself  out  to  be  an  ambassador  from  the  ruler  of  that 
country,  Za  Yacub  by  name.  He  disappeared  again,  however, 
immediately  after  it  was  brought  to  a  close,  and  then  no  more 
was  again  heard  of  the  kingdom  than  previously.  As  the 
Portuguese,  in  one  of  their  expeditions  to  the  east  coast  of 
Africa,  in  the  year  1484,  learned,  through  an  embassy  to  the 
negro  State  of  Benin,  that,  twenty  months*  journey  beyond  the 
latter,  a  powerful  king  of  the  name  of  Za-Ogano  reigned,  and  as 
they,  with  reason,  thought  that  this  Christian  kingdom  could  be 
no  other  than  that  of  the  mythical  "Preste  Jono,"  they  fitted 
out  an  expedition  at  once,  under  the  supreme  command  of  Pero 
de  Covilha,  which  should  proceed  through  Egypt  and  the  Bed 


Sea  to  the  east  coast  of  Africa.  Covilha  accomplished  his 
commission  in  the  most  brilliant  manner,  and  after  a  three 
years'  search,  found  that  for  which  he  was  instructed  to  look, 
namely,  the  Christian  State  of  Habesch,  in  the  midst  of  a 
surrounding  partly  heathenish  and  partly  Mahomedan.  The 
great  problem  was  at  last  solved,  and  the  reward  of  the 
Portuguese  was  that  they  obtained  permission  from  the  ruler  of 
the  State  mentioaed,  the  Negus  Za-Densal  ("  Negus "  is 
in  Abyssinia  the  equivalent  of  "  King ")  to  trade  at  their 
pleasure,  and  to  found  therein  commercial  establishments; 
for  which  privilege  they  were,  however,  required  to  give 
effectual  assistance  against  the  Mahomedans,  who  made  their 
incursions  even  as  far  as  from  Aden,  as  also,  later  on,  against 
the  Gallas,  a  wild  tribe  of  people  who  had  their  home  south  of 
Abvssinia. 

So  far,  all  was  right  between  them,  and  the  two  nation- 
alities agreed  very  well  together,  especially  after  becoming 
known  to  each  other,  partly  through  the  aid  of  interpreters, 
and  partly  by  conversing  through  the  medium  of  their  respective 
languages. 

The  Pope  of  Kome  now  made  a  discovery  which  might  sud- 
denly have  the  effect  of  interrupting  at  once  the  continuance  of 
a  lasting  good  understanding.  And  in  what  did  this  discovery, 
indeed,  consist  ?  Simply  in  this,  that  the  Abyssinians  proved 
themselves  to  be  no  true  Roman  Catholic  Christians,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  heretics  of  the  class  of  so-called  Monophysites. 
so  they  must  at  once  be  converted  to  the  only  true  Catholic 
Church.  The  Pope  was  right  to  a  certain  extent  from  his  own 
stand-point,  that  is,  that  the  Abyssinians  adhered  to  the  same 
faith  as  the  Christians  in  Egypt  (the  so-called  Kopts),  contend- 
ing that  in  Christ  were  united  two  natures  in  one  person,  the 
human  and  divine  without  admixture,  transmutation,  or  separa- 
tion. Besides  which,  they  deviated  also  in  some  other  respects 
from  the  practice  of  the  Latin  or  Roman  Catholic  ritual,  as  for 
instance  in  that  of  baptism,  which  was  always  preceded  with 
them  by  circumcision  ;  as  also  in  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  in  that  of  fasting,  which  they  extended  always  to  sunset, 
while  the  Romish  Christians  abstained  from  food  only  up  to 
mid-day.  But  the  principal  difficulty  did  not  consist,  by  any 
means,  merely  in  these   two    externals,   which   signified  next 


M 


1 

II 


124 


msTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    JESUIT    MISSION   IN    AFRICA. 


125 


to  nothing  as  regards  the  Oriental  Christian  ritual,  but  in  this, 
that  the  Abyssinian  clergy  did  not  look  upon  the  Pope  of  Borne  as 
their  supreme  Church  authority,  preferring  rather  the  Patriarch  of 
Alexandria,  and  they  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  yield  on  this 
point,  in  spite  of  all  Roman  argument.  This  was  clearly  nothing 
but  open  heresy,  and  must  be  opposed  with  the  greatest  energy. 
But  whom  should  the  Popes  nominate  as  executors  of  their  will 
and  pleasure?  No  other,  of  course,  than. the  Order  of  the 
Jesuits,  which  had  already  taken  upon  itself  the  task  of  contend- 
ing with  heresy  all  over  the  world,  and  in  re-establishing  the 
Papal  supremacy  everywhere.  And  had  not  the  sons  of  Loyola 
already  given  proof  of  their  zeal  and  energy  in  Japan  and 
China  ?  What  were  they  not  capable  of  doing,  and  if  they 
could  not  bring  about  the  Romanising  of  the  Abyssinians,  no 
one  else,  assuredly,  would  be  likely  to  succeed  in  so  doing. 
What  now  took  place  can  well  be  imagined,  and  I  will  just 
allude  to  it  in  a  very  few  words. 

The  Jesuits  first  of  all,  as  usual,  sought  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  country  by  means  of  founding  colleges,  in  which 
thev  succeeded  with  the  assistance  of  their  friends  the  Portu- 

« 

guese,  in  whose  ships  they  reached  Abyssinia.  They  then 
directed  their  attention  to  the  great  men  of  the  kingdom,  in 
order  to  bring  them  over  to  their  views,  and  with  this  object 
left  untried  no  means,  including  flattery  and  even  bribery,  to 
mould  them  to  their  wishes.  At  length,  after  ten  years  of  under- 
mining and  agitation,  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Father  Paez,  who  gave 
promise  of  becoming  another  Ricci,  to  succeed  in  bringing  over 
to  his  side,  at  the  end  of  the  1  (ith  century,  Socinius,  successor  to 
the  throne,  and  the  same  made  a  vow,  in  his  spiritual  weakness, 
as  soon  as  he  should  succeed  to  power,  to  do  his  utmost  that  the 
**  unity  of  the  Church  **  might  be  re-established ;  this  was  the 
bait  of  which  the  Jesuits  made  use  In  fact,  he  kept  his 
word  ;  and,  in  the  year  1 603,  as  soon  as  he  became  King,  he 
immediately,  along  with  his  whole  family,  abjured  the  previous 
heresy  of  Monophysism,  at  the  same  time  making  a  solemn 
declaration  that  he  would  henceforth  recognise  the  Pope  alone  as 
Spiritual  Lord  of  the  Kingdom.  As  may  be  easily  imagined,  his 
example  was  at  once  followed  by  a  number  of  the  courtiers ;  and, 
as  the  favour  of  the  ruler  must,  as  a  matter  of  course,  have  been 
renounced  by  all  those  who  adhered  to  the  old  faith,  most  of 


the  provincial  governors  also,   after  a  short  time,  espoused  the 
side  of  the  Jesuits.     It  seemed,  in   fact,  to  be  a  settled  aflfair 
that    the    latter    had    gained    the    victory,   and    thus    it    was 
represented  to  Pope  Gregory  XV.,  who  was  induced  thereby 
to  nominate  one  of  their  number,  Alfonso  Mendez,  under  the 
title  of  Patriarch  of  Abyssinia,   to   be  supreme  bishop  of  the 
country,  with  all  proper  dictatorial  power  in  matters  of  faith ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  the  weak-minded  Negus  Socinius  was 
induced  to  declare  himself  ready  to  carry  out,  with  his  wordly 
weapons  and  despotic  power,  all  that  was  required  by  the  Latin 
Patriarch.     There  now  commenced,  as  may  be  well  imagined,  a 
cruel  time  for  the  hitherto  happy  land  of  Abyssinia — a  period  of 
such  frightful  strife,  persecution,  and  affliction,   that   the  pen 
almost  refuses   to  describe  the  inhuman    cruelties  which   were 
enforced  by  the  Jesuits  against  the  refractory  believers  in  the 
old  faith ;  but  it  was  just  this  very  blood-thirsty  barbarity  and 
torture  for  conscience'  sake,  this  inexorable  passion  with  which 
the  cause  of  Rome  was  prosecuted,  that  snatched  the  victory 
from  the  sons  of  Loyola.     Abyssinia,  for  example,  contained  a 
very   numerous    body   of    clergy,    consisting    of    "kasis,"    or 
parsons,  "  debteraten,"  or  deacons,   "  komosaten,"  or  prelates, 
besides,  lastly,  an  "  Abuna,"  or  metropolitan  bishop,  of  whom  I 
have  already  made  mention  ;  there  were,  moreover,  of  monks 
and  nuns  almost  more   than  enough  in  number;  all  of  these 
priests  and  cowl-wearers,  however,  clung  with  invincible  tenacity 
to    their   rites    and    customs   which   they    had    for    centuries 
observed,  and  would  especially   have  nothing  whatever  to   do 
with  the  Pope  of  Rome,  who  wished  to  be  dominant  over  all 
bishops  and  patriarchs  in  the  world.     The  Jesuits  could  not 
thus    conceal    from    themselves   that    the    innovations    which 
thev  desired  to  introduce  would  raise  up  against  them  many 
adversaries,  the  number  of  such  being  all  the  greater  in  that  the 
Abyssinian   priests  exercised    great   influence  over   the  minds 
of  the   people,  and  especially  held  unlimited  power  over    the 
wills  of  their  confessants  belonging  to  the  lower  orders :  they 
could   not   well  help  seeing  that   it  could  only  be  by  a  slow 
process  of  undermining  religious  convictions,  patiently  continued 
for  many  years,  that  anything  of  consequence  could  be  eflFected  ; 
the  alternative  was  that  a  whole  race  of  people  could  be  coerced 
by   force.     They   determined,   then,  in  their  impetuosity  and 


i 


If 
I* 


^    ♦#' 


126 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUIT   MISSION   IN   AFBICA. 


127 


arrogance,  to  adopt  the  latter  course,  and  thought  that  they 
would  be  able  to  attain  their  end  with  the  rabble  as  readily  as 
they  had  already  done  with  the  Indians  and  Japanese.  They, 
therefore,  incited  the  King  to  issue  orders  to  his  governors  to 
proceed  against  the  refractory  priests  with  the  greatest  severity. 
But,  behold  !  now  it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  Abyssinians 
were  not  going  to  show  themselves  so  effeminate  as  tamely 
to  submit,  with  humble  submission,  to  an  order  from  superior 
authority,  like  mindless  slaves  and  degraded  creatures.  Such 
was  not  the  case ;  on  the  contrary,  led  by  their  priests,  they 
declared  in  thousands,  by  vigorous  petitions  to  the  throne,  that 
they  would  not  yield,  and  that  they  were,  moreover,  prepared  to 
live  or  die  for  their  faith. 

What  did  it  now  signify,  if  the  King  s  officials,  at  the  desire 
of  the  Jesuits,  sought  to  overcome  this  opposition  of  the  people 
by  means  of  cudgelling  and  sword-cuts  ?  ,  What  did  it  matter 
now  that  some  of  the  governors,  and  among  them  one  especially, 
called  Zela,  and  bearing  the  nickname  of  Christ,  distinguished 
himself  by  consigning  to  the  gallows  all  those  priests  who  pre- 
ferred that  alternative  to  conversion  ?  The  people  rose  in 
rebellion,  the  storm  broke  loose,  and  the  agitation  became  so 
universal,  that,  in  order  that  all  might  not  be  lost,  King  Socinius 
was  compelled  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  his  son  Facilidas,  who,  at 
once  turning  completely  round,  reverted  to  the  old  religion,  and 
drove  the  Portuguese,  along  with  the  Jesuits,  entirely  out  of  the 
country.  He  caused,  indeed,  some  of  the  Fathers,  who  endea- 
voured to  raise  a  counter  revolution,  to  be  publicly  executed,  and 
promulgated  a  decree,  by  which  all  the  Black  Cloaks  were  pro- 
hibited for  the  future  from  crossing  the  frontiers,  under  pain  of 
death. 

Thus  terminated  the  short  domination  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Habesch,  and  by  the  energetic  action  of  Negus  Facilidas  these 
were  so  completely  cured  of  their  rage  .'*^r  conversion  in  this  part 
of  the  world,  that  they  never  again  made  any  further  attempt ; 
neither  did  they  even  so  much  as  think  of  trying  to  settle  in  any 
other  places  in  Africa,  but,  on  the  contrary,  at  once  renounced  all 
idea  of  attempting  to  form  any  other  permanent  settlements,  as 
well  in  Egypt,  among  the  headstrong  and  obstinate  Kopts,  as  on 
the  Congo  among  the  half-savage  blacks,  probably  because  in  their 
opinion  the  field  did  not  give  promise  of  any  productive  harvest. 


Thus  vanished  in  the  African  sands  every  trace  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  if,  later  on,  agents  of  the  Society  did  from  time  to 
time  occasionally  make  their  appearance  in  the  Portuguese 
settlements  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  they  did  not  come  there 
to  preach  the  Christian  doctrine,  or  to  make  any  permanent 
settlement,  but  merely  to  purchase  cargoes  of  blacks,  and  to  ship 
them  off  as  slaves  to  their  colonies  in  America. 

III.— The  Jesuit  Missions  in  America. 

With  the  Portuguese  the  Jesuits  came  into  Asia,  with  the 
same  people  they  also  came  into  Africa,  and  still  again  the 
Jesuits  came  with  them  into  America.  In  the  last-mentioned 
quarter  of  the  globe  that  nation  already  possessed  an  enormous 
extent  of  territory,  which  is  now  known  under  the  name  of 
Brazil,  and  in  the  year  1549  King  John  III.  of  Portugal  sent  a 
fleet  of  ships  containing  a  number  of  emigrants,  who  founded 
the  city  of  San  Salvador,  in  the  Gulf  of  Bahia,  on  the  east 
coast  of  Central  America. 

As  the  missionary  work  of  Francis  Xavier  had  been  so 
extraordinarily  successful  among  the  populations  of  Asia,  who 
had  thus  been  converted  into  good  subjects  of  the  King,  he 
requested  Loyola,  the  Jesuit  General  in  Kome,  to  supply  him 
with  some  missionaries  for  America  also,  in  the  hope  that  the 
long-cloaked  Fathers  might  get  on  as  well  with  the  inhabitants 
of  the  West  Indies  as  they  had  done  with  those  of  the  East 
Indies  ;  and  Loyola  at  first  sight  recognising  the  importance  of 
this  mission,  at  once  consigned  to  him  six  members  of  his  Order. 
Those  six,  among  whom  was  Emanuel  Rodrega,  who,  by  his 
untiring  energy,  as  well  as  by  his  superior  sagacity,  was  highly 
esteemed  by  Jesuit  historians,  and  not  without  reason,  at  once 
built  a  house  for  themselves  at  San  Salvador — that  is  to  say, 
a  residence — and  thence  commenced  their  efforts,  in  order  to 
see  what  could  be  effected  with  the  natives  in  the  interior  of  the 
country.  It  soon  was  apparent,  however,  that  the  latter  manifested 
a  verv  different  disposition  from  the  degraded  and  enervated 
Hindoos,  and  under  the  oppressions  and  tortures  inflicted  on 
them  by  the  Europeans  they,  if  possible,  became  still  more 
savage  and  cruel  than  they  had  previously  been.  The  Jesuit 
Fathers,  therefore,  were  not  received  with  anything  like  a  good 


128 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN   AMERICA. 


129 


welcome,  and  could  not  in  consequence  do  much  with  them — at 
all  events  at  first,  as  they  were  not  yet  at  all  acquainted  with 
the  language  of  the  Indians,  as  the  natives  of  America  were 
commonly  called.  They  lived,  moreover,  in  constant  fear  of 
being  murdered  by  the  savages,  who,  being  cannibals,  entertained 
an  irresistible  longing  for  the  taste  of  human  flesh.  They  had 
so  much  to  endure,  besides,  from  oppression  during  their 
wanderings,  that  it  was  indeed  surprising  that  any  of  them 
escaped,  under  the  circumstances,  in  their  zealous  efforts. 
Nevertheless  they  soon  found  their  exertions  crowned  with 
a  certain  amount  of  success,  as  the  Indians  allowed  all  the 
unfortunates  who  were  condemned  to  be  eaten,  and  who  were, 
for  the  most  part,  prisoners  taken  during  their  constant  feuds 
with  other  tribes,  to  be  baptised  previous  to  their  being 
slaughtered.*  Besides  this,  they  met  with  some  success  among 
the  Indian  females — at  least,  with  those  tribes  who  had  pitched 
their  camp  in  the  neighbourhood  of  European  settlements — and 
induced  the  same  to  accept  of  rosaries  and  Agnus  Dei.  Through 
the  women  they  obtained  some  influence,  too,  over  the  men, 
and  the  result  was  that  the  conversion  always  terminated  with 
the  rite  of  baptism,  although  those  baptised  had  not,  indeed,  the 
slightest  conception  of  Christianity. 

The  Jesuits  at  length  brought  the  matter  so  far,  that  most  of 
the  whites  in  the  Portuguese  settlements,  as  well  as  the  half- 
castes,  or  progeny  of  whites  and  Indian  women,  accepted  them 
as  father  confessors — the  great  thing,  however,  being  that  they 
obtained  large  tracts  of  extensive  territory  in  the  way  of  presents, 
in  order  to  build  thereon  residences  and  colleges.  This  took 
place  all  over  the  country  wherever  it  was  at  all  possible,  and 
there  soon  flourished  in  San  Salvador,  Pernambuco,  and  Eio 
Janeiro  three  magnificent  and  very  numerously  attended  educa- 
tional institutions. 

Not  long  after  this — less  than  twenty  years  subsequent  to  their 
first  landing — the  Jesuits  had  already  overstepped  the  boundaries 
of  Brazil  and  penetrated  Peru,  where  in  Lima,  La  Paz,  and 
Cusco  they  also  established  colleges.     Later  on—  after  another 

*  Not  infrequently,  moreover,  the  Indians  recalled  the  permission  for  the 
baptism  of  the  human  victims,  because  they  entertained  the  prejudice  that 
flesh  lost  its  good  flavour  by  the  act  in  question.  They  looked  upon 
baptism  then  as  a  description  of  magic,  and  the  Jesuits  were  careful  to 
avoid  removing  the  superstition  which  they  entertained. 


' 


twenty  years— however,  they  possessed  settlements  in  every  part 
of  South  and  Central  America,  wherever  the  banners  of  Portugal 
or  Spain  waved,  as,  for  instance,  in  Chili,  Mexico,  Tukuman, 
and  Maranham,  and  their  agents  and  missionaries  permeated 
throughout  the  whole  of  that  enormous  continent,  which 
extend  from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
as  on  the  other  hand  from  Panama  upwards  to  the  Rio  del 
Norde.  They,  indeed,  penetrated  even  into  Canada,  and  the 
banners  of  Ignatius  proudly  waved  wherever  the  white  flag  with 
the  three  lilies  protected  it.  When,  however,  that  country  came 
to  be  given  over  from  the  French  to  the  English,  the  Jesuits 
had  to  take  their  departure,  and  fly  precipitately  to  the  south,  as 
neither  the  English  nor  Dutch,  and  not  even  the  Danes,  tolerated 
Jesuit  settlements  in  their  American  colonies. 

Great,  however,  as  was  the  power  and  possessions  which  the 
Jesuits  obtained  in  the  individual  countries  of  America,  this 
splendour  was  almost  entirely  eclipsed  by  another  grand  acqui- 
sition which  they  encompassed  in  this  same  land,  where  they 
got  possession  of  a  complete  empire,  over  which  they  ruled  as 
absolute  monarchs— a  dominion,  indeed,  even  twice  as  large  as 
Italy.  This  country  was  called  Paraguay,  and,  since  it  has 
never  before  come  to  pass  that  a  purely  ecclesiastical  Order 
has  elevated  itself  to  the  position  of  a  sovereign  king,  on  that 
account  it  is  well  worth  the  trouble  of  going  into  the  matter  a 
little  more  in  detail. 

The  Paraguay  of  the  present  day,  one  of  the  smallest  free 
states  of  South  America,  is  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  river 
Paraguay,  on  the  east  and  north  by  Brazil,  and  on  the  south  by 
the  territory  of  Parana,  having  an  extent  of  only  4,176  square 
miles.     The  Paraguay,  however,  of  the  16th  and  1 7th  centuries 
was,    on    the   contrary,    of   infinitely  larger   proportions,  and 
embraced  neariy  all  the  land  now  included  in  the  states  of  La 
Plata  and  the  Banda- oriental.     The  same  comprehends  almost 
uninterruptedly  a  large  continuous  plain,  with  but  a  few  ranges 
of  hills  of  not  more  than  a  few  thousand  feet  in  height,  and 
is  watered  by  a   number  of  delightful   streams,   especially  the 
i  nvers  called  Paraguay  and  Uruguay,  which  discharge  themselves 
^ntirely   into    the   Parana,    which,   after    its   union   with    the 
^niRuay,  assTimes  the  name  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.     Its  climate  is 
?mi-tropical,  and  on  that  account  its  soil  surpasses  in  fertihty 


130 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


that  of  almost  any  other  country  in  the  world ;  consequently, 
not  only  do  all  the  ordinary  descriptions  of  fruit  which    are 
made  use  of  for  food  hy  man  thrive  and  prosper,  hut  also  such 
plants  as  tohacco,  cotton,  and  sugar  can  he  grown  there  with 
advantage.     Of  not  less  importance,  hut  perhaps,  indeed,  much 
more  so,  is  the  condition  of  the  animal  creation  therein.     On 
the   one  hand,  there   are  to  he  found   enormous  troops  of  all 
descriptions  of  wild  animals,  such  as  swine,  stags,  and  diflferent 
kinds  of  deer ;  while,  on  the  other,  domesticated  animals,  more 
especially  horses  and  other  cattle,  ahound  in  herds.     Nothing, 
however,   surpasses   the   magnificence   of  the  forests,    and  the 
so-called   Barrigudos,  of  no   less    than  three    fathoms   in   cir- 
cumference,   as    also    palm-trees   of  180    feet   in    height,    are 
hy   no   means  uncommonly   to   he   met  with.     In  short,  it  is 
indeed  a  wonderfully  delightful  country,  heing  the  only  region, 
perhaps,  which  can  he  made  available  for  such  opposite  uses,  as  it 
happens  that  enormous  tracts,  during  the  rainy  season,  disappear 
under  water.     The  first  discoverer  of  this  superh  territory  was 
the  Spaniard,  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis,  Grand  Pilot  of  Castile,  who,  in 
the  year  1516,  entered  into  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  was  killed 
hy  the  natives.     He  was  afterwards  eaten  hy  them  within  sight 
of  his  ships'  crews.     Three  years  after  this,  Don  Martin  de  Sosa, 
Captain-General  of  Brazil,  sent  Alexis  Garcia,  along  with  four 
other  Portuguese,  all  brave  and  powerful  men,  to  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  in  order  that  they  might  endeavour  to  penetrate  thence 
into  the  gold  and  silver  coasts  of  Peru,  which,  at  that  time, 
belonged  to  the  Spaniards,  and  this  adventurous  journey  was 
indeed  efiected.     On  the  return  journey,  Garcia  and  two  of  his 
companions  were  massacred  by  the  savages,  and  the  two  remain- 
ing ones  alone  succeeded  in  reaching  alive  the  town  of  Bahia,  or 

San  Salvador. 

The  expedition  of  George  Sedano  terminated  in  a  result  quite 
as  unfortunate.  He,  with  sixty  other  Portuguese,  set  out  like- 
wise from  Bahia  for  the  Parana,  and  they  also,  through  the 
treacherous  cunning  of  the  Indians,  all  found  their  graves  in  the 
same  river.  At  last,  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  in  the  year 
1525,  sent  his  grand  pilot,  Cabot,  with  five  ships,  to  the  river 
Plate,  and  this  distinguished  mariner  succeeded  in  ascending  it 
until  he  arrived  at  Paraguay,  and,  consequently,  no  one  but  him 
can  be  thanked  for  the  first  correct  information  concerning  that 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   AMERICA. 


131 


country.     He  took  possession,  also,  of  the  whole  territory  of 
Parana,  or  Paraguay,  for  the  Spanish  crown,  and  erected,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Rio  Ticero  with  the  Parana,  a  tower  known 
afterwards  by  the  name  of  Cabot's  tower.     The  first  settlement, 
however,  properly  so  called,  namely,  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres, 
was  only  founded  ten  years  later  by  Don  Pedro  de  Mendoza, 
who,  in  1530,  by  order  of  Charles  V.,  set  sail  from  Seville,  also 
for  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  with  fourteen  ships  and  a  crew  of  nearly 
30,000  men;  and  two  years  after  this,  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Pilco  Mayo  with  the  Parana,  the  city  of  Assumption,  which  is 
situated  equi-distant  from  the  boundaries  of  Peru  and  Brazil, 
was  established.     From  this  time  forth  began  the  actual  appro- 
priation of  the  country,  as  well  as  its  gradual  colonisation,  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  thence  arose  the  vice-royalty  of  La  Plata,  over 
which,  in  the  name  of  the  King,  ruled  one  of  those  so-called 
Adelantade,  or  Captains-General.     Still,  after  the  lapse  of  some 
time,  other  cities  were  again  founded,  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
year  1557,  Ciudad  Real,  at  the  junction  of  the  Piquiry  with  the 
Parana;  and  in   1570,. Santa  F6,  on  the  Rio  de  Salado ;  thus 
one  must  not  keep  out  of  sight  that  all  these  settlements  lay  on 
the  great  rivers  of  the  country,   while,  on   the  contrary,  not  a 
single  colony  was  established  on  the  mainland ;  consequently, 
they  were  considerably  apart  from  the  several  commercial  arteries 
which   served  instead  of  roads.     On  the  other  hand,  the  said 
mainland    continued  to  be  quite    uncolonised,  completely  un- 
conquered,  and  thus  thoroughly  unknown  to  the  Spaniards,  who, 
in   the  provinces  subdued  by  them,  only  troubled  themselves 
about  the  search  for  gold  and  silver,  and  had  no  desire  to  know 
anything   concerning   agriculture   and   the   breeding  of  cattle, 
or,   indeed,  industry  and    trade,   proving    themselves  here,   as 
throughout  the  whole  of  America,  to  have  but  a  bad  talent  for 
colonisation.      Everyone   of  them  who   embarked  for  America 
desired  only  to  live  like  a  nobleman,  regarding  it  as  derogatory 
to  engage  himself  in  labour  of  the  very  slightest  kind !     Under 
such   circumstances,  the    Captains- General  must,  very  shortly, 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  provinces  entrusted  to  them 
could  never  attain  to  any  degree  of  development,  or  arrive  at  any 
prosperity  or  order,  unless  the  natives  of  the  country,  the  in- 
dijBfenous  Indians,  could  be  induced  to  become  efficient  citizens. 
These,  indeed,  formed  by  far  the  greater  raajoritv  of  the  popu- 

9  * 


182 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


lation,  and  from    them  could    alone   be    obtained    the  labour 
which  was   wanted    most  imperatively.     How,   then,   was   this 
desirable   object  to  be    accomplished?     The    answer    to   this 
was  simply  by  making  Christians  of  them,   as  along  with  the 
Christian  religion  they  would  involuntarily  also   acquire,  at  the 
same  time.  Christian  manners,  Christian  culture,  and  a  Christian 
mode  of  living.     Charles  V.  had  not  at  the  time  sufficiently  im- 
pressed upon  the  Captains- General  whom  he  had  sent  out  to  La 
Plata,  that  the  ecclesiastics  and  monks  taken  with  them  were 
intended  for  the  conversion  of  the  native  Indians ;  neither  did 
Philip  II.   see   to   this.     The  Captains-General,   too,   were  in 
this  respect  very  remiss  in  their  duty  as  to  the  orders  they  gave. 
They  brought  out  to  Paraguay,  it  is  true,  several  Franciscan 
monks,  among  whom  Francis  Solano  and  Ludwig  de  Bolanjos 
were  notably  distinguished.     Moreover,  to  the  province  of  Para- 
guay was  given  a  bishop,  in  the  person  of  John  de  Barras,  also 
a  Franciscan  monk,  and  the  city  of  Assumption  was  raised  to  be 
his  See,  into  which  he  himself  made  a  solemn  entry  in  the  year 
15Ö4.     He  had,  however,  no  great  desire  to  prosecute  with  vigour 
the  introduction  of  Christianity,  for  two  equally  weighty  reasons. 
In   the   first  place,    on     account    of    the    behaviour    of    the 
Spaniards,  which  displayed  the  strongest  contrast  to  the  teaching 
of  mildness  and  benevolence  indoctrinated  by  the  gospel,  as  it  is 
notorious  with  what  unmerciful  severity  and  cruelty  the  proud 
and  insatiable  conquerors  treated  the  poor  oppressed  natives ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  there  was  no  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
latter  to  embrace  the  religion  acknowledged  by  their  tormentors, 
as,  on  the  contrary,  they  disliked  this  religion  as  much  as  the 
Spaniards  hated  them,  and  if,  here  and  there,  in  order  to  escape 
oppression,  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  baptised,  they  imme- 
diately,  as   soon  as  a  favourable  opportunity  presented  itself, 
reverted  to  their  original  faith.     Then,  again,  there  was  a  com- 
plete dearth  of  priests,  and  there  existed  whole  districts  where 
there  was  not  a  single  member  of  the  fraternity  to  be  seen,  no 
one  to  baptise  and  marry,  no  one  to  instruct  the  young,  no  one 
to  tender  extreme  unction  to  the  dying  on  their  way  to  eternity ; 
should,   however,  an  isolated  spot  happen  to  be  so  fortunate 
as  to  possess  one  or,  at  most,  two  ecclesiastics,  they  were  prac- 
tically of  no  avail  among  this  vast  extent  of  territory ;  and  on 
acoount  of  this  want  of  power,  but  much  more  even  from  the 


THE   JESUIT    MISSIONS  IN   AMEBIOA. 


138 


circumstance  that  few  were  acquainted  with  the  language  of  the 
Indians,  it  became  evident  that  ail  attempts  to  convert  the  un- 
believers must  be  abandoned.  And  whence  arose  this  great  want  ? 
Simply  from  this,  that  Paraguay  was  still  completely  devoid  of 
civilisation,  and,  lying  as  it  did  beyond  the  sphere  of  traffic 
in  the  commercial  world,  it  could  offer  no  powers  of  attraction 
to  the  Catholic  priesthood,  accustomed  to  enjoyment  of  every 
description ;  and  on  this  account  it  was  that  even  the  begging 
monks  of  the  lowest  grade  looked  upon  this  distant  land  as  a 
kind  of  penal  exile,  having  as  yet  but  the  attributes  of  a 
wilderness,  with  which  no  one  could  have  any  desire  to  become 
acquainted. 

During  seventy  years,  therefore,  the  conversion  and  civilisa- 
tion of  the  Indians  made  but  little  progress  in  Paraguay, 
that  is  to  say,  up  to  the  year  1586.  It  then  occurred  to 
Don  Franciscus  de  Victoria,  the  newly-appointed  bishop  of 
the  Province  Tukuman,  adjoining  Chili,  in  the  whole  of  whose 
extensive  diocese  there  did  not  exist  even  a  couple  of  dozen 
priests,  whether  it  would  not  be  well  to  crave  assistance  for 
them  from  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  want,  indeed,  must  have 
been  very  urgent,  otherwise  Don  Franciscus,  who  belonged 
himself  to  the  Order  of  the  Dominicans,  would  not  certainly 
have  entertained  any  such  idea.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  pleased 
the  first  bishop  of  Tukuman  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Jesuits, 
for  the  reason  that,  by  this  time,  good  service  had  been  done 
by  them  in  the  neighbouring  states  of  Brazil  and  Peru,  in  the 
way  of  conversion;  he  at  once,  then,  in  the  year  1586,  wrote 
to  the  Provincials  of  both  of  the  above-named  states,  the 
Fathers  Anchieta  and  Atiensa,  who,  indeed,  at  once  complied 
with  his  wishes  and  immediately  sent  him,  to  begin  with, 
eight  members  of  the  Order ;  promising,  at  the  same  time,  that 
more  would  follow  if  they  were  needed.*  This  was,  indeed, 
hardly  required,  as  they  were  no  ordinary  Fathers,  skilled 
merely  in  the  dispensing  of  the  sacraments  and  the  singing  of 
masses,  but  persons  who  likewise  understood  something  of  what 

•  Ab  a  matter  of  curiosity  I  will  here  give  the  names  of  these  eight 
Jesuits.  They  were  called  Franciscus  Angulo,  Alphonso  Barsana,  Juan 
Villegas,  Emanuel  de  Ortega,  Stephan  Grao  (properly  Grau,  who  was  a 
German),  Juan  Salonio,  Thomas  Field  (a  Scotchman),  and  Paulo  Arminio. 
All  of  these  were  Fathers,  and,  consequently,  for  this  reason  were  authorised 
to  conduct  all  kinds  of  divine  service.  Father  Arminio,  however,  acted  as 
the  superior  or  head  of  them  all« 


134 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


monks,  intended  to  act  as  missionaries,  had  not  hitherto  studied, 
namely,  the  language  of  the  natives,  concerning  which  much 
zealous  attention  had  been  bestowed  in  all  of  the  Jesuit  col- 
leges of  Brazil  and  Peru  ;  and,  consequently,  they  could   come 
to  a  good  understanding  with  the  natives  from  the  commence- 
ment.    This  was  the  foundation  of  the  Jesuit  settlement  in  this 
part  of  America,  a  very  modest  and  innocent  beginning,  as  one 
sees ;  but  after  a  few  years   both  modesty  and  innocence  were 
lost,  and  an  entirely  different  condition  of  affairs  came  into  play. 
From  the  town  of  Tukuman  and  its  provinces,  the  Fathers  visited  • 
the  remaining  cities  of  the  country  one  after  the  other,  especially 
Cordua  and  Assumption,  along  with  the  extensive  province  of 
Guayra,  which  latter  was  selected  as  the  sphere  of  duty   for 
Fathers  Ortega  and  Fields,  who  were  more  especially  versed  in 
the  Guayraian  language,  and  who  the  longer  they  regarded  the 
territory  the  more  they  were  pleased  with  it.     They  tried,  above 
everything,  to  make  themselves  at  home  in  their  settlement, 
exactly  the  same  as  they  had  done  in  India,  Japan,  and  China; 
it  still  required,  however,  fully  three  years  before  they  obtained 
their  first  possession,  then,  indeed;  but  a  very  modest  one,  so 
much  so,  that  it  might  almost  be  called  mean,  as  it  consisted 
merely  of  a  small  dwelling-house,  with  an  equally  small  chapel, 
in  the  small  town  of  Villarica.  From  this  time  forward  progress, 
as  may  be  said,  went  on  at  a  galloping  pace,  and,  in  accordance 
with  the  idea  originally  entertained,    a  large  number  of  new 
members  were  sent  to  their  assistance  from  Peru  and  Brazil, 
and  among  them  several  Fathers  of  distinction  ;  as  for  instance, 
Romero,  Caspar  de  Monroy,  Juan  Viana,  and  Marcel  Lorenzana ; 
80  that,  after  the  lapse  of  two  years,  as  may  be  supposed,  they 
were  able  to  found  a  college.     This  took  place  in  the  year  1593, 
in   the  city  of  Assumption,  the  capital  of  Paraguay;  and  the 
Spanish  inhabitants  of  it,  including  the  Governor  and  principal 
nobility,  taxed  themselves  to  such  a  considerable  extent,  that 
they  were  enabled  to  erect  quite  a  beautiful  building  adjoining 
the  church.     In  the  year   1599,  this  building  was  followed  by 
the  erection  of  a  mission-house  in  Cordua,  with  a  magnificent 
cathedral;   and  there  was  every   appearance  that  very  shortly 
similar  establishments  might  also  be  founded  in  Santa  Fe,  as 
well  as  in  other  towns.     This,  however,  did  not  prove  to  be  the 
case,  as  in  the  year  1602  the  whole  tenure  of  the  Jesuits  in 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   AMERICA. 


135 


Paraguay  assumed  a  totally  new  aspect.     Up  to  this  time  they 
had  worked  as  true  missionaries  ;  and,  indeed,  as  we  have  seen, 
they  had,  acquired  here  and  there   landed   property,  and   even 
built  a  college,  or  a  mission-house,  whilst  they  were  at  the  same 
time  occupied  in  travelling  about  from  one  district  to  another, 
and  from  one  tribe  to  another,  in  order  to  proclaim  everywhere 
the  cross  of  Christ.     This  constant  journeying  backwards  and 
forwards,  however,  owing   to   the   great  distances  at  which  the 
settlements  lay  from  one  another,  gave  rise  to  great  difficulties. 
Moreover,  they  could  not  reckon  that  the  Indians,  as  soon  as  the 
missionaries  had  turned  their  backs,  would  not  revert  to  their 
heathenish  practices ;  consequently,  it  appeared  evident  to  them 
that,  if  any  permanent  impression  was  to  be  made  among  the 
natives,  it  would  be  necessary  to  give  up  this  system  of  travelling 
about,  and  take  up  a  permanent  abode  among  them.     This  was 
one    discovery  which,  up  to    this  date,    had   been  made.      A 
second  consisted  in  this,    that  the   Jesuits  by  this    time   had 
become  aware  exactly  how   the   enormous  territory  that  went 
under  the   name   of  Paraguay   was   situated,    while   this  still 
remained  a  secret  to  the  Spaniards  in  general,  beyond  the  couple 
of  towns  and  their  immediate  neighbourhood  lying  on  the  great 
rivers.     The  latter,  for  instance,  had  not  gone  further  into  the 
country  than  up  to  the  first  waterfall,  and  they  continued  to  be 
in  great  ignorance  respecting  the  vast  territory  which  lay  between 
the  Uruguay  and  the  Parana,  as  well  as  between  the  latter  and 
the  Paraguay  river;  they  had  not  taken  the  least  trouble  to 
become  acquainted  with. the   different   tribes   inhabiting   these 
reigons,  or  to  gain  their  friendship ;  but  their  whole  plans  had 
consisted   in  laying  the  severest  possible  yoke  upon  all  such 
nations  as  they  had  been  able  to  subjugate,  and  to  keep  them  on 
their  plantations,  or  "  commands,"  as  these  were  designated  in 
Paraguay,  at  the  most  slavish  work.     All  this,  and  indeed  much 
more,  was  known  to  the  Jesuits  operating  in  Paraguay,  only  too 
well,  and  they,  of  course,  made  an  accurate  report  of  the  true 
state  of  matters  to  their  General  in  Rome.     And  who  was  he 
but  the  same  Claudius  Aquaviva  ?  a  man  endowed  with  extra- 
ordin?j:y  mental  capacity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  most  actively 
energetic ;  who  at  once  devised  a  mode  by  which  the  greatest 
portion  of  Paraguay  should  fall  completely  into  the  hands  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  beyond  ail  interference  from  any  secular 


136 


HISTORY   OF   THB   JESUITS. 


power.  This  plan  was  arranged  with  the  most  infinite  skill  and 
cunning,  and  the  carrying  out  of  it  was  entrusted  to  a  no  less 
skilful  individual  than  the  Father  Stephan  Paez,  whom  Aqua- 
yiva  had  despatched  to  Paraguay  as  visitor  of  all  the  houses  of 
the  Order  in  the  new  world.  This  same  Father  arrived,  in  the 
year  1602,  in  the  town  of  Salta,  and  at  once  ordered  all  the 
professed  Jesuits  to  appear  before  him.  He  then  took  each  one 
of  them  separately  to  task,  and  questioned  him  in  regard  to  all 
details  most  particularly,  in  order  that  everything  essential 
appertaining  to  the  future  organisation  of  the  Order  in  Para- 
guay might  be  extracted ;  lastly,  assembling  all  those  present, 
he  made  a  long  speech  to  them,  communicating  to  them  the 
orders  of  their  General.  These  were  to  the  effect,  as  already 
indicated,  that  a  proper  and  distinct  Christian  State  must  be 
constituted  in  Paraguay,  over  which  the  Jesuit  General  in 
Rome  should  rule  as  absolute  monarch,  and,  in  order  to  carry 
out  this  comprehensive  idea,  the  work  each  one  had  to  do  was 
assigned  to  him.  From  this  time  forth  each  step  taken  by  the 
Jesuits  in  Paraguay  was  most  carefully  considered,  and  when 
progress  was  but  slow,  and  often  effected  by  very  roundabout 
ways,  the  great  aim  and  object  to  be  attained  was  never  lost  sight 
of.  Above  everything  it  was  of  consequence  to  conciliate  the 
natives,  and  the  Jesuit  missionaries  began  unanimously  and 
most  zealously  by  severely  censuring  the  frightful  oppression 
under  which  the  Indians  groaned.  *'  The  commands,  upon  which 
the  poor  redskins  work  as  slaves,  are  an  abomination  in  the  sight 
of  God,*'  cried  they,  '*  and  a  complete  extermination  of  the  popu- 
lation must  follow  if  the  present  system  continue."  Such  and 
similar  expressions  aroused  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  not 
a  little,  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers  had,  in  consequence,  during 
the  next  two  years,  to  undergo  much  injustice.  They  were, 
indeed,  regularly  driven  out  of  several  of  the  towns,  such 
as  Cordova  and  San  lago,  but  they  won  over  all  the  more 
retainers  among  the  redskins,  and  they  thus  succeeded  in  con- 
verting and  making  friends  of  a  not  inconsiderable  portion  of  the 
great  nation  of  Guayranas,  that  is,  of  the  inhabitants  of  Guayra. 
Previous  to  the  Spanish  conquest,  the  tribe  of  Tubinambas 
Indians  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  in  Paraguay,  being  dis- 
tinguished at  the  same  time  for  its  peculiar  ferocity ;  to  them, 
indeed,  may  be  ascribed  the  cruelties  to  which  the  intruding 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN   AMEBIOA. 


137 


whites  were  subjected.  They,  the  Tubinambas,  slaughtered  their 
prisoners ;  they  looked  upon  human  tiesh  as  the  most  delicious 
of  food  under  the  sun,  and  they  offered  resistance  to  the  death 
against  the  God  of  the  Christians.  As  they  came  to  be  aware, 
from  many  years  of  warfare,  that  the  weapons  of  the  white  men 
were  too  much  for  them,  they  arrived  at  the  bold  resolution  of 
turning  their  backs  on  their  fatherland,  and,  at  once  carrying 
this  resolution  into  effect,  withdrew  far  away  into  the  wilds  of 
the  primeval  forests,  up  to  the  broad  valley  of  the  Marranon,  or 
Amazon  river,  to  a  region  so  distant  that  they  hoped  the  pale 
faces  would  never  venture  to  penetrate  there. 

The  vast  plains  of  Paraguay,  Parana,  and  Uruguay,  thus 
remained  abandoned  to  the  other  tribes,  which  had  hitherto 
been  in  some  measure  dependent  on  the  Tubinambas,  to 
wit,  the  Apiatas  and  Cahivas,  the  Calchaquis  and  LuUes, 
the  Frontones  and  Omacuguakas,  as  well  as,  before  all  of  them, 
the  Guayranas,  who  were  more  numerous  than  all  the  others 
put  together.  The  latter  fact  must  have  directed  the  attention 
of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  to  those  in  particular,  and,  further- 
more, they  had  the  least  wild  character  of  the  various  tribes  of 
redskins  in  Paraguay.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  found  that 
they  were  not  shut  out  from  some  kind  of  civilisation,  as 
they  lived  in  villages  ruled  over  by  hereditary  Kaziken,  or 
heads  of  clans,  and  existed  almost  entirely  upon  .corn  and  maize, 
which  they  planted,  while  the  other  tribes  led  a  nomadic  life, 
and  shifted  about  from  place  to  place,  regarding  the  chase  as 
the  only  employment  worthy  of  man*s  consideration.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  lay  upon  them  the  reproach  of  want  of  warlike 
spirit,  as  well  as  deficiency  in  energy,  and  they  tamely  submitted, 
although  filled  in  their  inmost  soul  with  the  most  intense  hatred, 
as  all  over  the  Spanish  commands  they  were  made  use  of  by 
the  whites  as  nothing  else  than  beasts  of  burden,  and  treated 
accordingly.  Moreover,  the  number  of  the  tribe  who  lived  in 
Spanish  territories  was  but  small  in  comparison  with  the  vast 
multitude  of  those  who  inhabited  the  interior,  and  who,  as  I 
have  already  mentioned,  remained  quite  unknown  to  the 
Spaniards,  and  it  may  be  afl&rmed  with  certainty  that  fully 
nine-tenths  of  the  Guayranas  had  not  as  yet  felt  the  burden 
of  oppression ;  but  the  anxiety  caused  by  the  prospect  before 
them    of    soon  being    also   subjected   to  this    yoke,  induced 


138 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


them  to  be  all  the  more  favourable  towards  the  preaching  of  the 
Jesuits  against  Spanish  tyranny. 

Such  was  the  state  of  matters  at  this  time  in  regard  to  the 
Guayranas  in  Paraguay,  when  the  Jesuits  came  to  the  determina- 
tion of  creating  a  government  of  their  own,  and  it  will  con- 
sequently not  astonish  anyone  as  to  how  they  succeeded  in 
procuring  an  entrance  for  Christianity.  Having  thus  so  far 
proceeded^  they  adopted  the  following  plan  of  operation  ;  in  the 
districts  into  which,  up  to  this  time,  the  Spaniards  had  not 
penetrated,  they  induced  those  who  were  scattered  about  in 
small  villages  to  unite  into  large  communities,  which  were  called 
Bourgaden  or  Reductions,  that  is  to  say,  communities  that  had 
been  reduced  into  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  each  of  these 
Reductions  were  assigned  two  spiritual  shepherds,  of  whom 
one,  a  professed  member  of  long  standing  in  the  Order,  bore  the 
title  of  pastor,  or  spiritual  guide  ;  the  other,  in  most  instances 
a  younger  associate  who  had  just  arrived  from  Europe,  being 
designated  vicar. 

This  was  the  arrangement,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  as  to  the 
foundation  of  their  Christian  Republic,  or,  if  one  would  rather 
term  it,  of  their  theocratic  State ;  and  this  had  such  an  innocent 
appearance  that,  at  the  commencement  at  least,  it  did  not  meet 
with  any  great  opposition,  either  from  the  side  of  the  Spaniards 
or  that  of  the  Guayranas.  The  sons  of  Loyola  represented  to  the 
Indians  that  the  several  small  communities  which  lay  scattered 
about,  many  miles  apart,  were  but  ill-suited  for  protecting  them- 
selves against  the  attacks  of  the  Spaniards ;  while  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  were  collected  together  into  Bourgaden,  or 
townships,  of  8,000  or  10,000  souls,  they  might  readily  keep  off 
with  ease  the  marauding  white  adventurers,  and  this  naturally 
became  clear  to  the  understandings  of  the  redskins.  They  had, 
further,  no  reason  to  object  to  the  "  spiritual  shepherds,"  as  they 
were  in  this  way  relieved  from  the  supervision  of  the  Kaziken  and 
saperiurs  under  the  title  of  Corregidors,  or  Alcaldes,  and  handed 
o?er  to  that  of  the  spiritual  guides.  In  other  words,  the  Indians 
were  enabled  to  select  for  themselves  their  own  secular  magistracy, 
as  previously,  and  the  Jesuits  merely  afhxed  the  stipulation  that 
ill  all  the  punishments  awarded  by  them,  or  in  ail  weighty  and 
important  decisions,  they  must  first  of  all  obtain  the  sanction  of 
iho  said  spiritual  shepherds.    And  was  this  too  much  to  require  ? 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   AMERICA. 


139 


Ah!    truly   the   good  Padres   treated  them  in  such   a   fatherly 
and  remarkably  kind  manner,  that  they  therefore  ought  to  be 
allowed  the  right  of  a  father  over  his  children.     In  addition  to 
this,  the  Jesuits  with  perfect  honesty  represented  the  state  of  affairs 
to  their  great  patron  and  friend  Philip  III.,  the  King  of  Spain, 
that  is  to  say,  they  explained  to  him  and  his  high  council  for 
India,  in  several  communications,  that  the  chief  obstacle  to  the 
speedy  and   permanent  extension   of  Christianity  in  Paraguay 
and  La  Plata,  arose  entirely  from  the  recently- arrived  Spaniards 
being,  without  hardly  a  single  exception,  a  set  of  haughty,  arro- 
gant, cruel,  avaricious,  blasphemous,  and  thoroughly  dissolute 
men,  whence  it  happened  that  the  natives  could  not  do  otherwise 
than  entertain  a  disgust  to  Christianity  itself,  on  account  of  the 
conduct  of  these  bad  Christians.     Moreover,  the  Indians  were 
maltreated  in  such  a  shameful  manner  by  the  royal  governors 
and  officials  that,  on  that  account,  a  thorough  hatred  had  sprung 
up  among  them  against  everything  of  Spanish  origin.     For  this 
reason,   if  it  was  desired  that  these  poor  creatures  should  be 
received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  they  should  be  equally 
protected  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Governor  and  the  bad  example 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  these  two  desiderata  could  only  be  accom- 
plished by  the  Jesuits  being  permitted   to  carry  out  the  long- 
considered  plan  for  the   creation   in   Paraguay  of  a  Christian 
Republic. 

"  In  this  said  Christian  Republic,  no  secular  Governor  may 
be  allowed  to  have  any  control;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Indians  belonging  thereto  should,  among  themselves  in  com- 
munity, be  allowed  to  lead  a  quiet  harmonious  life,  under  the 
Jesuits,  after  the  manner  of  the  early  Christians,  so  that  a  verit- 
able paradisiacal  state  of  innocency  might  be  established ;  but, 
in  order  that  no  injury  might  thereby  be  occasioned  to  the 
King's  power,  all  members  of  the  Christian  Republic  were  bound 
to  recognise  him  as  their  supreme  lord  and  master,  and  every 
adult  must  pay  to  him  the  tribute  of  one  dollar." 

Such  was  the  upright  scheme  that  the  Jesuits  suggested  to  the 
King,  Philip  III.,  and  as  they  were  at  that  time  almost  all-powerful 
at  the  Court  of  Spain,  not  only  was  this  proposition  accepted  by 
that  King  in  the  year  1609,  but  it  was  also  confirmed  in  all  its 
particulars  later  on,  from  the  year  1649  to  1663,  under  the  reign 
of  Philip  IV.,   notwithstanding    that  any  sagacious  statesman 


HI8T0B7  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


mighl  well  see  how  the  Spanish  King's  authority  was  hy  this 
CteittaaD  Republic  in  Paraguay  reduced  to  a  mere  sham. 

But  ai  that  time  the  Councillors  and  Minister  of  the  most 
Calholic  court  of  the  world  were  as  if  smitten  with  blindness, 
■ad  it  was  onlj  after  the  lapse  of  a  century  that  the  scales 
fill  from  their  eyes.  The  first  Reduction,  which  received  the 
liolj  name  of  Loretto,  and  was  situated  at  the  confluence  of 
Pirmpe  and  the  Parana,  was  founded  in  1609,  through  the 
of  Padres  Maceta  and  Cataldino,  who  united  into  one 
oommonity  somewhere  about  sixty  small  Guayrana  vil- 
which  were  in  existence  thereabouts.  Next  after  Loretto 
llm  Bourgade  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  subsequently  a  third 
and  fourth,  until  at  length,  after  the  lapse  of  a  couple  of  decades, 
tlieur  number  amounted  to  about  thirty,  with  a  population  of 
kiiwn  nine  and  ten  thousand  inhabitants.  The  internal 
Ofgankaiion  of  them  all  was  the  same — that  is,  they  were 
gonerned  each  by  a  Jesuit  Father,  who  was  also  supported  by  a 
wmmt  as  bit  assistant,  and  for  the  purpose  of  espionage ;  this 
FaHier,  again,  was  under  the  orders  of  a  superior,  who  was 
flaesd  over  a  diocese  of  from  five  to  six  parishes;  the  super- 
VMMMI  and  management  of  these  latter,  however,  rested  with 
the  ProTincial,  residing  in  Assumption,  who  again  received  his 
üisrs  direct  from  the  General  in  Rome. 

One  aees,  then,  that  the  Jesuits  did  not  in  any  way  proceed 
lo  work  without  a  plan,  but  that  they  were  in  possession  of  a 
Christian  Republic  as  well  if  not  better  regulated  than  the 
f«iiinHMnt  of  any  secular  monarch.  The  Indians^  too,  were  not 
kaiUy  off  with  this  system  of  administration,  as  they  were  care- 
Mlf  edacated  as  good  citizens,  and,  moreover,  were  all  accus- 
llMMd  to  take  up  some  regular  employment.  "  Idleness  is  the 
root  of  all  Tioes,"  thought  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  and  upon  this 
fuinoiple  they  ruled  the  whole  of  their  subjects,  be  their  age  or 
asB  wliat  it  might,  and  they  looked  to  their  bodily  constitution 
almost  as  much  as  to  their  aptitude  and  talent.  Agriculture  and 
ealtle- breeding  naturally  came  first  and  foremost  as  a  pursuit, 
and  most  of  the  adult  men  were  thus  employed  in  the  fields; 
into  their  hands  also  the  elder  boys  were  confided  ;  to  the  women 
and  girls,  on  the  other  hand,  a  certain  quantity  of  flax  and 
•mion  was  given  out,  which  they  had  to  spin  within  a  certain 
prescribed  time.    Moreover,  the  difl'erent  trades  and  arts  were 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   IMERICA. 


141 


not  neglected,  and  a  Jesuit  chronicle  upon  the  state  of  affairs 
reports  in  the  following  words : — 

*'  In  regard  to  trades,  we  daily  make  further  progress,  and  our 
population  becomes  always  more  and  more  useful.     After  teach- 
ing them  the  arts  of  making  bricks  and  burning  lime,  we  build 
the  most  beautiful  churches  and  houses,  and  our  carpenters  and 
glaziers  know  very  well  how  to  ornament  them  internally.  Others 
spin  the  finest  yarns,  and  weave  therefrom   the  most  beautiful 
cloths  and  quilts.     Some,  again,  manufacture  hats,  and  employ 
themselves  in  shoe-making,  or  any  other  like  occupation.     Even 
in  the  weaving  of  lace  they  are  expert,  and  when  we  require  in 
particular  fine  and  broad  priestly  albs,  the  women  manufacture 
them  after  a  certain  pattern  with  such  skill  that.no  difference 
could  be  detected  between  the  copy  and  the  original.     One  man 
made  an  organ  after  an  European  pattern,  and  finished  it  off  in 
so  perfect  a  manner  that  I  was  truly  amazed.     Another  has 
indited  a  missal  so  accurately,  after  the  beautiful  Antovfer  edition, 
that  the  manuscript  might  pass  for  a  printed  copy.     They  manu- 
facture trumpets,  also,  and  all  descriptions  of  musical  instru- 
ments.    They  make  the  most  perfect  clocks,  and  watches  for  the 
pocket,  and  they  paint  them  in  a  way  that  leaves  nothing  to  be 
desired.     In    a   word,  they  can  copy  anything  that  we  desire 
them  to  do,  and  show  themselves,  also,  to  be  equally  as  teach- 
able as  they  are  diligent  as  soon  as  we  set  them  to  any  par- 
ticular kind  of  work."* 

There  can.  therefore,  seeing  all  this,  be  no  question  that 
the  Indians,  under  the  rule  of  the  Jesuits,  were  moulded  into 
thoroughly  capable  and  useful  men ;  and,  in  regard  to  this, 
one  certainly  cannot  withhold  ones  admiration  from  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  But  now  comes  the  dark  side,  which,  to 
a  great  extent,  counterbalanced  the  bright  side  of  the  matter. 
The  Indians,  so  far  as  concerns  spiritual  affairs,  were  kept  in  a 
degree  of  the  profoundest  ignorance,  and  their  religion  simply 
consisted  in  the  grossest  superstition,  whereby  the  Jesuits 
represented  themselves  to  be  the  oracles  of  God-this  same 
Deity,  however,  being  for  the  white  Padres  alone,  who  formed  a 
superior  class  of  beings ;  and,  on  that  account,  the  Guayranas 

•  All  «lis  i8  to  be  found,  word  for  word,  in  the  History  of  Paraguay. 
by  Fratz  Xaver  de  Charlevoix,  part  u.  (preface),  p.  3,  4. 


140 


mSTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


might  well  see  how  the  Spanish  King's  authority  was  by  this 
Christian  Bepablic  in  Paraguay  reduced  to  a  mere  sham. 

Bat  at  that  time  the  Conncillors  and  Minister  of  the  most 
Catholic  court  of  the  world  were  as  if  smitten  with  blindness, 
and  it  was  only  after  the  lapse  of  a  century  that  the  scales 
fell  from  their  eyes.  The  first  Beduction,  which  received  the 
holy  name  of  Loretto,  and  was  situated  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Pirape  and  the  Parana,  was  founded  in  1609,  through  the 
exertions  of  Padres  Maceta  and  Cataldino,  who  united  into  one 
small  community  somewhere  about  sixty  small  Guayrana  vil- 
lages which  were  in  existence  thereabouts.  Next  after  Loretto 
came  the  Bourgade  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  subsequently  a  third 
and  fourth,  until  at  length,  after  the  lapse  of  a  couple  of  decades, 
their  number  amounted  to  about  thirty,  with  a  population  of 
between  nine  and  ten  thousand  inhabitants.  The  internal 
organisation  of  them  all  was  the  same — that  is,  they  were 
governed  each  by  a  Jesuit  Father,  who  was  also  supported  by  a 
vicar  as  his  assistant,  and  for  the  purpose  of  espionage ;  this 
Father,  again,  was  under  the  orders  of  a  superior,  who  was 
placed  over  a  diocese  of  from  üye  to  six  parishes;  the  super- 
vision and  management  of  these  latter,  however,  rested  with 
the  Provincial,  residing  in  Assumption,  who  again  received  his 
orders  direct  from  the  General  in  Home. 

One  sees,  then,  that  the  Jesuits  did  not  in  any  way  proceed 
to  work  without  a  plan,  but  that  they  were  in  possession  of  a 
Christian  Bepublic  as  well  if  not  better  regulated  than  the 
government  of  any  secular  monarch.  The  Indians^  too,  were  not 
badly  off  with  this  system  of  administration,  as  they  were  care- 
fully educated  as  good  citizens,  and,  moreover,  were  all  accus- 
tomed to  take  up  some  regular  employment.  '*  Idleness  is  the 
root  of  all  vices,"  thought  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  and  upon  this 
principle  they  ruled  the  whole  of  their  subjects,  be  their  age  or 
sex  what  it  might,  and  they  looked  to  their  bodily  constitution 
almost  as  much  as  to  their  aptitude  and  talent.  Agriculture  and 
cattle-breeding  naturally  came  first  and  foremost  as  a  pursuit, 
and  most  of  the  adult  men  were  thus  employed  in  the  fields; 
into  their  hands  also  the  elder  boys  were  confided  ;  to  the  women 
and  girls,  on  the  other  hand,  a  certain  quantity  of  flax  and 
cotton  was  given  out,  which  they  had  to  spin  within  a  certain 
prescribed  time.    Moreover,  the  different  trades  and  arts  were 


THE   JESUIT   mSBIONB  IN   AMEBICA. 


141 


not  neglected,  and  a  Jesuit  chronicle  upon  the  state  of  affairs 
reports  in  the  following  words : — 

"  In  regard  to  trades,  we  daily  make  further  pro^rress,  and  onr 
population  becomes  always  more  and  more  useful.     After  teach- 
ing them  the  arts  of  making  bricks  and  burning  lime,  we  build 
the  most  beautiful  churches  and  houses,  and  our  carpenters  and 
glaziers  know  very  well  how  to  ornament  them  internally.  Others 
spin  the  finest  yams,  and  weave  therefrom  the  most  beautiful 
cloths  and  quilts.     Some,  again,  manufacture  hats,  and  employ 
themselves  in  shoe-making,  or  any  other  like  occupation.     Even 
in  the  weaving  of  lace  they  are  expert,  and  when  we  require  m 
particular  fine  and  broad  priestly  albs,  the  women  manufacture 
them  after  a  certain  pattern  with  such  skill  that  no  difference 
could  be  detected  between  the  copy  and  the  original.     One  man 
made  an  organ  after  an  European  pattern,  and  finished  it  off  in 
so  perfect  a  manner  that  I  was  truly  amazed.     Another  has 
indited  a  missal  so  accurately,  after  the  beautiful  Antovfer  edition, 
that  the  manuscript  might  pass  for  a  printed  copy.     They  manu- 
facture  trumpets,  also,  and  all  descriptions  of  musical  instru- 
ments      They  make  the  most  perfect  clocks,  and  watches  for  the 
pocket,  and  they  paint  them  in  a  way  that  leaves  nothing  to  be 
desired.     In    a   word,  they  can  copy  anything  that  we  desire 
them  to  do,  and  show  themselves,  also,  to  be  equally  as  teach- 
able  as  they  are  diligent  as  soon  as  we  set  them  to  any  par- 

ticular  kind  of  work."* 

There  can.  therefore,  seeing  all  this,  be  no  question  that 
the  Indians,  under  the  rule  of  the  Jesuits,  were  moulded  into 
thoroughly  capable  and  useful  men ;  and,  in  regard  to  this, 
one  certainly  cannot  withhold  one's  admiration  from  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  But  now  comes  the  dark  side,  which,  to 
a  ^eat  extent,  counterbalanced  the  bright  side  of  the  matter. 
The  Indians,  so  far  as  concerns  spiritual  affairs,  were  kept  in  a 
degree  of  the  profoundest  ignorance,  and  their  religion  simply 
consisted  in  the  grossest  superstition,  whereby  the  Jesuits 
represented  themselves  to  be  the  oracles  of  God-this  same 
Deity,  however,  being  for  the  white  Padres  alone,  who  formed  a 
superior  class  of  beings ;  and,  on  that  account,  the  Guayranas 

•  AU  this  iB  to  be  found,  word  for  word,  ^^^^\^^''^  «/  ^«~^y» 
by  Fraiiz  Xaver  de  Charlevoix,  part  u.  (prefaoe),  p.  8,  4. 


142 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


were  obliged,  under  a  severe  penalty,  to  regard  tbe  so-called 
"  superior  beings,"  namely,  tbe  Jesuits,  witb  the  most  profound 
respect — with  such  respect,  indeed,  that  they  were  compelled 
to  receive  orders  from  them  in  a  kneeling  posture,  and  it  was 
held  to  be  a  high  honour  to  be  allowed  to  kiss  the  sleeves  or 
hem  of  the  holy  Fathers'  garments.  From  such  spiritual  child- 
hood, however,  the  Guayranas  were  never  to  be  emancipated,  and 
the  chief  means  of  accomplishing  their  thraldom  was  by  fear 
and  intimidation.  For  this  reason  all  the  churches  were  orna- 
mented with  holy  pictures  of  the  most  extraordinary  description, 
and  with  statues  of  truly  gigantic  proportions,  of  frightful 
aspect  and  threatening  gesture.  These  figures,  also,  were  fur- 
nished with  movable  limbs  and  rolling  eyes,  all  of  which  filled 
the  poor  Indians  with  mortal  terror ;  and  such  crazy  nonsense  as 
this  was  called  by  the  Jesuits  Christianity  !  As  in  this  manner 
spiritual  liberty  was  suppressed,  even  so  also  was  political  and 
social  freedom  kept  under  subjection.  Not  any  one  of  the 
Jesuit  subjects  might  for  a  moment  think  of  raising  himself,  by 
his  talent,  energy,  or  industry,  to  a  higher  place  in  the  social 
grade  than  that  of  his  fellows,  but  he  continued  to  be  a  mere 
machine  in  the  hands  of  the  Fathers,  who  assigned  this  or  that 
employment  to  each  according  to  their  will  and  pleasure.  Like- 
wise, also,  there  existed  in  the  Guayranian  Republic  no  rights  of 
property  whatever,  not  even  of  the  smallest  description ;  no  true 
communism  was,  therefore,  by  any  means  actually  created.  On 
the  contrary,  every  day  all  the  produce  of  agriculture  and  other 
industries  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  to  be 
deposited  in  their  store-houses,  and  in  return  for  this  the  Indians 
were  merely  provided  with  what  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
their  daily  sustenance.  One  might  well  say,  then,  that  the  poor 
subjects  of  the  Jesuits  were  nothing  better  than  slaves— and 
slaves,  truly,  in  the  fullest  acceptation  of  the  term  ;  but  this 
bondage  was  so  uncommonly  enveloped  in  sugar,  and  exercised 
with  such  a  degree  of  fatherly  benevolence,  that  the  Guayranas, 
in  their  simplicity,  desired  nothing  better.  Almost  every 
evening  there  was  a  lively  dance  to  the  music  of  a  well-instructed 
band,  played  by  the  natives,  and  the  severest  labour  in  the 
field  was  at  once  lightened  by  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  fifes 
taken  along  with  them,  whilst,  on  Sundays  and  festivals,  as  well 
in  the  churches  as  out  of  them,  the  most  lively  dances  and 'plays 


THE   JESUIT   MISSIONS   IN   AMERICA. 


143 


were  the  order  of  the  day.*  There  was  thus  no  lack  of  enjoy* 
ment,  but  only  such  kind  of  amusement  was  permitted  as  was 
calculated  to  leave  the  Indians  in  a  state  of  childhood  and  sim- 
plicity, and  none  was  ever  allowed  by  which  they  might  develop 
into  thinking  human  beings.  On  these  very  grounds  great  care 
was  taken  never  to  allow  any  European  to  set  his  foot  in  any 
of  these  Jesuit  Reductions,  as  what  could  more  be  feared  than 
the  pestilential  expose  which  might  be  made  by  any  such 
stranger?  And  more  especially  the  Spaniards  were  denied 
an  entrance  into  these  Jesuit  territories,  and  on  this  account 
the  Indians  were  encouraged  to  resist  by  force  any  attempted 
intrusion  of  such  visitors,  that  is  to  say,  all  such  were  turned 
out  of  the  domain  by  strength  of  arms.  The  Guayranas,  with 
all  alacrity,  rendered  implicit  obedience  to  such  appeals  as  wer» 
made  to  them'of  this  nature,  as  the  Jesuits  had  instilled  the 
belief  into  their  minds  that  the  Spaniards  only  came  there  to  take 
possession  of  their  territories,  and  to  exact  the  same  statute 
labour  from  them  by  which  so  many  thousands  of  their  brethren 
had  been  destroyed,  owing  to  over- work.  To  prevent  effectually, 
however,  the  approach  of  any  stranger  amongst  the  Guayranas,  the 

•  The  Jesuit  Father  Charlevoix  verbally  states  as  follows  in  his  report  on 
this  subject : — "  It  ia  an  old  custom  in  Spain  that  on  fete  days  dances  should 
be  conducted  by  children.  The  missionaries  adopted  this  laudable  custom, 
and  by  means  of  it  introduced  a  system  of  inducing  the  heathen  to  come 
into  their  churches.  With  this  object  I  therefore  selected  four  and  twenty 
of  those  best  suited  to  carry  it  out,  and  in  this  manner  devoted  such  days 
to  great  enjoyment  and  general  edification.  At  one  time  they  performed 
such  dances  in  the  most  approved  way,  at  another  they  joined  in  plays  of  a 
knight-errant  description,  partly  on  horseback  and  partly  on  foot.  At  one 
time  they  danced  upon  stilts  six  ells  in  height,  at  another  upon  ropes ;  or 
they  would  run  at  a  small  ring  with  lances.  On  another  occasion  I  caused 
them  to  perform  small  comedies,  all  of  which,  although  after  great  trouble 
to  myself,  were  driven  into  their  thick  heads  and  elegantly  represented." 
Another  report  upon  the  operations  of  one  of  the  Keductions  runs  as 
follows: — "After  this  (namely,  after  the  inspection  of  the  school)  I  go 
among  the  musicians  and  listen  to  their  melodies ;  first  to  the  baritones,  of 
whom  I  have  eight ;  the  altos,  next  in  order,  of  whom  there  are  six ;  tenors, 
too,  without  number  ;  but  of  basses,  however,  only  six.  After  these,  four 
trumpeters,  eight  horns,  and  four  cornets  perform  their  exercises.  I  then 
instruct  the  harpists,  of  whom  there  are  six,  and  the  organists,  of  whom 
four  ;  and,  lastly,  the  flautists,  of  whom  only  one.  I  now  took  in  hand  the 
dancers,  and  taught  them  all  such  dances  as  occur  in  comedies.  It  is  of  the 
greatest  consequence  to  attract  unbelievers  in  this  way  with  things  of  this 
nature,  and  by  the  splendid  ceremonies  of  the  Church  to  create  an  internal 
inclination  in  favour  of  the  Christian  religion,  on  which  account  small 
booths  are  beautifully  decorated  on  all  festival  days  after  vespers,  and, 
before  high  mass,  dances  are  conducted  in  the  church  where  all  are 
assembled.  We  also  find  great  advantage  from  the  official  processions,  just 
as  it  happened  in  olden  days  before  the  Venerabile,  in  the  times  when 
David  danced  before  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant."  (See  Charlevoix,  vol.  ii., 
p.  7,  8,  21,  preface.) 


i 


ff 


144 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS« 


only  language  which  was  taught  in  their  schools  was  the  Guay- 
rana,  and  hy  this  means  the  comprehension  of  all  other  tongues 
was  nipped  in  the  hud.     Indeed,  the  Jesuits  even  went  so  far 
as  to  form,  in  every  Reduction  or  Bourgade  (horough),  an  armed 
force,  consisting  of  cavalry  as  well  as  infantry;  and  by  means  of 
these  troops,  well  armed  and  drilled  as  they  were,  besides  being 
also  provided   with  artillery,  they  could  easily  get  the  better 
of  any  foreign  attempt  at  intrusion,  even  when  made  by  force, 
without  the  boundaries  of  the  Christian  Republic  in  Paraguay. 
They  soon,  indeed,  succeeded  in  extending  even  their  own  original 
domains  far  across  the  borders  of  the  province  of  Guayra,  so  that 
in  a  short  time  their  possessions  comprehended  all  the  countries 
to  the  right  and  left  of  Paraguay,  even  as  far  as  Brazil;  but  no 
information,  or,  at  least,  very  uncertain  news,  respecting  their 
enormous  possessions  was  allowed  to  reach  Europe,  as  the  country 
was,  so  to  speak,  hermetically  sealed,   and  even  the  Court  of 
Madrid,  although  the  King  was  recognised  by  them  as  nominal 
Lord  Paramount  of  Paraguay,  was  kept  in  ignorance    of   all 
details  concerning  the  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits.     I  say,  em- 
phatically, nominal;  as  never,  from   the  year  1609  up  to  the 
middle  of  the  18th  century,  had  the  King  exercised  any  kind 
of  authority  whatsoever  in  that  Republic ;  and  even  the  head- 
money,  that  the  Jesuits  had  contracted  to  pay  annually  to  the 
kings   of  Spain,  came  in   so    sparingly   that  it  might  be  well 
supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  only  some  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  subjects,  instead  of  from  at  least  ten  times  that  number. 
Still,  notwithstanding  the  excessive  power  to  which  the  Order 
of  Jesus  attained  in  Southern  America,  and  even  the  unbounded 
dominion  that  placed  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  in  Rome  on  a 
par  with  the  mightiest  monarchs  in  the  world,  the  reader  will 
learn  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  books  of  this  work  the  prin- 
cipal causes  which  led  to    the  downfall  of  this  much-dreaded 
Society  in  these  parts  of  the  globe. 

Thus  much  for  the  Jesuit  missions  in  the  distant  regions  of 
the  world,  or,  rather,  concerning  the  gigantic  growth  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America. 


145 


\ 


CHAPTER   n. 

THE     POWEEFDL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS  IN    EUROPE. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  described  in  what  way,  by  what 
means,  and  with  what  results  the  sons  of  Loyola  contrived  to 
spread  themselves  throughout  Asia,  Africa,   and  America.     It 
was  otherwise,  however,  in  regard  to  their  extension  in  Europe, 
as  in  this  instance  they  had  to  deal  with  professing  Chnstians. 
and  had  not  to  trouble  themselves  so  much  with  the  conversion 
of  unbelievers.     Thev  were,  at  least,  unable  to  establish  their 
power  under  that  insignia.    On  this  account  they  at  once  blotted 
out  this  motto  on  their  banner,  and  in  its  place  wrote  m  large 
capital   letters.  Extension  and  Re-establishment  of  the  True 
Faith    that  is,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  with  the  Papacy 
at  its  head.     Was  not  this  faith,  as  I  have  shown  in  the  first 
book,  in  so  many  places  most  profoundly  shaken,  and  was  there 
not  immediate  danger  of  the  great  Pontiff  himself  being  soon 
bodily  hurled  from  the  almighty  throne  upon  which   he  had 
previously  sat,  and  ousted  from  his  hitherto  most  faithful  pro- 
vinces ?  ■  In  what  manner,  then,  and  by  what  means,  did  the 
Jesuits  now  succeed  in  their  object  under  the  motto  that  they 
displayed  intended  for  Europe  ?  It  was  everywhere,  indeed,  by  the 
same  means  and  in  the  same  way,  namely,  by  the  establishment 
of  educational  institutions,  by  seizure  of  the  confessional  stools 
of  kings,  by  fighting  with  heresy,  by  the  incorporation  of  the 
most  powerful  forces  into  their  Order,  as  also  by  their  fanatical 
influence  on  the  great  mass  of  the  people.     As  regards  the 


146 


/ 


HiSrOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


founding  of  educational  institutions,  their  method  of  procedure 
was  as  follows :  They  entered  into  a  town  by  twos  and  threes, 
not,  indeed,  on  horseback,  or  in  a  carriage,  richly  and  ex- 
pensively attired,  but,  on  the  contrary,  on  foot,  and  without 
shoes  and  stockings,  in  mean  clothing,  and  with  such  a  miser- 
able appearance  that  it  was  impossible  to  refuse  to  give  them 
alms.  It  was  thus  that  their  exampler  Ignatius  had  first 
made  his  appearance,  and  it  was  thus  also  that  they  pre- 
sented themselves  in  public.  They  did  not  alight  at  inns,  or  at 
the  houses  of  the  rich,  even  when  pressingly  invited.  No  ;  on 
the  contrary,  they  made  their  way  to  the  hospital  or  the  poor- 
house,  considering  these,  the  most  miserable  quarters,  to  be  but 
too  good,  indeed,  for  them  ;  they  tended  the  sick,  especially 
those  whom  no  one  else  would  approach  on  account  of  the  con- 
tagious character  of  their  diseases,  and  discharged  offices  of 
the  most  menial  kind,  as  if  the  humility  of  servants  became 
them.  They,  at  the  same  time,  did  not  delay  in  at  once  attach- 
ing to  themselves  some  children  of  the  poor,  teaching  them  to 
read  and  write,  as  well  as  instructing  them  in  the  first  principles 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  For  this  instruction  they 
demanded  no  return,  not  even  the  very  slightest,  knowing  full 
well  that  gratuitous  teaching  formed  the  great  power  of  attrac- 
tion for  the  poor  people  to  induce  them  to  entrust  their  children 
to  their  care.  Soon  everyone  throughout  the  whole  town  began 
to  speak  of  them,  and  to  sing  their  praises,  and  the  number  of 
their  young  pupils  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the  room 
where  they  afforded  this  instruction  became  much  too  small 
for  the  purpose.  **We  would  willingly,  now,"  said  the  good 
Fathers,  **  receive  more  children,  had  we  only  more  room,"  and 
this  equally  pious  as  modest  wish  stirred  up  the  hearts  of  the 
people  who  were  rich,  to  such  a  pitch  that  they  purchased  a 
small  house  for  the  devout  instructors,  in  order  to  carry  on  their 
school  therein.  Naturally  enough,  the  number  of  the  scholars 
DOW  went  on  continually  increasing,  and  thus  it  became  neces- 
sary for  more  Jesuit  Fathers  to  come  forward  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  demands  made  upon  them.  They  could  not  well  refuse 
to  receive  the  children  of  the  richer  classes  of  the  communitv, 
and  those  of  higher  consideration ;  consequently,  the  subjects 
for  instruction  still  continued  to  extend  beyond  those  required 
merely  for  the  poor  and  persons  of  low   degree.     But  apart 


THE   POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JE3UITS.      147 


from  this,  even  what  was  taught  enticed  always  more  and 
more  scholars  to  come  to  them,  and  the  small  house  became 
presently  quite  insufficient  for  their  purpose.  Those  inhabitants 
of  the  town  who  were  in  good  circumstances  continued  to  render 
assistance  to  them,  and  after  a  year,  or,  at  the  most,  a  couple 
of  years,  the  pious  Fathers  were  enabled  to  erect  a  college  which, 
in  regard  to  its  external  appearance,  had  more  resemblance  to  a 
palace  than  to  an  educational  institution. 

This  was  the  usual  course  of  things,  and  when  once  the  college 
was  founded  the  Jesuits  naturally  had  the  game  all  in  their  own 
hands,  as,  for  the  most  part,  the  whole  youth  of  the  population 
flocked  to  them  for  education.  For,  to  attain  their  object,  they 
usually  formed  in  their  college  three  classes,  or  grades,  of  in- 
struction :  first  of  all,  the  elementary  school,  then  the  middle 
school,  and,  lastly,  the  higher  school.  In  the  elementary  school 
was  taught  merely  the  primary  groundwork,  reading,  writing, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  accounts,  but  more  especially  the  Faith, 
that  is  to  say,  strict  obedience  to  the  teaching  and  practices  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  as  well  as  abhorrence  of  all  here- 
tical innovations.  In  the  middle  school  were  placed  those  who 
were  destined  to  be  instructed  ordinarily  during  a  period  of  nine 
years  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  grammar,  and  then  advanced  to  a 
two-years'  course  of  rhetoric  ;  but  religious  instruction  was  here, 
again,  the  principal  topic,  and  each  of  the  pupils  was  imbued 
with  a  veneration  for  the  Papacy  and  Catholic  priesthood,  as 
well  as  with  hatred  against  all  recreants  and  heretics,— salient 
characteristics  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  In  the  high  school 
the  students  received  a  finishing  stroke  to  their  studies,  during 
a  three-years'  course  of  philosophy,  or,  more  properly  speaking, 
of  logic  and  metaphysics,  followed  by  a  four-years'  course  of 
theology,  regarded  by  them  as  the  absolute  queen  of  all  sciences. 
As  regards  medicine  and  jurisprudence,  the  sons  of  Loyola  did 
not  usually  meddle ;  but  what  they  regarded  as  of  transcendent 
importance  when  they  were  destined  to  the  priesthood,  was 
readiness  in  making  use  of  their  tongues,  as  well  as  dexterous 
behaviour  on  being  taken  suddenly  by  surprise. 

The  reader  must  now,  then,  readily  admit,  when  things  were 
so  far  advanced,  that  the  Jesuits  must  have  obtained  an  enormous 
influence  over  the  Catholic  community  in  Europe  by  the  esta- 
blishment of  their  educational  institutions.     In  religious  matters 

10  ♦ 


148 


HISTOEY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


they  taught,  indeed,  all  who  were  educated  hy  them,  whether  lay 
or  ecclesiastical,  just  exactly  what  suited  them,  and  nothiug 
else;   and,  afterwards,  laymen  as  well  as  ecclesiastics  worked  in 
their  avocations  according  to  their  spirit.     Not  the  less  effectual 
for  the  dominion  of  the  Jesuits  in  Europe  was  the  acquisition  hy 
them  of  the  confessional  stools  of  kinprs,  and  none  of  the  other 
Orders  that  ever  existed,  or  all  the  ordinary  priesthood  put  to- 
gether, effected  such  great  results  in  this  direction  as  the  cele- 
hrated  Society  of  Jesus.  The  institution  of  confession,  concerning 
which  Christ  himself  does  not  say  a  single  word,  was  first  of  all 
estahlished  in  the  2nd  or  3rd  century  of  the  Christian  era,  hy  the 
puhlic  confession  of  sins  heing  exacted  from  those  who  wished  to 
he  allowed  readmittance  into  the  Church,  from  which  they  had 
heen  expelled  on  account  of  the  more  grievous  description  of 
transgressions  ;  hut  it  was  not  till  the  5th  century,  under  the 
reign  of  Pope  Leo  the  Great,  that  secret  confession  to  priests 
was  declared   to   he  indispensable  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
while  private   oral   confession   was   legally   sanctioned   hy  In- 
nocent  III.   in   the    year    1215.      The   Father   Confessor,    at 
the  commencement,  was,    as   may  he   readily   understood,   the 
parson  of  the  community  for  the  time  heing,  and  the  greatest 
of  earthly  beings  knew  no  other,  hut  had  to  confess  to  him,  as 
other  Christians  did,  in  the  public  Church.     At  the  end  of  the 
6th  century,  on  the  other  hand,  there  existed  in  the  palace  of 
the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  a  special  chapel  with  a  special 
confessional    stool,    as    it  was  held  by  their  Majesties  not   to 
be  respectable  for  them  to  acknowledge  their  sins  in  one  and 
the  same  place  as  that  where  their  subjects  repaired,  and  this 
invention  of  the  Court  of  Constantinople  was  forthwith  imitated 
by  all  the  other  monarchs  of  the  world. 

When  once,  then,  a  Court  chapel  was  instituted,  it  followed,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  that  a  Court  chaplain  should  not  be  wanting  ; 
and  we  find,  therefore,  such-like  priests  as  early  as  the  time 
of  the  French  kings  Childebert  and  Clothaire.  These  said 
priests  belonged  originally  to  the  secular  priesthood :  with 
the  introduction,  however,  of  the  monkish  Orders,  many  of 
the  cowl-wearers  were  to  be  found  among  the  spiritual  advisers 
of  ruling  princes  and  great  lords.  These  offices  were  more 
especially  filled  by  Benedictine  monks.  In  this  way  did  the 
holy  Bertin  come  to  perform  the  office  of  Father  Confessor  to 


THE   POWEKFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE  JESUITS.      149 

Count  Valbert  of  Flanders ;  thus  also  did  Martin,  a  monk  in 
Cornez,  officiate  as  Coui-t  chaplain  lu  Uliarles  Martel ;  as  also  in  a 
similar  manner  did  Benedict  of  Aniane  act  as  soul-councillor  of 
Louis  the  Pious.     Later  on,  the  barons  and  nobles  of  the  times 
proceeded  to  follow  the  customs  of  the  Court,  and  also  built  for 
themselves  their    own  particular   chapels;    while   the  begging 
monks,  especially  the  Franciscans,  came  to  be  very  favourite 
Father  Confessors  among  them,  probably  from  the  circumstance 
of  their  being  procurable  at  a  cheap  rate.     In  king's  courts, 
however,  the  Dominicans  were  all  the  fashion,  and  certainly  not 
to  the  detriment  of  their  Order.     Still  there  always  were,  at  the 
same  time,  many  of  the  ordinary  priesthood  who  aspired  to  be 
the  soul-councillors  of  princes,  and  it  cannot  in  any  way  be 
affirmed  that  the  monkish  Orders  laid   claim  to   a  monopoly 
of  the  business  of  Father  Confessorships  to  the  higher  classes 
of  the  community.     It   was  a  very  different  matter,  however, 
when  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  came  into  existence,  for  hardly 
had  the  sect  been    fairly    established  when    at   once   everyone 
about  the  Court  who  had  anything  to  do  in  regard  to  such  posts 
was   solicited   to   use   his   influence   for  this   Order;   and  the 
remaining  Orders  might  contend  against  them  as  much  as  they 
were  able,  the  latter  were  certain  to  be  outflanked  and  com- 
pletely over-ridden.    It  would  be  a  very  great  error  to  suppose 
that   this  was   effected  by   individual  Jesuits    alone,  who  had 
succeeded  in  ingratiating  themselves  at  particular  Courts.     No, 
emphatically  no ;  it  was   all   regularly  planned  on  a  peculiar 
system.     Even  Loyola  himself  had  vehemently  taken  to  task 
Jacob   Miro,    who   wished   to    refuse    the    proposal   of    John 
HI.   of  Portugal   to   be    his  Father  Confessor,   on    the    plea 
that   such  places  were   not  at  ail  suited  for  an  Order  whose 
calling  it   was   to  frequent  hospitals   and   devote  itself  to  the 
instruction  of  youth  sunk  in  the  deepest  state  of  poverty. 

**  The  atmosphere  of  Courts,"  wrote  the  General  to  his  sub- 
ordinate, *'  might  not  prove  to  be  so  dangerous,  and  zeal  might 
weil  be  shown  for  tliC  welfare  of  the  souls  of  men  in  hospitals 
and  in  the  galleys  and  prisons,  without  on  that  account  there 
being  any  necessity  for  shunning  the  Courts.  On  the  contrary, 
kings  required  good  priests  for  their  guidance  all  the  more  from 
the  circumstance  that  they  had  many  more  allurements  to  sin 
than  ordinary  mortals,  and  on  that  account  it  was  his  wish  that 


160 


HISTOßT  OF  TUE   JESUITS. 


it  should  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  .nembcr  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  to 
be  the  Father  Coufessor  of  a  kiug." 

This  order  of  Loyola  ^vas  now  carried  out  so  f  ^f """)'  ^^ 
henceforth  no  Jesuit  perpetrated  the  pious  folly  ol  Jacob  Mo 
and  it  did  not  by  any  n.eans  satisfy  his  successors  .«  he  oU  e 
of  Geucral  to  be  conlouled  with  a  solitary  post,  but,  on  t  e 
other  hand,  dueetious  .ore  in  future  for.ually  g.yen  to  .ueu.b us 
of  the  Order  to  seize  upon  the  consciences  ol  kiugs,  «ud  a  dis 
tinct  regulation  ^va3  made,  to  ^vhich  those  chosen  to  act  as 
Father  Coulessors  had  to  adlicro. 

•■The  chief  aim --thus  runs  the  order-"  of  all  our  ellort 
ouRht  to  be  to  procure  the  coulidence  and  favour  of  princes  and 
Jn  in  places  of  distinction,  to  the  cud  that  no  one  ...ight  dare 
to  oüer  opposition  to  us,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  all  should 

be  subject  to  us."  .  ivui. 

Is  not  this,  then,  expressed  sullieienlly  distinctly  ?  \\  «Ui 
cnual  clearness  are  the  Nvays  and  uicaus  also  indicated,  by 
following  which  the  favour  of  rulers  «as  to  be  obtained: 

•<  The  favourites  of  princes,  high  and  low,  female  as  well  as 
male,  must  be  put  under  obligation  through  presents,  Unitery, 
and  favours  of  all  description,  so  that  they  may  intercede  lor 
us  with  their  masters,  and  give  us  correct  iuformal.on  as  to  the 
characters  and  inclinations  of  the  latter.  On  the  other  hand, 
however,  all  servants  who  have  shown  themselves  to  Le  in  any 
way  adverse  to  the  Order,  should  by  all  manner  of  means  be 
removed  from  the  surrounding  ol  the  mouarchs  aud  their 
councillors,  or  be  gained  over  to  our  side  by  great  promises." 

Moreover,  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  was  clearly  lor  the  advan- 
tage of  the  Jesuits  that  they  should  not  ouly  gain  the  ear  of  the 
princes,  but  also,  in  accordance  with  the  above  instructions,  be 
equally'  zealous  in  doing  the  same  in  respect  to  the  princesses; 
the  chief  aim  and  object  being  thus  to  gain  their  favour,  it  was 
well  worth  while  to  bribe  the  ehamber-women, "  as  through  ihem 
access  may  be  obtained  to  the  most  important  family  secrets." 

The  document  in  (juestiou  shows  not  less  chaiacterislic- 
ally  how,  when  favour  has  once  been  successluUy  gained,  it  is 
to  be  retained.  "  This  may  best  be  elfected  iu  this  way— by 
laying  a  cushion  under  the  arms  of  the  sinner,  according  to  the 
Prophet  Ezekiel  (chap.  xiii.  18)  ;"  m  other  words,  not  to 
oppear  to  observe  thuir  objectionable  proceedings,  and,  when  it 


\ 


\  \  h 


t . 


■     \ 

!      1 


/ 


'f 
^ 


If 

.IP'- V   * 


THE    POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS.      i^)l 

becomes  really  uecessury  to  make  any  remarks  about  these,  ii<jt 
to  make  absolution  (lillieuit. 

"The  conscience  of  a  ruler  must  bo  cleared  without  uuy 
ceremony,  especially  when  this  has  been  refused  to  be  dono  by 
other  ecclesiastics  ;  by  this  means  the  princes  nniy  abnndnn 
our  rivals,  und  become  wholly  dependent  on  (»ur  c<Hi!icils  :iiid 
guidance.  In  short,  thcj  Jesuit  Order  looks  upon  it  as  llnir 
highest  aim  and  ohject  to  seize  upon  the  place  ol"  Father  Con- 
fessor at  all  the  dill'ereut  Courts  aud  among  all  persons  of 
distinction,  well  knowing  that  enormous  power  lies  hidden 
therein ;  at  the  same  time  the  making  publicly  known  of  this 
earnest  striving  alter  power  must  be  carefully  avoided,  especially 
as  regards  those  princes  who  operate  somewhat  beuelicially  by 
their  worldly  might.  Assurance  must  often  and  earnestly  be 
given,"  proceeds  this  same  above-cited  document,  "  that  it  is  n<'t. 
sought  in  any  way  to  interfere  with  the  ail'airs  of  the  State,  and 
it  is  recommended  to  those  who  might  be  pleased  to  see  them- 
selves at  the  rudder  not  to  make  it  evident  that  they  are  maui- 
festly  in  that  position.  This  ought  rather  to  be  elleeted  through 
means  of  some  trusted  third  party,  that^  then  the  opinion 
ol  the  ruler's  Father  Confessor  might  be  asked  ;  when  by 
this  means  all  appearance  of  direct  interference  is  avoided, 
then  will  be  the  reality  of  the  inlluence  all  the  more   effectually 

secured." 

After  all  this,  can  there  be  any  further  evidence  required  in 
order  to  prove  that  the  Jesuits  strove  by  every  means  in  thi;ir 
power  to  obtain  the  monopoly  of  the  royal  confessionals,  ami 
that  shortly  after  the  institution  of  the  Order  they  did  actually 
contrive  to  acquire  possession  of  them,  regarding  this  as  the 
great  lever  of  their  influence  V 

A  third  mode  of  lirmly  planting  their  dominion  in  Europe, 
was  by  their  perseverance,  courage,  aud  skill  in  combating 
heresy,  and  more  especially  that  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  well 
knowing  that  they  in  this  manner  rendered  themselves  absolutely 
indispensable  for  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  faith. 

Whenever,  in  Germany  or  other  countries,  religious  dis- 
putations, during  some  dozens  of  years,  took  place,  did  not  the 
Jesuits  sustain  the  principal  part?  Wherever  there  happened 
to  be  any  kind  of  Church  assemblage,  or  when  an  Imperial  diet 
was  held,  was  it  not  that  the  sons   of  Loyola  were  always  iu 


152 


mSTOllY   OF   Tlili   JESUITS« 


,.,uis.uou  as  indispeusabU-     It   couUl  -^^  "  J  f ' J    \1 

io  those   days  well  kno.u    ü.o   ^-''J  ^''^ J^  ,,,  jvom 

l.,otostautism  had  spn.u,   .uto  ^-^^^-'^^^^    l^  i  .lonu.aion. 
being  up  to  a  hi,h  su.u.iavd  as  >oya.cU  1--     'o  '  ,_^ 

aud  ouUure !  .hüst  the  Je.nt.,  on  '";;^  J"  'ji^p^uuiou. 
brought  up  in  their  colleges  -^l^^'^'^^^'  ". '^  ^  .^„1  bo  .ith 
so  much  so  as  to  be  able  to  cope  even       h  the      O  ^^^^^^ 

us-   ones.     Moreover.it  -.S-'^^^"-^,  '^^  ^    Ltho  .orid 
means  they  slew  their  ene.u.es  ;  and  by  no  "-  ^'^"ul  scale,  as 
,as  the  art  of  caluu.oiat.ou  praetjsed  on  «-^^  '^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
.ell  as  artificial  perversion,  and,  indeed    ^»-"f^  \        ^„, 

:rrtot;e::::r-s^^^^^^^ 

L  to  be  read  verbaUin  in  a  Jesuit  report  «hich  was  given 

'T.ta^tt  .":;;.«  mention  of  this  hellish  monster  hy  name. 

this  tSr    to   the  Catholic   religion,   this   fugitive  from  the 
this  traitor    to  ^^.^^^j^  ^^^^^^ 

Mnimcr    this  restorer  ol  all  Heresy,  mis  m^ 
üod  and  man.     He  died  in  tlie  eighteenth  year  of  Ins  tail,  alter 
b^lrber:;  fearfully   intoxicated  in  V^^-^J^^^^'. 
Sien,  as  was  his  custom,  he  had  there  made  a  ^^    «    ^  ^'^^ 
so  hi:  vile  spirit  became  a  ^^^^^f  -  .^^"^  .  °'  f  !f  '"'' ^^'" 

wafnoE  but  a  bare-taced  untruth,  and  the  Jesuits  themselves 
:    e  Sse  well  aware  that  it  was  «o ;  but  against  heretics 
Iccordiug  to  their  principles,  all  means  were  allowable  and  it 
Is  V  U  done  to  spread  abroad  the  very  meanest  ol  calumnies 
lovdtd  it  was  only  possible  to  obtain  credence  for  t  em  with 
Te  multitude.    1  am  compelled  by  truth  to  add.  too,  that  they 
made  use  of  similar  wicked  and  morally  exceptionable  art.hces. 
Bot  alone  among  the  illiterate  mass  of  the   people,  but  also 
among    the    higher    classes;    and   especially    they    contrived 
to   persuade  and  talk  over  the  Catholic  monarchs.  m  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  them  believe  that  all  revolutionary  lermentu- 


'in 


r: 


m 


m 


M 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF    THE   JESUITS.       153 

tions  and  disturbances  among  their  subjects  arose  only  tVotii 
the  spirit  of  heresy.  lu  this  manner,  indeed,  the  JcbUits 
wished  to  make  it  appear  that  they  ah)ne  were  to  be  regarded 
as  the  saviours  and  pilhirs  of  the  monarchies,  and  to  be  trcaud 
accordingly,  as  they  were  also  always  at  warfare  with  heiN'sy, 
and  never  gave  in  so  as  to  render  it  possible  for  peace  lo  Ur. 
concluded  between  the  contending  parties. 

A  fourth  means  by  which  the  Order  of  Jesuits  knew   how  to 
raise  its  power  to  an  important  height,  lay  in  the  art  they  pos- 
ftessed  of  gaining  over  to  their  side  the  best  heads  of  the  iStato, 
either  in  iact,  as  regular  and  professed  members  of  the  Society, 
or  as  atMliated  and  secret  members.     As  regards  the  lirst  ciahs, 
there  existed,  as  we  know,  in  the  colleges,  youths  ol  all  condi- 
tions, and  in  their  education  the  best  opportunity  was  aüorded 
for   discovering    the    most   conspicuous    talents;    having    liius 
'-  found   out  those   who    were    best  litted  to  become  useful  sub- 
jects for  the  Order,  their  object  was  to   entice  them  over  for 
tlieir-purposes.      Had  not  everyone,  especially  when  still  young, 
some  more  or  less  v/eak  point  in  his  character  which  migiit  be 
fastened  upon  ?  and  no  Father  was  assuredly  selected  as  rector 
of  a  college  who  had  not  distinguished  himself  by  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  as  well  as  the  faculty  ol  attracting 
to  himself  the  youths  under  his  tuition,     in  matter  of  fact  it  was 
80  brought  about,  that  those  young   men    whom  it  might   be 
wished  to  make  novices  were  so  trained,  by  this  means  or  that, 
that   they  themselves    solicited  admission  into   the    Ord«;r,  and 
the  only  obstacle  to  this  plan  was  that  the  parents  of  the  young 
men  frequently  withheld  their  consent  strenuously  to  such  a  btep; 
this  diüiculty   was,  however,    olten  got  over  by  causing   such 
scholars  to  disappear  from  the  scene,  while  they  were  bruught 
again  into  some  far  distant  college.    They  were  there,  necessarily, 
received  under  an  entirely  dilferent  name,  in  order   to    obhie- 
rate    all  trace  of    their  birth;   and  by   this  means,    and    other 
cunning  and  forcible  devices  and  measures,  the  opposing  parents, 
when  they  even  belonged  to  the  richer  and  higher  classes  of 
society,  were  successfully  prevented  from  snatching  their  sons 
out  of  the  Jesuit  novitiate.     Do  whatever  they  would,  the  Order 
retained  the  youth  as  belonging  to  itself,  even  when  an  appeal 
was  made  for  aid  to  the  highest   courts  of  law,  the  reigning 
Bovereigns,  or  even,  indeed,  the  Jb'ope  liimself.     It  retained  them 


164 


HISTOBT  OF  TH£  JESUITS. 


and  brought  them  up  in  its  own  ideas,  considering  that  such 
members  would  afterwards  be  ot  the  greatest  use  to  the  fraternity. 
The  so-called  afüliated  or  secret  members  were  almost  of  still 
greater  importance — those,  namely,  who  had  bound  themselves  by 
only  a  single  vow,  that  is  to  say,  to  render  to  the  Society  of 
Jesus  with  true  devotion  all  services  that  might  be  demanded 
of  them,  and  who  on  that  account  were  allowed  to  continue  to 
live  as  people  of  the  world,  in  the  same  station  and  sphere  as 
had  been  their  wont.  Those,  for  the  most  part,  were  men  of  high 
rank,  who  would  have  lost  situations  as  councillors  or  ministers 
to  princeö  had  they  formally  and  openly  joined  the  Jesuit  Order; 
and  herein  is  seen  a  great  advantage,  as  such  persons,  while 
retaining  their  former  occupations,  when  they  worshipped  in  the 
profess-houses  might,  on  receiving  a  formal  dispensation  from 
the  General,  deny  openly  their  secret  admission  into  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  Further  than  this,  they  might  even  outwardly  make 
themselves  appear  to  be  the  enemies  of  the  Order,  so  as  to  be 
enabled  all  the  more  surely  to  spy  into  matters  with  which 
they  wished  to  become  acquainted,  and  on  that  account  there 
existed  affiliated  Jesuits  even  in  the  Protestant  camp  itself. 
Still  no  one,  of  course,  was  aware  of  their  existence  there, 
except  the  Provincial  of  the  district  for  the  time  being,  as  also 
the  General  of  the  Order  in  Home,  and  the  sole  private  mark  by 
which  they  might  be  recognised  consisted  in  a  scapular  which 
they  wore  next  their  naked  breasts,  on  which  was  imprinted  the 
letters  I.  U.  S. 

The  fifth  mode  by  which  the  Jesuits  gained  admission  all 
over  Europe,  was  not  be  sought  among  the  cultivated  classes, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  among  the  profanum  vulgus,  and  consisted 
in  a  sort  of  fanaticism  into  which  the  pious  fathers  knew  how  to 
work  themselves.  Thus  it  was  not  at  all  uncommon  for  two 
or  three  of  them  to  be  found  running  through  the  ;streets  by 
night  or  day  in  a  half-naked  condition,  bawling  out  loudly  that 
owing  to  the  sins  of  mankind  the  end  of  all  things  was  at  hand, 
on  which  account  they  flogged  themselves  with  whips  so  unmer* 
cifully  that  streams  of  blood  flowed  from  their  bodies.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  when  such  a  spectacle  was  enacted,  it  was  sure 
to  collect  a  great  crowd  about  them»  and  while  at  first  some  people 
laughed  at  their  proceedings,  and  many  from  disgust  turned 
away  iiom  th^m  disdainfully,  this  disposition  at  length  gave 


THE  POWBBFUL  INFLUENCE  OP  THE  JESUITS.      l66 

way  to  another  feeling,  namely  to  that  of  astonishment,  if  not, 
indeed,  of  admiration.     The  Padres  flogged  and  chasused  their 
bodies  to  such  an  extent  that  even  a  stone  might  have  pitied 
them;    should    they   not,     then,     be    looked    upon    as    holy 
saints?      They,  indeed,   transgressed  all  laws  of  propriety  in 
exhibiting  themselves  in  this  half-naked  condition,  and  one  often 
felt  inclined  to  give  them  a  kick,  in  order  to  make  them  under- 
stand this ;  but  on   being  thus  treated,  they  would  at  once,  in 
the  most  humble  manner,  express  themselves  thankful  for  the 
well-deserved  punishment,  and  thereupon  present  both  of  their 
cheeks  to  the    chastiser   for    fresh  blows   to   be    given    them. 
But  enough  of  these  silly  and  ecstatic  follies  of  the  Jesuits, 
which    were    not,   indeed,   without   effect;   the    more    so    that 
their  proceedings  became  contagious,  to  an  extent  that  whole 
troops  of  people  ran  after  them,  similarly  tioggiug  themselves 
and  calling  out,  "  Alas,  the  sinners!  Aias,  the  great  sinful  cityl" 
Such  were  the  means  adopted  by  the  Jesuits  for  establishing 
themselves  as  a  great  power  in  the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe ; 
and  having  now  analysed  all  appertaining  thereto,  I  proceed  to 
enter  upon  the  subject  more  in  detail. 

I. — Powerful  Influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  Italy. 

The  Papal  Court  of  Paul  111.  in  Bome  gave  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Jesuit  Order,  as  we  have  already  seen,  its  approval 
simply  on  this  account,  that  Ignatius  Loyola  promised  that  all 
his  exertions,  and  those  of  his  associates,  should  be  directed 
towards  defending  and  upholding  the  rights  of  His  Holiness, 
and  re-establishing  everywhere  the  then  depressed  interests  of 
Bome.     Ignatius  Loyola  kept  to  his  word,  and  on  that  account 
gained  from  Paul  lil.  himself,  as  well  as  Irom  his  successors, 
the  greatest  privileges  and  favours.     The  Popes  who  followed 
him    thought   and    acted    in     a    similar    manner;    and    how, 
indeed,    could    they   have    done    diflerently,    as    the    sons    of 
Loyola,  for  nearly  100  years,  fulfilled,  or,  at  any  rate,  appeared 
to  fuJfil,  the  promise  of  their  founder  ?     But  in  what  respect  did 
they  carry  out  this  pledge?     Who,  for  example,  was  it  that 
defended  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  with  the  greatest  zeal,  those 
assumptions  and  abuses  of  the  Papacy  which  even  good  Catholic 
historians  designate  as  being  **  extravagant  "  ?     Was  it  not  the 


156 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Jesuits  Laynez,  Salmeron,  and  Couvillon  ?  Who  was  it  that 
resisted  with  such  skill  those  ideas  of  relorm  in  Church  matters 
80  unanimously  demanded  by  everyone,  and  of  abuses  which 
caused  the  Koman  Chair  to  be  looked  upon  everywhere  with 
horror,  but  they  alone,  and  always  they  ?  Who  was  it  that 
supported  before  the  Congress  of  Poissy,  as  well  as  in  all  other 
places  in  which  it  was  in  question,  the  unlimited  omnipotence 
of  the  Pope,  and  placed  it  above  even  all  other  common  councils  ? 
Who  was  it  that,  with  similar  energy,  defended  it  with  such 
eloquence  and  such  success  as  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  ?  It  having  thus  acted,  would  not  the  Popes  have  exhibited 
the  greatest  ingratitude  had  they  not  done  everything  that 
possibly  lay  in  their  power  towards  the  elevation  of  the  Order, 
and  the  furtherance  of  the  extension  of  its  colleges,  seminaries, 
residences,  novitiates,  and  all  its  other  houses?  Would  not 
the  Popes,  indeed,  have  been  considered  to  blame  had  they 
acted  otherwise  ?  as  they  certainly  would  not  have  understood 
what  was  evidently  for  their  advantage. 

"  One  hand  washes  the  other,"  is  an  old  saying,  and,  not  the 
less  true,  "  Live  and  let  live."  Both  of  these  proverbs  were,  as 
a  rule,  observed  by  the  Popes,  and  thus  it  came  about  that  after 
the  death  of  Pius  V.,  in  the  year  1572,  the  Order  was  already 
in  possession  of  tive  houses  or  estabhshments  of  some  kind  in 
Home.  Gregory  XIII.,  the  successor  of  the  above-mentioned 
Pope,  was,  again,  still  more  liberal  towards  them,  as  he  pre- 
sented them  with  no  less  than  twenty-five  tons  (?)  of  gold,  in 
order  to  enable  them  to  erect  a  still  more  splendid  college  than 
that  which  they  already  possessed,  and,  through  his  example, 
many  great  and  rich  people  were  induced  to  accord  their  favour 
to  the  Order.  It  came  to  this,  in  short,  that,  within  the  space 
of  a  few  decades,  the  Jesuits  possessed  within  their  province  of 
Kome  (including  the  state  of  Tuscany),  a  profess-house  (in 
Home  itself),  two  profess-houses  or  novitiates  (in  Borne  and 
Plorence),  six  residences,  besides  not  fewer  than  thirty-four 
colleges  and  seminaries ;  and  their  possessions  throughout  the 
other  parts  of  Italy  were  in  much  the  same  proportion.  Thus, 
for  example,  in  the  province  of  Milan  they  could  boast  of  the 
possession  of  two  profess-houses  (those  of  Milan  and  Genoa), 
three  novitiates  (those  of  Genoa,  Arona,  and  Chiara),  besides 
sixteen  colleges  and  six  residences;  then^  in  the  province  of 


THE   POWEEFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.      157 

Naples  they  had  one  profess-house  (that  of  Naples),  two  novi- 
tiates (those  of  Naples  and  Atri),  one  residence  and  twenty-six 
colleges :  in  the  province  of  Sicily  they  possessed  two  profess- 
houses   and    novitiates    (each    at   Palermo   and    Messina),  ten 
seminaries,  and  twelve  collesres  ;  and,  lastly,  in  the  "province  of 
Sardinia,  or  Savoy,"  they  owned  two   profess-houses  (those  of 
Saffari  and  Cagliari),  one  novitiate  (that  of  Cagliari).  besides 
six  colleges.     Who,  then,  could  now  affirm  that  the  Order  had 
not  come  to  be    a  great  power    in  Italy  ?     The  Fathers    did 
not,  indeed,  shrink  from   knocking  at  all  the  doors  that  they 
thought  might  be  opened  to  them,  and  if  they  failed  at  first 
they  returned  again  a  second  and  third  time.     They  especially 
desired  to  operate  upon  the  masses,  and  succeeded  only  too  weli, 
as,  in  those  days,  the  poorer  classes"  among  the  Italian  people 
were  still  in  a  state  of  great  ignorance  and  superstition,  as  well 
as   being  very   sensitive  and   excitable,  especially  in  southern 
Italy.      The   Jesuits    caused,   for   instance,    an   enormous  dis- 
turbance amongst  the  inhabitants  of  Gaeta  and  its  environs,  as, 
accompanied  with  masks,  they  ran  about  the  streets  in  despair,' 
the  upper  parts  of  their  bodies  being  naked,  while,  with   thorns 
thrust  through  their  flesh,  they  called  out  in  a  lamentable  tone 
of  voice,  "  Do  penance,   do  penance !  hell   is   for  sinners  and 
Paradise  for  the  elect."     It  was  similarly  in  Naples  that  they 
formed  bands  among  the  very  lowest  classes  of  the  people,  and 
whole   companies  of  both  male  and  female  flagellators  over- 
ran both   town  and  country  ;   and  I  could  write  a  thick  volume 
full  of  the  follies  and  obscenities  carried  on   by  these  fanatical 
gangs,  and  especially  by  those  of  them  consisting  of  females. 
Here  I  only  content  myself  with  the  mere  mention  that  such  was 
the  case,  as  I  shall  come  to  speak  on  this  theme  more  in  detail 
in  the  third  book.     I  cannot  refrain,   however,  from  saying  a 
few  words  as  regards  the  so-called  funeral  masquerades,  which 
were  carried  on  in  Palermo  and  Messina,  as  Death  in  person  was 
there  brought  upon  the  scene,  and  the  people  were  thereby  filled 
with  such  fear  and  horror  that  it  resulted  in  not  a  few  being 
driven  almost  mad.  To  have  a  proper  idea  of  these  masquerades 
one  must  imagine  a  great  procession  in  a  broad  street,   looked 
upon  by  a  body  of  many  thousand  spectators.  At  the  head  of  this 
procession  is  to  be  seen  a  naked  body,  covered  with  blood,  wrest- 
ling wiüh  Death,  and  borne  upon  an  open  bier  by  a  troop  of  men 


158 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


attired  in  long  talars.  On  both  sides  of  this  bier,  as  also  imme- 
diately behind  it,  walk  beautiful  boys  dressed  in  white  em- 
broidered dalmaticas,  and  furnished  with  wings  attached  to  their 
backs,  while  each  of  them  carries  a  cross  in  his  hands.  These 
are  intended  to  represent  a  choir  of  angels,  who,  with  clear 
voices,  perform  a  concert  that  might  not,  indeed,  be  more  beauti- 
ful in  heaven  itself.  But,  unfortunately,  while  listening  to  it 
one  is  disturbed  by  seeing  a  great  swarm  of  ugly  black  devils, 
furnished  with  great  claws,  flourishing  their  tails  about,  wildly 
raging  and  roaring  in  order  to  harass  and  impede  the  angels, 
and  with  this  object  yelling  and  cursing  in  such  a  way  as 
to  cause  a  frightful  uproar.  The  devils  also  wave  about 
lighted  torches,  made  of  pitch,  the  sickening  smoke  of  which 
darkens  the  atmosphere  to  such  an  extent  as  at  times  to  prevent 
anything  from  being  seen.  Now,  however,  comes  the  principal 
object,  viz.  Death  himself,  mounted  upon  a  carriage  entirely 
black,  and  drawn  by  six  black  horses.  This  representation  of 
Death  is  quite  horrible  to  look  at,  as  it  consists  of  a  leaden- 
coloured  skeleton  of  colossal  dimensions,  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  his  head  reaches  up  to  the  upper  windows  of  the  houses. 
In  his  right  hand  he  carries  a  colossal  scythe,  and  with  the  left 
he  drags  after  him  a  chain,  to  which  is  attached  a  whole  herd 
of  howling  ghosts  representing  every  sex,  age,  and  class  of 
society.  Those  hideous  and  horrible-looking  hobgoblins  from 
time  to  time  utter  lamentable  cries,  while  exhibiting,  by  the 
contortions  of  their  limbs,  the  torments  of  hell  which  they  are 
suffering.  Moreover,  despite  all  this  wailing.  Death  pursues  his 
course,  as  if  deaf  and  dumb,  gnashing  his  teeth  and  giving  evident 
signs  that  nothing  would  deter  him  from  sweeping  away  every 
living  thing  on  earth,  and  casting  them  into  the  abyss  of  hell. 
It  is,  on  this  account,  quite  in  vain  that  a  choir  of  mournful 
repentant  psalm-singers  following  in  his  train  groans  out  the 
most  doleful  airs,  exciting  thereby,  in  the  highest  degree,  the 
anguish  and  horror  of  the  surrounding  bystanders,  who  can  see 
no  escape  from  eternal  perdition.  But  now,  behold  !  the  Jesuits 
come  upon  the  scene ;  they  look,  however,  earnest  and  solemn, 
but  also,  at  the  same  time,  friendly  and  celestial,  while  glancing 
around  them.  A  magnificent  radiant  sun,  borne  by  four  stalwart 
lay  brethren,  is  carried  along  above  their  heads,  indicating  the 
light  of  eternal  blessedness,  so  that  the  minds  more  heavily 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      169 

oppressed  may  breathe  lightly  again,  knowing  at  length  where 
to  look  for  the  dispensation  of  eternal  grace.     So  great  was  the 
power  to  which  the  Jesuits  now  attained  in  Italy,  and  so  easilv 
were  they  ordinarily  enabled  to  gain  the  end  and  aim  which  they 
set  before  them.  But  it  so  happened  that  there  was  one  hindrance 
to  their  being  able  to  conquer ;   and  similar  difficulties  occurred 
too,  m  Milan,  Venice,  Veltlin,   and   Savoy.      In  Milan,  from' 
the   year    1566    to    1684.    there   ruled  as   Archbishop,  Count 
Carlo  Borromeo,   well-known  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  times,  whose  diocese,  as  long  as  he  lived  and  laboured 
might  well  have  served  as  a  model  for  all  others.   This  Borromeo' 
m  the  hope  of  bringing  better  order   and  condition  into  his' 
hitherto  rather  lax   church    discipline,    invited  the   Jesuits   to 
Milan,  selecting   one   from  among  their   ranks  as  his  Father 
Confessor,  and  putting  a  seminary  at  their  disposal  in  order  to 
establish  a  splendid  educational  institution,  overloading  them  at 
the   same   time  with   favours  of  every  description,  to  such   an 
extent  that  he  even  entertained  the  idea  of  making  over  to  them 
the  possessions  belonging  to  the  Order  of  the  wild  "Humiliaten  " 
which  it  was  his  wish  to  suppress.     As  he  carried  out,  with 
becoming  zeal,  the  reform  of  the  priesthood,  and  especiallv  of 
the  monkhood,  both  of  which  had   become  dissolute,  the  refrac- 
tory monks  brought  an  accusation  against  him  before  the  Pope, 
and   at   the   same   time   caused   him    to  become   an  object  of 
suspicion  to  the  Spanish  Governor  of  Milan  (Lombardy  at  that 
time  belonging  to  the  Crown  of  Spain),  making  it  appear  that  he 
entertained  the  idea  of  assuming  the  royal  prerogative.     In  con- 
sequence  of  this  accusation  the  Pope,  as  well  as  the  Governor, 
took  steps  against  him,  and  to  all  appearance  it  seemed  as  if 
he  would  succumb  to  his  enemies.     The  Jesuits  also,  at  whose 
head  Father  Mazarini,  the  Kector  of  their  college  in  Milan,  par- 
ticularly  distinguished  himself,  were  of  this  way  of  thinking. 
Not  only  did  they  at  once   go  over  with  flying  colours  to  the 
camp  of  the  Spanish  Governor,  but  they  reviled  their  former 
benefactor,    the  Archbishop,  in  the  most   calumnious   manner 
m  every  church  which   had  been  given  to  them  by  him  as  a 
present.      They    reckoned,    however,    without    their   host,    in 
imagining  that  Count  Borromeo  must  of  necessity  make  room 
for   another,   as   he  victoriously   met  all   the  accusations  and 
caulmmes    which  had    been    brought  against  him.      It   now 


\^ 


160 


HISTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


became  the  turn  of  the  miserable  creatures  who  up  to  this  time 
had  been  open-moutbed  against  him,  to  shake  in  their  shoes, 
and  the  Jesuits,  especially,  fully  expected  nothing  else  than  that 
the  Archbishop  would  launch  out  all  his  fury  against  them.   He, 
however,   a  man  full  of  Christian  love,  contented  himself  with 
taking  their  church  and  college  from  them,  and  expelling  them 
from  the  city  of  Milan,  but  not,  however,  altogether  out  of  his 
very  extensive  diocese.     It  was,  indeed,  a  very  lenient  punish- 
ment for  such  base  ingratitude  as  the  Jesuits  had  shown  him, 
and  the  latter  ought  to  have  thanked  him  with  all  humility. 
This  they  did  not  do,  however;  but  they  thought  that  they 
might  again   establish   themselves  in  the  favour  of  Borromeo 
by  laying  all  the  blame  of  what  had  taken  place  on  the  shoulders 
of  their  Rector,  Mazarini.     On  this  account,  the  then  General 
of  the  Order,  Claudio  Aquaviva,  expressed  his  disapprobation  of 
the  conduct  of  Mazarini  in  a  special  letter  addressed  to  the 
Archbishop,  forbidding  the  delinquent,  at  the  same  time,  from 
preaching  during  two  years,  and  ordering  him  to  throw  himself 
humbly  at  the  feet  of  the  offended  Borromeo.     The  Hector,  as 
mav  be  understood,  rendered  obedience  to  this  order ;  but  the 
Archbishop  did  not,  however,  on  this  account,  rescind  his  decree 
of  banishment ;  and  his  nephew  and  successor,  Count  Frederico 
Borromeo,  who  held  possession  of  the  Archiepiscopal  chair  from 
1595  to  1631,  went  still  further  on  assuming  possession  of  the 
government,  and    took    away  from  the  Jesuits  the  conduct  of 
all  the  colleges  and   seminaries  which  had  been  established  in 
Lombardv,  forbidding  all  who  wished  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
priesthood  from  prosecuting  their  studies  in  any  Jesuit  college, 
under  the  penalty  of  loss  of  consecration.     This  injunction  con- 
tinued as  long  as  he  lived,  and  it  was  only  after  the  year   1631 
that  the  Jesuits  ventured  to  establish  themselves  again  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Milan.     It  went  even  worse  than  this  with  them  in  the 
city  of  Venice,  which  had  always  shown  itself  more  free-thinking 
than   was  agreeable  to    the   Romish    priesthood ;    and    it  was 
for  this   reason  that    the  Jesuits    had   very   early   established 
themselves   there,    in    order    to    bring    about,    through    their 
influence,  a  change  in   the  state  of  matters.     Now,   however, 
Jesuit  machinations  did  not  at  all  meet  with  the  approval  of  the 
Venetian  Senate,  and  on  this  account  it  decreed  a  law  in  1608 
by  which  neither  any  new  churches  nor  cloisters  could  be  built 


) 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      161 


without  the  permission  of  the  Government,  nor  any  new  Order 
of  Monks  or  societies  founded.     This  was  a  severe  blow  to  the 
Romish  priesthood,  and  more  especially  to  the  Jesuits,  who  at 
that  time  had  entertained  the  idea  of  establishing  themselves 
permanently  all  over  the  Venetian  territories  ;  but  still  harder 
was  it  when,  two  years  after  this,  the  order  was  publicly  pro- 
mulgated "  that  no  subject  of  the  Venetian   Republic  should 
be  allowed,  without  the  previous  knowledge  and  permission  of  the 
State,  to  make  over  or  alienate  any  immovable  property,  by  will 
or  sale,  or  in    any   other   manner,  to  the  priests   or  monkish 
Orders,  under  no  less  a  penalty  than  imprisonment,  banishment, 
and  confiscation  of  their  property."     This  constituted  an  open 
declaration  of  war  against  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  thereupon 
Claudio   Aquaviva,    their   General,    took   up   the  matter.      He 
hastened,  with  his  friend  Cardinal  Bellarmin,  to  Pope  Paul  V., 
and  so  worked  upon  the  latter  that  a  brief  was  forthwith  addressed 
by  him  to  the  Venetian  Senate,  in  which  the  Pope  demanded  an 
unqualified  revocation  of  both  the  laws  of  1603  and  those  of 
1605.     The  Senate  appealed  to  their  rights,  but  Paul  V.,  in  his 
hot  displeasure,  would  listen  to  no  statements  based  on  reason, 
and,  in    1 606,   launched  an    interdict,  without    further    delay, 
against  the  Republic  of  Venice,  hoping  that,  as  by  it  all  churches 
had  to  be  closed  forthwith,   and  all  preaching  of  the  Word   of 
God  consequently  discontinued,  this  would  give  rise  to  a  general 
insurrection  among  the  people  against  the  Senate.     With  such 
thoughts,  at  least,  had  Aquaviva  and  Bellarmin  flattered  him ; 
but,  as  will  shortly  be  seen,  they  found  themselves  completely  in 
error.     The  Venetian  Senate,   forsooth,  instantly  took  up  the 
gauntlet  which  had  been  thrown  down,  and  not  only  forbad  the 
publication  of  the  Papal  interdictory  Bull  in  its  dominions,  but 
also  issued  an  order  to  all  its  clergy  to  continue  divine  service  as 
hitherto,  or  immediately  to  quit  Venetian  territory.     This  edict 
was  obeyed  by  the  whole  of  the  priesthood  and  monkish  Orders; 
the  .iesuits  alone  hesitated  to  give  respect  to  it.     They  were 
under  the  impression  that  as  their  influence  had  hitherto  been 
so  great  they  would  conquer  in   spite  of  every  opposition.     The 
Senate,  however,  remained  firm,  and  intimated  to  them  that  they 
must  at  once  quit  Venetian  territory,  if  they  wished  to  avoid 
forcible  expulsion.     There  now  remained   for  them   no   other 
course  than  to  obey,  and  they,  along  with  the  Capuchins,  whom 

11 


162 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


they  had  contrived  to  bring  over  to  their  side,  went  in  great 
processions  towards  the  closing  of  the  gates,  carrying  before  them 
huge  crucifixes.  Their  expectations,  however,  that  such  a  solemn 
exodus  out  of  Egypt  might  give  rise  to  fanatacism  among  the 
lower  orders  of  the  people,  and  create,  at  least,  some  disturbance, 
completely  failed,  even  as  much  as  the  previous  hope  enter- 
tained by  the  Pope ;  for  when  the  masses  of  the  people  pressed 
forward  to  witness  the  spectacle,  not  a  single  hand  was 
raised  in  their  favour,  but,  on  the  contrary,  curses  were  sent 
after  them.  After  their  departure,  the  Senate  confiscated  all 
their  houses,  and  now  some  very  strange  discoveries  were  made. 
Besides  leaving  their  riches  in  gold  and  silver,  they  fled  also,  in 
all  haste,  with  the  greatest  portion  of  their  books  and  manu- 
scripts, to  deposit  them  with  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  as  well 
as  with  some  private  friends ;  but  sufficient  letters  of  theirs 
were  found  from  which  it  was  plain  that  they  had  devoted 
themselves  much  more  to  things  temporal  than  to  things 
spiritual,  and  suspicions  arose  that  they  had  an  understanding 
with  the  Spanish  Court,  which  had  for  a  long  time  striven  to 
obtain  possession  of  Venice.  It  now  appeared  clear,  besides, 
to  many  of  the  senators,  what  was  the  reason  that  the  Order  had 
sent  the  handsomest  members  of  their  Society  to  Venice,  as 
several  of  the  epistles  they  had  left  behind  were  evidently 
written  by  female  hands,  and  their  contents  gave  but  unfavour- 
able testimony  respecting  the  innocence  of  Venetian  house- 
wives. Added  to  this,  it  so  happened  that  the  exiles,  in  order 
to  ventilate  their  anger  in  Bologna,  Ferrara,  Mantua,  Bari, 
Palermo,  and  other  places,  preached  in  the  most  violent  manner 
against  the  Republic,  doing  their  utmost  to  incite  against  it  the 
Courts  of  Madrid  and  Prague,  in  order  to  induce  Philip  III.  and 
the  Emperor  Rudolph  II.  to  wage  war  with  Venice  ;  the  Jesuits 
also  did  their  best  to  excite  insurrections  in  that  kingdom. 

In  short,  there  existed  incontestable  evidence  that  the  Jesuits 
constituted  themselves  very  dangerous  enemies  to  the  Venetian 
Republic.  The  Senate  consequently  passed  a  resolution  unani- 
mously to  banish  them  for  ever  from  Venetian  territories. 
But  even  this  course  was  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  require- 
ments of  the  case,  but  an  addition  was  also  unanimously  attached 
to  the  above  decree,  to  the  effect  that  no  proposals  of  their  ever 
again  being  received  into  Venice  should  be  even  listened  to. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OP  THE    JESUITS.      163 

unless  five-sixths  out  of  the  number  of  180  senators  were 
favourable  to  the  consideration  thereof;  and,  besides,  every  person 
in  the  Venetian  State,  of  any  condition  or  sex  whatever,  was 
strictly  prohibited  from  holding  communication  with  the  sons 
of  Loyola,  under  the  heavy  penalty  of  fine,  imprisonment,  or 
condemnation  to  the  galleys.  This  decree,  too,  remained  in 
force  in  spite  of  the  Pope  himself  making  an  offer  to  revoke 
the  interdict  which  he  had  issued,  on  condition  that  the 
Jesuits  should  be  again  received — a  proviso  which  the  Senate 
peremptorily  rejected.  So,  at  last,  Paul,  being  left  in  the  lurch, 
saw  himself  compelled  by  France,  the  ally  of  Venice,  and  by  the 
King  of  Spain,  the  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  to  conclude  peace 
with  the  Senate,  being  under  the  necessity  thereby  of  sacrificing 
the  sons  of  Loyola.  The  latter  now  set  about  matters  in 
another  way,  begging  the  Senate  to  revoke  the  decree  of  banish- 
ment of  1612,  and  secretly  offering  for  this  favour  the  enormous 
sum  of  500,000  ducats,  but  the  nobility  of  Venice  conducted 
itself  on  this  occasion  in  a  truly  worthy  manner,  and  refused 
with  disdain  the  attempted  bribery. 

Precisely  the  same  fate  that  they  had  met  with  in  the  Venetian 
State,  they  had  previously  experienced  in  Veltlin,  a  portion  of 
Graubünden.     There,  in  the  year   1560,  they  brought  it  about 
that  a  very  wealthy  and  esteemed  old  man,  but  at  the  same  time 
weak-minded  and  almost  childish  with  the  burden  of  years,  of 
the  name  of  Anton  Quadrius,  who  lived  at  Ponte,  the  capital 
of  the    country,  bequeathed  his  whole   property  to    them,  in 
order  to  found  a  college  therewith.     His  rightful  heirs,   how- 
ever,  made    a   complaint    forthwith    to    the   head-man    of   the 
country,  who  issued  orders  that  the  Black  Cloaks  should  at  once 
not  only  leave  Ponte,  but  also  quit  the  whole  territory.     The 
Jesuits  now  addressed  themselves  to  the  Diet  of  Graubünden 
(Grisons),  which  in  the  year  1561    usually  assembled  at   the 
town  of  Chur,  and  brought  the  matter  to  such  a  point  that  the 
all-powerful  Sovereign  of  Catholic  Christendom  exerted  himself 
in  their  favour.     The   Grisonites,    as   free   Republicans,   paid, 
however,  but  little  attention  to  the  advice  of  crowned  heads,  and 
immediately  after  a  full  trial  passed  a  resolution  unanimously, 
in  a  public  sitting,  that  the  Jesuits,  *'  as  enemies  of  the  Gospel, 
who  were  more  qualified  to  corrupt  youth  than  to  educate  them," 
should  at  once  evacuate  for  ever  the  territory  of  the  Grisons. 

11   * 


164 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


In  precisely  the  same  manner  the  Walh'sers,  the  neighhours 
of  the  Orisons,  fifty  years  later,  in  the  year  1610,  declared  them- 
selves, and  consequently  defeated  the  attempts  of  the  Jesuits 
to  penetrate  into  Veltlin  through  Wallis.  The  latter  hecame 
all  the  more  enraged  against  the  man  through  whose  eloquence 
these  results  had  heen  mainly  hrought  about,  namely  Bartholma 
Alett,  who,  in  the  year  following,  died  with  evident  symptoms 
of  poisoning,  and  the  general  belief  was  that  the  poison  had 
been  administered  to  him  through  the  agency  of  a  Loyolite  in 
disguise. 

The  Jesuits  pursued  quite  another  course  in  Savoy  from  that 
adopted  by  them  in  the  other  above-mentioned  parts  of  Italy. 
There  were  here,  in  the  middle   of  the    16th    century,   not   a 
few  Protestants  who   had   come  from   other  countries,   where 
they  had  been  persecuted  on  account  of  their  faith,  while  they 
hoped  that  in  the  depths  of  these  quiet  Alpine  valleys,  quite  cut 
off,  so  to  speak,  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  they  might  be  able 
to  live  undisturbed  and  unmolested.     To  these  attached  them- 
selves that  remnant  of  the  Waldenses  who  had  their  home  here 
and  in  the  neighbouring  country  of  Piedmont  during  the  last 
two  centuries,  and  who,  almost  Protestant  already,  now  entirely 
recognised  the  Keformed  Church.     This,  however,  was  of  course 
anything  but  agreeable  to  the  taste  of  the  Catholic  priesthood, 
and  the  Duke  at  that  time,  Philibert  Emanuel,  proceeded  to 
oppose  by  force  in  the  severest  manner  this  remnant  of  heresy 
in  his  hitherto  thoroughly  Catholic  country.     The  Dominican 
monk  Thomas  Giacomello,   more  especially,  proceeded  against 
them  in  a  very  brutal  way,  and  did  not  rest  satisfied  until  a 
frightful  example  had  been  made  of  them,  a  number   of  the 
Reformers   being   burnt   alive  or  sent  to  work  in  the  galleys. 
The  Protestants,  however,  being  in  so  large  a  majority,  threatened 
to  take  up  arms  in  their  defence  against  the  Duke,  who,  then 
yielding,  addressed  himself  to  Pope  Pius  IV.,  asking  the  ques- 
tion whether  all  this  contention  might  not  best  be  settled  by  a 
religious   conference.      The    Pope's   answer   to   this   was   No! 
Nothing  had  been  hitherto  gained  in  such  matters  by  religious 
disputations.     No  !     A   religious  conference  must  not  by  any 
means  take  place,  but  he  would  send  some  theologians  in  order 
to  instruct  the  ignoi-ant  in  the  true  faith.     '*  Moreover,"  added 
he,  in  concluding  his  written  communication,   "no   instance 


ITHE   POWEKFtJL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITSt      165 

is  known  where  such  a  matter  has  been  arranged  by  clemency ; 
but  experience  teaches  that  the  best  means  of  conversion  lay 
in  the  hands  of  justice,  and  when  this  failed,  from  being  too 
weak,  there  remained  military  coercion." 

Who,  then,  were  those  theologians  whom  Pius  IV.  directed 
should   be    sent    to   Savoy  ?      Oh  !    he   himself,  indeed,   sent 
none ;   but  he  charged  the   General   of  the  Jesuits,   Laynez, 
with  the   carrying   out  of  the   matter,  and   the   latter   caused 
Father    Anton    Possevin,    a  man   who   afterwards   became   so 
notorious,   to  proceed  to  the   Ducal    Court   on   this   mission, 
in  order  to  negotiate  with   Philibert   Emanuel   regarding    the 
establishment  of  some  Jesuit  colleges.      This,   however,   was 
only  one  part  of  his  task.     The  other  and  much  more  impor- 
tant duty   consisted  in   this — that  the  ruler   of  Savoy  should 
be  induced  to  make,  once  for  all,  a  complete  end  of  the  aflair  by 
the  extirpation  of  the  heretics  now  and  for  ever.     Possevin  soun 
found  that  the  Duke,  who  from  his  long  experience  in  the  field 
as  a  General  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.  had  become  very 
domineering,  being  particularly  distinguished,  also,  as  a  tolerably 
wild  prince,  did  precisely  all  that  the  Jesuit  desired  of  him, 
although  not  being  himself  conscious  of  it.     Above  everything 
the  latter  brought  it  about  that  Philibert  Emanuel,  through  his 
influence,   permitted  the  erection   of  two   colleges.      Possevin 
looked  upon  this  as  indispensably  necessary,  in  order  thereby  to 
be  enabled  to  call  into   the  country  a  proper  number  of  his 
associates;  and  to  the  Duke's  objection  that  the  State  was  too 
poor  to  admit  of  the  possibility  of  the  establishment  of  Jesuit 
institutions,  his  reply  was  that  the  Society  would  be  satisfied 
with   whatever  could  be  obtained  from  the   lands  confiscated 
from  the  heretics.    Now,  however,  when  the  Jesuit  Fathers  came 
to  be  fairly  established  in  Savoy,  they  commenced  setting  about 
in  earnest  the  fulfilment  of  their  promise  respecting  the  conver- 
sion of  the  refractory  subjects ;  and  it  was  indeed   a  curious 
description  of  conversion  which  they  employed.  Father  Possevin 
and  his  associates  travelled  about  all  over  the  country  attired 
in  ordinary  plain  clothes,  and  penetrated  especially  into  aU  the 
out-lying  mountains  and  valleys  in  which  all  the  reformed  com* 
muniues  had  taken  shelter.     On  discovering  such  persons,  did 
they  now  take  care  to  let  it  be  known  who  they  themselves  were, 
and  set  about  an  attempt  at  conversion  by  preaching  the  Roman 


166 


HISTOBY  OF   THE  JESUITS. 


Catholic  faith  ?     No,  indeed ;    on  the  contrary,  they  hastened 
back  to  their  head- quarters  in  order  to  bring  to  their  aid  several 
thousand  soldiers ;  and  when  they  now  returned  along  with  them 
into  the  lonely  mountain  valleys,    then,   indeed,  was  it  most 
imperative  for  God  to   have  mercy  upon    the  poor  reformed 
people  !     But  how  was  it  that  they  obtained  the  soldiers  ?     In 
the  simplest  way  in  the  world,  as  has  been  previously  mentioned, 
inasmuch  as  the  Duke  had  been  convinced,  by  the  eloquence  of 
Possevin,  that  a  Catholic  Prince  would  tarnish  his  honour  if  he 
tolerated  any  longer  a  miserable  herd  of  heretics  in  his  country ; 
and  as  the  only  really  efficacious  mode  of  conversion  lay  in  the 
employment  of  coercion,  it  was  easily  to  be  understood  that  a 
large  number  of  troops  would  be  required  to  give  support  to  the 
exertions  of  the  Jesuits.     Philibert  Emanuel  was  also  all  the 
more  disposed  to  this  course,  as  the  Pope  made  him  a  grant  of  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  to  meet  the  expenses  attendant  on 
the  entertainment  of  this  small  faithful  army;  and,  moreover,  was 
not  a  prince  of  his  character  to  consider  himself  fully  j  ustilied  in 
punishing  as  rebels  and  disturbers  of  the  peace,  subjects  who  did 
not  accede  to  his  wishes,  that  they  should  openly  recognise  that 
faith  which  was  held  by  the  ruler  of  the  country  ?     Suffice  it  to 
say,  then,  that  the  heretics  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  defeated 
by  the  soldiers  under  the  guidance  of  the  Jesuits,  and  that  there 
now  followed  a  time  of  misery  and  woe  for  Savoy,  the  details  of 
which  the  pen,  indeed,  is  reluctant  to  describe.     In  this  manner, 
for  instance,  Possevin,  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  men,  fell 
upon  the  village  of  St.  Germain,  and  put  to  the  sword  all  the 
male  inhabitants,  although  these  had  not  taken  up  arms ;  but 
the  two  reformed  clergymen  who  were  found  there  were  burnt 
by   means  of  a   slow   fire,   the  wood  necessary  for  which  the 
women  and  girls  were  constrained  to  bring  at  the  point  of  the 
Bword.     A  precisely  similar  fate  befell  many  dozens  of  reformed 
communities,  and  all  over  the  country,  even  in  remote  farms,  the 
sword   prevailed  furiously,   and  the  funeral  piles  glowed.     At 
last,  when  they  saw  that  nothing  else  than  their  extermination 
was  intended,   the  Reformers  rose  all  through  the  land,  and, 
courageously  taking  up  arms,  offered  a  brave  resistance  to  the 
faithful  army  of  soldiers.     Here  and  there  occurred  sieges  in 
a  small  way,  lor  it  was  easy  lor  them  to  entrench  themselves 
in  their  mountain  fastnesses,  and  the  Savoyan  troops  were  at 


I  Ü?flE   POWEBFÜL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.       167 

times   exhausted   in   storming   them.       Possevin,    being    now 
furious  at  the  thought  that  the  victory,  of  which  he  had  believed 
himself  to  be  certain,  should  thus  be  wrested  out  of  his  hands, 
had  resort  to  cunning  and  deceit,  offering  to  the  heretics,  in  the 
Duke's  name,  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  on  condition 
that  they  should  lay  down  their  arms  and  pay  a  sum  of  16,000 
gold  dollars  by  way  of  conciliation.     The  Reformers  accepted 
these  terms,  and  signed  the  treaty  proposed  to  them ;  but  as 
soon  .as  the  money  was  paid  and  the  arms  laid  down,  the  poor 
deluded  people  found  themselves  laughed  to  scorn  in  their  faces, 
and  the  Jesuits  now  began  afresh  their  blood-thirsty  mode  of 
conversion.     Anew  did  they  now  penetrate   into  the  mountain 
valleys  ^  at  the^  head  of   a  rough   band  of    soldiery,    ravaging 
them  with  lance  and  sword,  and  once  again  were  the  heretical 
clergy,    as  well  as  the  wealthy  and  respectable    among   these 
wretched  people,  consigned  to  the  stake.     This  despicable  con- 
duct, accompanied  as  it  was  with  the  most  frightful  oppression, 
awakened  such  fury  and  rage  among  the  people,  that,  rushing 
again  to  arms,  they  obtained  such  a  decisive  victory  over  the. 
Ducal  army  in  May  1561,  as  to  constrain  Philibert  Emanuel  to 
think  of  making  peace.     His  finances,  too,  were  now  exhausted, 
as  his  army  had  been  on  foot  for  two  years,  at  a  great  cost  of 
money ;  and  as  the  Pope  had  long  ceased  to  send  him  any  con- 
tributions, after  the  destruction  of  his  army,  what  means  had  he 
at  his  disposal  to  provide  himself  with  another  ?     Moreover,  had 
it  not,  for  a  long  time,  appeared  clear  to  him  that  when  he  made 
war  upon  the  heretics  in  his  country,   he  was  only  slaying  his 
own  subjects,  and  while  he  was  enriching  the  Jesuits  by  bestow- 
ing the  confiscated  estates  upon  them,  he  was  impoverishing 
his  own  states  ?    Oh,  no  ;  enough  blood  had  now  been  spilt,  and 
sufficient  misery  had  been  spread  broadcast ;  Philibert  Emanuel, 
therefore,   at   once  discarded   Father   Possevin    and  his   asso- 
ciates, and   on   the   öth-  of  June  1561    concluded    an  agree- 
ment with  his  Protestant  subjects,  wherein  he  again  promised 
them  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  with  the  partial  restora- 
üon   of  their  confiscated  property,  whilst   they,  on  the  other 
hand,  engaged  to  tolerate  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  all  their 
communities,  under  condition  that  they  themselves  should  never 
again  have  the  acceptance  of  that  religion  forced  upon  them. 
Prom  this  time  forth  the  country  again  enjoyed  the  blessings  ot 


168 


HISTOBY  01*  THE   JESUITS« 


/ 


THE   POWEEFÜL  INFLUENCE   01*   THE   JESUITS.      169 


peace,  and  the  inhabitants  lived  in  concord  with  one  another ; 
but  this  state  of  matters  only  lasted  for  a  hundred  years,  until 
the  time  bi  Louis  XIV.,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  when  the 
Jesuits  again  obtained  the  upper  hand,  and  a  period  of  misery 
once  more  returned. 

II. — The  Powerful  Influence  of  the  Jesuits  in 

Portugal. 

It  has  been  already  described  in  the  foregoing  books  how  that 
King  John  III.  applied  to  Ignatius  Loyola  for  some  members 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  with  the  view  of  sending  them  to  India 
as  missionaries  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  ;  and,  further, 
how  that  Ignatius  despatched  to  him  at  Lisbon  Francis  Xavier 
and  Simon  Rodriguez,  with  this  object ;  and,  lastly,  how  that 
John  III.,  being  so  favourably  inclined  towards  the  latter,  retained 
him  at  his  Court,  and  constituted  him  his  Father  Confessor,  con- 
fidential friend,  and  adviser.  This  said  Simon  Rodriguez  now  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  truly  extraordinary  power  which  the  Jesuits 
came  to  exercise  in  Portugal  and  its  colonies,  during  a  period 
of  nearly  200  years,  as  he  contrived  to  make  such  great  use  of 
the  almost  imbecile  king,  who  had  scarcely  any  will  of  his  own, 
that,  after  the  space  of  only  ten  years,  the  Order  already  pos- 
sessed most  beautiful  colleges  in  Coimbra,  Evova,   Lisbon,  and 
Braga,  as  well  as  several  seminaries  and   educational   institu- 
tions in  other  towng.     Not  only  was  this  the  case,  but  of  these 
latter  seminaries  several  in  Coimbra  and  Evova  were  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  being  made  High  Schools,  and,  consequently,  the 
Jesuits  soon  completely  commanded  all  the  science,  faith,  and 
customs  of  Portugal.     The  Jesuit  General  in  Rome,  indeed,  as 
soon   as   he   saw   that  the   ground  in  Portugal  was   so   easily 
workable  for  his  objects,  despatched  from  Italy  and  France  as 
many  members  of  the  Society  as  he  could  .spare,  to  the  assistance 
of  Rodriguez ;  he  then  contrived  to  enrol  in  its  ranks  a  great 
body  of  proselytes,  and  with  such  rapidity  and  success  that,  for 
instance,  the  college  of  Coimbra,  which  we  have  above  mentioned, 
could  already  number  em  many  as  sixty  members  of  the  Order. 
In    like    proportion,    also,    their    ali'airs    prospered    in    other 
respects,  and  the  richest  and  most  noble  of  the  land  vied  with 
each  other  how  to  bestow  their  riches  among  these  institutions. 
But  bow  could  this  Well  be  otherwise,  seeing  that,  following  the 


example  of  the  King,  all  the  great  men  of  the  country  had  taken 
Jesuits  as  their  Father  Confessors  ?  Father  Michael  de  Torres 
acted  in  this  capacity  to  Queen  Catherine,  while  Father  Leon 
Henriquez  stood  in  the  same  relationship  to  the  Cardinal  Infant 
Don  Henri;  again,  to  Father  Simon  Rodriguez,  being  himself  the 
Father  Confessor  of  the  Ruler,  was  entrusted  the  conscience  of  the 
Duke  of  Aveiro,  first  minister  of  the  kingdom,  as  well  as  that  of 
Count  Castanheira,  and  several  others  of  the  nobility.  In  short, 
under  John  IlL  the  Jesuits  became  almost  all-powerful  at  Court, 
as  Rodriguez  was  so  much  the  right  hand  and  bosom  friend  of 
the  monarch  that  the  latter  transacted  hardly  any  Government 
affairs  without  first  consulting  with  his  Father  Confessor. 

**  Yes,"  so  Teiles  writes  in  his  Chronicles  of  the  Jesuits,  ''as 
Rodriguez  was  on  one  occasion  lying  sick  at  Almeiren,  the  King 
in  person,  accompanied  by  the  Prince  and  high  Court  officials, 
actually  proceeded  thither  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  sick 
man,  and  the  monarch,  in  this,  seemed  to  forget  his  Royal 
dignity  merely  to  show  his  friendship  for  the  Father.^* 

The  natural  consequence  of  all  this  was,  as  it  had  hitherto 
generally  proved  to  be  the  case,  that  the  extraordinary  consider- 
ation in  which  the  Fathers  were  now  held,  as  well  as  the  bound- 
less treasures  lavished  upon  them  by  the  King,  made  them  so 
proud,  presumptuous,  indolent,  and  luxurious,  that  soon  a 
general  feeling  of  discontent  sprang  up  on  this  account  among 
the  people.  This,  too,  was  not  a  silent  disgust,  for  the  in- 
habitants of  Lisbon  caused  their  complaints  to  reach  the  Throne, 
and  they  loudly  accused  the  Government  of  wasting  the  means 
of  the  State  unworthily  and  on  undeserving  objects.  Still,  what 
did  that  matter  ?  Simon  Rodriguez  had  the  weak  monarch  too 
much  in  his  power  that  their  complaints  should  be  hstened  to  ; 
and  at  last  it  came  to  this,  that  the  petitioners  were  put  into 
prison,  or  banished  from  the  kingdom.  Thus  did  the  Father 
Confessor  carry  on  up  to  the  year  1551,  and,  as  one  may, 
indeed,  easily  suppose,  with  an  ever-increasing  audacity.  It 
now,  however,  reached  the  ears  of  Ignatius  in  Rome  precisely 
how  matters  stood,  and  it  became  sufficiently  apparent  to  him 
that  the  extraordinary  hatred  with  which  the  Portuguese  people 
'  regarded  the  Society  mustjproduce  the  worst  results  ;  he,  there* 
fore,  came  to  the  firm  determination  of  grappling  with  the  diffi* 
culty,  at  once,  and  with  a  strong  hand.     The  college  of  Coimbra 


170 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


being,  as  it  was,  greatly  to  his  mind,  it  deeply  distressed  him  to 
find  that,  according  to  all  reports,  the  same  had  become  quite 
ruined  and  degraded,  being  more  like  a  school  lor  scandal  than 
edification,  and  that  instead  of  being  devoted  to  study  and  educa- 
tion everything  therein  tended  to  foster  laziness,  debauchery, 
intrigue,  and  gossiping.  Loyola,  therefore,  on  the  strength  of 
his  unlimited  power  as  General  ol  the  Order,  suddenly  despatched 
Jb'ather  Emanuel  Godin  to  Coimbra,  with  the  object  of  again 
bringing  the  college  into  some  degree  of  order,  recalling  Father 
Bodriguez  to  Home,  and  replacing  him,  as  newly-nominated 
Kector,  by  the  modest  Jacob  Miron,  the  former  being,  in  his 
opinion,  unworthy  of  acting  in  the  capacity  of  Father  Confessor 
to  a  King.  John  III.  was  at  first  very  indignant  at  this  violent 
measure  of  Loyola's,  and,  indeed,  threatened,  in  consequence, 
to  send  all  the  Jesuits  back  again  to  Italy ;  but,  intellectually 
weak  youngster  as  he  was,  he  soon  cooled  down  again,  and  after 
the  lapse  of  about  a  month  the  new  Father  Confessor  had  him 
as  much  in  his  power  as  had  previously  been  the  case.  Thus  it 
was  that  in  Lisbon,  or,  if  one  prefers  to  say,  at  the  Court,  all 
things  reverted  again  to  their  former  condition,  only  with  this 
difference,  that  instead  of  the  overbearing  and  hated  Rodriguez, 
the  quiet  and  mild  Miron  held  sway.  In  Coimbra,  on  the  con- 
trary, things  did  not  go  on  so  well,  notwithstanding  that  Father 
Godin  put  down,  with  much  strictness,  the  external  scandalous 
condition  of  the  college.  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  had, 
indeed,  far  too  long  observed  the  dissolute  manner  of  life  and 
conduct  of  the  Jesuits,  and  were  too  full  of  contempt  at 
their  immorality  to  have  any  belief  in  any  such  sudden  change 
in  their  demeanour.  They  felt  inclined,  rather,  to  look  upon  all 
this  as  nothing  else  than  pure  dissimulation,  and  the  people, 
for  the  most  part,  contented  themselves  with  casting  ridicule 
upon  the  Long  Cloaks,  by  greeting  them  openly  with  satirical 
songs.  It  followed,  therefore,  that  if  the  old  consideration  for 
them  was  to  be  established,  some  great  and  striking  efi'ect  must 
be  produced,  by  bringing  on  the  scene  some  kind  of  heart-stirring 
theatrical  thunderbolt;  and  this  coup  was  actually  carried  out. 
One  fine  morning,  at  some  quite  unusual  hour,  all  the  bells  of 
the  Jesuit  church  pealed  forth  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  and 
a  moment  afterwards  the  chief  door  of  the  church  was  thrown 
open  to  exhibit  the  most  extraordinary  procession  that  ever  waa 


THE   POWERFUL   ll^FLÜENCE   Ot   THE   JESUITS.      l71 

witnessed.  First  of  all,  there  advanced  a  true  Goliath,  bearing 
a  gigantic  representation  of  the  crucified  Christ;  then,  after  him, 
came  Father  Godin,  not  attired,  however,  in  his  usual  dress,  but 
naked  as  far  as  the  waist,  and  armed  with  a  weighty  scourge ; 
behind  him  followed  the  whole  of  the  novices  in  a  similar  attire, 
and  then  came  the  lay  brethren,  also,  of  course  like  those  pre- 
ceding ;  the  close  of  the  procession  was  brought  up  by  the  teachers 
and  coadjutors;  and  all,  as  they  slowly  proceeded  onwards  with 
downcast  looks,  sang  a  penitential  psalm  in  a  monotonous  tone, 
which  sounded  extraordinarily  mournful  and  melancholy.  At 
every  cross  road  and  open  place  they  made  a  halt,  singing  in  the 
most  doleful  manner  as  hitherto,  and  causing,  in  addition  to 
this,  the  scourges  to  hiss  through  the  air,  while  they  punished 
themselves  with  them  in  the  most  unmerciful  way.  The  blood 
then  soon  began  to  fiow  from  their  naked  shoulders,  and  the 
people,  who  streamed  i  n  crowds  in  order  to  witness  this  extraordinary 
scene,  were  naturally  much  affected.  The  Jesuits,  however,  with 
their  pupils,  cried  aloud,  while  imploringly  wringing  their  hands, 
*'  Ye  men  of  Coimbra,  forgive  us,  for  Christ's  sake,  the  scandal 
which  our  Society  has  brought  upon  us  !  "  In  this  manner  did 
the  procession  move  further  and  further,  until  it  reached  the 
Church  of  Charity,  when  Father  Godin  ascended  the  pulpit  and 
delivered  a  discourse  of  such  extraordinary  contrition  that  all  the 
audience,  which  was  so  numerous  that  the  church  was  as  full  as 
it  could  be,  fell  upon  their  knees  and,  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
shrieked  out  aloud,  '*  Charity,  Charity,  Charity  !  "  What,  then, 
was  the  efiect  of  all  this  marvellous  play  ?  Naturally,  of  course, 
no  other  than  this,  that  the  people  of  Coimbra  again  received 
the  Jesuits  into  favour ;  but  to  the  educated  and  enlightened 
among  them  the  whole  afi'air  appeared  nothing  else  than  a 
theatrical  display ;  still,  the  mob  entertained  a  different  opinion, 
and  especially  the  women,  looking  upon  the  penitents  as  in  some 
degree  holy. 

When  now,  in  the  year  löö7.  King  John  died,  he  left 
behind  him  a  widow,  the  Queen  Catherine,  sister  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,as  well  as  a  grandson  of  three  years  of  age,  Sebastian, 
son  of  the  deceased  Infant  John,  the  successor  to  the  throne, 
and  a  second  son,  the  Cardinal  Henri.  Queen  Catherine  became 
guardian  of  the  young  Sebastian,  and  at  the  same  time  Kegeut 
of  Portugal.     She  did  not,  however,  reign  alone,  being  in  the 


172 


HISTOBT   OF   THE   J£SUITd. 


hands  of  the  Father  Confessor  Michael  de  Torres,  and  Leon 
Henriquez,  Father  Confessor  of  Cardinal  Henri.  These  two 
gave  to  the  heir  to  the  throne,  with  his  brother,  their  sagacious 
companion,  Louis  Gonsalva  de  Camara,  as  Court  Chamberlain 
and  tutor.  Now  commenced  the  worst  days  for  Portugal,  as 
from  this  time  forth  the  Jesuits  completely  ruled  the  country, 
as  uncontrolled  as  if  they  had  been  the  rightful  possessors 
thereof.  The  Queen  certainly,  on  one  occasion,  ventured  to 
assert  her  authority,  and  in  her  excitement  she  actually  wrote 
to  Borgia,  the  then  General  of  the  Order,  bitterly  complaining 
of  Father  Gonsalva  and  his  mode  of  education j — 

"  He  imparts  to  his  pupil,  the  future  King,  wild  and  volup- 
tuous habits,"  said  she  in  this  epistle,  among  other  things,  '*  and 
teaches  him  to  despise  and  maltreat  his  grandmother.  Especially 
he  does  not  educate  him  as  a  future  ruler  ought  properly  to 
be  instructed ;  but  he  brings  him  up  to  be  an  instrument  in  his 
Father  Confessor's  hands,  without  any  will  of  his  own,  and  fills 
his  head  with  phantastical  images,  by  which  the  development 
of  his  understanding  will  be  totally  prevented." 

What,  now,  was  the  effect  of  this  letter  ?  The  removal,  per- 
haps, of  Gonsalva?  Oh,  nothing  of  the  kind,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  removal  of  the  Queen  Kegent.  The  Jesuits 
and  their  creatures,  among  whom  was  the  Minister  and  other 
high  officials  about  the  Court,  from  this  time  forth  spited 
the  poor  lady  in  every  way  in  which  they  possibly  could  do 
so,  affirming  that  the  government  of  a  woman  was  not  at  all 
suitable  for  such  a  state  as  Portugal ;  and  they  carried,  indeed, 
this  kind  of  thing  so  far  as  to  render  her  existence  miserable 
for  her.  On  that  account,  and  in  order  that  she  might  obtain 
peace  and  quiet,  the  poor  woman,  at  length,4in  the  year  iöÜ*Z, 
gave  up  her  guardianship  and  government,  and  handed  it  over, 
before  the  assembled  Parliament,  into  the  hands  of  the  Cardinal 
Infant  Don  Henri.  He,  however,  being  satisfied  with  the  honour 
of  being  called  Begent,  just  allowed  the  pious  Fathers  to  do  as 
they  liked ;  and  if  he  at  any  time  felt  inclined  to  take  the  initiative, 
and  to  act  for  himself,  he  was  the  very  next  moment  pounced 
upon  and  brought  under  the  inffuence  and  dominion  of  his  Father 
Confessor. 

The  Jesuitical  power  rose  still  higher,  if  it  were  possible  for 
it  to  do  80^  wheD|  in  I5t>8^  the  young  Sebastian,  now  in  his 


THE   POWEBPUL   INFLUENCE   OF  THE   JESUITS.      173 

fourteenth  year,  was  declared  to  be  of  age  (as  the  understand- 
ings of  kings  nre  believed  to  be  in  advance  of  their  years,  at  a 
period  when  other  people's  children  are  still  engaged  at  school). 
The  young  man,  as  may  easily  be  imagined,  being  brought  up  by 
the  Jesuits,  was  not  capable  of  thinking  otherwise  than  what  he 
had  been  taught  to  think  by  the  pious  Fathers.     Day  by  day 
Gonsalva  de  Camara  instilled  into  him  that  the  first  duty  of  a 
Christian  King  was  to  do  everything  to  further  the  spread  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  as  God  had  set  him  on  the  throne  for 
this  object  alone;   and  while  Sebastian  was  naturally  of  a  fiery 
and  vehement  disposition,  thirsting  after  glory,  it  was  an  easy 
matter,  consequently,  to  make  him  take  up  the  idea  that  he  had 
been  specially  called  upon  to  effect  some  great  and  extraordinary, 
as  well  as  unprecedented,  undertaking  for  the  Catholic  faith. 
Gonsalva,  indeed,  gave  himself  no  rest  until  he  had  aroused 
the  piety  of  his  pupil  to  a  high  degree  of  fanaticism,   and  his 
heroic  spirit  to  the  adventuresomeness  of  a  crusader.  The  Father 
Confessor  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  neglect  to  take  the  pre- 
caution to  keep  at  a  distance  from  the  King  everyone  who  might 
be  able  to  operate  upon. him  in  a  contrary  direction,  and,  from 
the  period  of  Sebastian's  accession  to  the  throne,  all  important 
places  aboiit  the  Court,   and   connected  with  the  Government, 
were  filled  with  creatures  of  the  Jesuits.     In  this  way,  the  young 
ruler  was  kept  in  ignorance  as  regards  the  riches  and  power  of 
the  State  which  he  governed ;  he  was  quite  unaware  of  the  fact 
that,  since  the  entrance  of  the  Jesuits  into  Portugal,  all  advance- 
ment made  by  the  nation,  either  in  science,   commerce,  or  in- 
dustry, had  been  backwards,  like  that  of  a  crab,  or,  at  least,  that 
it  threatened  to  fall  into  a  couditi'on  of  stagnation ;  he  was  ignorant 
of  the  daily  increase  in  the  number  of  malcontents,  and  of  the 
fact  that   this  highly-esteemed  people  entertained    the  idea  of 
completely  depriving  him  of  all  honour  and  consideration  ;  and 
least  of  all  did  he  know  anything  as  to  the  Jesuits  being  entirely 
to  blame  for  all  the  misery  into  which  the  country,  from  their 
bad  management,  had  fallen ;  and  he  could  not  possibly  learn 
this,  as  anyone  who  might  make  the  most  remote  attempt  to 
enlighten  the  King  knew  well  that  he  must  render  expiation 
severely,   both   in   soul   and   body,  for  so   doing.     Nor  would 
the  Jesuits,  indeed,  allow  him  to  enter  into  the  marriage  state, 
although  the  interests  of  the  nation  demanded  this  of  him,  seeing 


174 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


M 


that  on  the  decease  of  his  uncle  Henri  the  male  line  of  his  house 
would  expire.  No,  this  must  not  he,  hy  any  means  ;  for  a  young 
and  heautiful  Queen  might  have  sufficient  influence  over  him  to 
burst  the  bonds  of  slavery  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  Fathers  * 
One  sees,  then,  with  what  system  the  Jesuits  acted  in  Portugal, 
in  order  that  the  weapon  of  power  should  never  be  wrested  out 
of  their  hands.  At  last,  Gonsalva  de  Camara,  the  all-powerful 
Father  Confessor  of  Sebastian,  died,  and  not  a  few  now  believed 
that  this  circumstance  might  possibly  give  rise  to  a  change  in 
the  system  of  government;  but  they  were  entirely  mistaken.  The 
King  at  first  felt  deeply  distressed,  and,  in  reply  to  all  repre- 
sentations, met  them  only  with  these  words,  "  What  would  you 
require  of  me?  I  have  never  known  another  father,  and  never 
had  another  mother,  than  Father  Gonsalva."  By  degrees,  how- 
ever, his  distress  became  blunted  by  means  of  the  consoling 
administrations  of  another  Jesuit,  Father  Gaspar  Muricio,  who 
soon  obtained  the  head  and  mind  of  the  King  fully  as  much  in 
his  power  as  it  ever  was  in  that  of  Gonsalva.  Shortly  after 
this,  in  the  year  1577,  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  the 
Mohamedan  Empire  of  Morocco  opposite  to  it,  in  which 
Mulei-Moloch,  and  his  nephew,  Mulei-Mehemed,  who  had  both 
a  claim  to  the  throne,  were  opposed  to  each  other  Mulei- 
Mehemed  was  vanquished,  and  fled  to  Lisbon  to  solicit  the  pro- 
tection of  Sebastian  ;  but  the  new  Father  Confessor  now  taught 
him  that,  in  this  circumstance,  lay  a  manifestation  of  God's  will, 
tending  to  the  transplantation  of  the  gospel  into  the  soil  of 
Africa.  "  The  Moors,"  said  the  Confessor,  once  came  over  from 
Africa  and  turned  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  peninsula  into  a 
Mahomedan  empire ;  the  hour  of  retribution  has  now  arrived, 
and  it  was  he,  Don  Sebastian,  that  was  the  fortunate  person 
whom  the  Lord  Jesus  had  selected  to  eradicate  the  Moors 
entirely  from  the  face  of  the  earth."  These  words  inflamed  the 
fiery  heart  of  the  King,  and  he  at  once  determined  upon  waging 

#^^^^  '^^*'*®  ""^  *?®  S*"^*^  Family,  the  Privy  Council,  the  great  ones 
of  the  kingdom,  and  all  its  subjects,  urged  that  the  King  should  con- 
tract  a  marriage,  m  order  that  an  heir  to  the  throne  might  be  secured ; 
indeed  the  Prmcess  Margaret  of  France,  sister  of  Charles  IX.,  was 
selected.  But  the  Jesuits  moved  heaven  and  earth  to  prevent  such  a 
thing;  and  they  succeeded— although,  indeed,  by  sly  calumniation.  In  a 
precisely  similar  manner  they  contrived  to  cause  a  proposed  union  with  an 
Austrian  princess  to  faü,  as  they  wished  that  the  heart  of  their  slave  should 
remain  undivided.  ous^uxx* 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESXHTS.      176 

war  upon  Mulei-Moloch.     This,  indeed,  was  the  moment  for  the 
Jesuits  inwardly  to  rejoice,  as  now,  when  the  monarch  took  his 
departure  for  a  foreign  country,  they  might  have  the  opportunity 
of  carrying  out  their  own  arrangements  and  operations  all  the 
more  unimpeded;  for  while  he  was  taken  up  with  the  idea  of  this 
crusade,  he  would  have  no  time  to  think  about  the  melancholy 
condition  of  his  own  kingdom.     It  may  be  quite  certain,  too, 
that  they  had  good  grounds  for  encouraging  the  resolution  that 
the  monarch  had  formed,  seeing  that  they  allowed  their  thoughts  to 
go  further,  calling  to  mindthe  mortality  of  human  life.     Should, 
for  instance,  during  the  campaign,  an  enemy's  arrow  deprive  him 
of  existence,  the  old  original  royal  family  of  Portugal  would 
have  died  out  with  him,  and  the  succession  would  open  up  to 
Phillip  II.   of  Spain,  the  great  patron    and  supporter  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus ;  in  this  way,  another  corner-stone  would  be 
added  to  the  establishment  of  a  universal  Spanish  monarchy, 
which  would  bring  about  all  the  more  surely  the  gigantic  aim  of 
the  Society— the  mastery  over  the  whole  world.     Let  that,  how- 
ever, be  as  it  mav,  Sebastian,  through  the  constant  instigations 
of   the   Jesuits,  'remained   firmly  resolved  to  make  an  end  of 
Mahomedanism   in  North  Africa,  and,  in  the  spring  of  1578, 
commenced  to  collect  together  an  army  with  this  object.     There 
existed   great  difficulties  connected  with  his    finances,  which, 
thanks  to  the  blundering  proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
were  at  that  time  completely  exhausted,  and  it  could  only  be 
through  the  severest  extortion,  which  would  have  the  effect  of 
entirely  destroying  the  well-being  of  his  kingdom,  that  he  would 
be  enabled  to  raise  the  amount  necessary  for  the  purpose.     In 
regard  to  this,  the  greatest  men  of  the  country  now  offered  the 
most  strenuous  representations,  in  order  to  divert  him  from  such 
a  foolish  enterprise,  which    must  of  necessity  end  in  failure ; 
the  King  of  Spain,  also,  whom  he  had  begged  to  share  with 
him  in  the  glory  of  the  undertaking,  had  sent  him  a  decided 
reply  in  the  negative.     All  this  was  to  no  purpose,  as  he  had 
got  into  his  head  the  idea  of  becoming  a  victorious  hero  of  the 
Faith,  and  consequently  a  small  army  of  about  15,000  men  was 
brought  together  about  June  of  the  above-named  year.     Fully 
a  good  third  of  the  same  consisted  of  foreign  recruits,  among 
whom,  most  marvellously,  were  a  number  of  German  heretics ; 
of  the  remaining  two-thirds,  however,  consisting  of  indigenous 


176 


HTSTOKY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


inhabitants,  the  most  of  them  were  obtained  by  compulsion,  and 
it  was  only  the  nobles  who  rendered  voluntary  service  ;  so,  there- 
fore, there  could  be  no  question  of  a  regularly  well-trained 
army  fit  to  enter  upon  war.  Taking  this  circumstance  into  con- 
sideration, and  the  small  number  of  combatants,  a  disastrous 
result  might  easily  be  predicted.  On  the  24th  of  June  1578,  the 
troops  embarked  in  thousands,  for  the  most  part  in  small  craft. 
The  departure,  however,  was  no  happy  one;  all  went  into  the 
ships  in  silence,  and  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  were  filled  with 
tears.  The  landing  took  place  at  Arzilla,  and  thence  the  army 
advanced  as  far  as  Alcazar  without  meeting  with  the  least 
resistance.  In  the  meantime,  Mulei-Moloch  had  brought  to- 
gether a  large  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  and  now,  on 
the  3rd  of  August,  he  was  only  separated  from  the  Portuguese 
by  a  river.  It  was,  no  doubt,  an  advantage  for  him,  too,  that 
he  was  posted  on  the  heights,  while,  moreover,  there  prevailed 
in  the  camp  of  Sebastian  much  want  of  provisions.  Those  who 
were  most  experienced  in  war  counselled  the  latter  to  retreat 
to  Arzilla,  and  even  Mulei-Mehemed,  the  Morocco  pretender, 
declared  himself  favourable  to  this  course ;  for,  in  the  worst  case, 
they  would  then  be  able  to  secure  their  safety  in  the  fleet.  The 
foolishly  adventurous  Sebastian,  however,  in  spile  of  everything, 
resolved  upon  making  an  attack  ;  and  now,  on  the  4th  of  August, 
took  plane  that  most  unfortunate  battle  the  disastrous  result  of 
which  brought  Portugal  to  the  very  brink  of  ruin.  In  a  short 
space  of  time  the  small  Christian  army  became  completely 
surrounded  by  large  hordes  of  Moorish  cavalry,  and,  in  con- 
sequence of  bad  war-organisation,  all  order  among  the  ranks 
was  entirely  at  an  end.  Each  one  fought,  as  it  might  be  said, 
"  on  his  own  hook,*'  and  although  some  struggled  valorously, 
an  inglorious  death  awaited  them  in  the  general  confusion.  The 
right  wing,  to  which  Don  Sebastian  had  attached  himself,  held 
out  the  longest,  and  it  was  really  marvellous  to  behold  such 
strength  and  courage.  But  at  length,  here  also,  the  enemy 
obtained  the  upper  hand,  and  death  gained  a  rich  harvest.  With 
rash  temerity  the  Christian  monarch  held  out,  in  the  midst  of 
•a  large  troop  of  Moorish  cavalry,  until  at  length  he  succumbed, 
pierced  by  a  hundred  lances.  How  it  precisely  ended,  however, 
was  never  exactly  known,  as  there  was  no  witness  of  his  death 
among  his  own  people,  and  his  corpse  was  not  to  be  found  on 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      177 

the  field  of  battle.     The  fact  only  remained  that  he  had  for  ever 
disappeared,  and,  besides  himself,  as  certainly  the  whole  army 
lay  on  the  field  of  battle,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  hundreds 
who   were   taken   prisoners.     Thus,   in   one  single  battle,  was 
annihilated  all  the  bloom  of  the  Portuguese  youth,  and  more 
especially  of  the  Portuguese  nobility,  and  there  was  scarcely  a 
single  family  in  the  whole  country  which  was  not  thrown  into 
the  deepest  mourning.   The  greatest  grief,  however,  that  sprang 
out  of  this  sad  disaster  was  that  the  crown  of  Portugal  must 
now  fall  into  foreign  hands,  and  the  nation  incur  the  danger 
of  losing  its  nationality.     The  only  remaining  scion  of  the  old 
royal  house  was  the  aged  Cardinal  Don  Henri,  who  at  once 
ascended  the  throne  ;  but  in  his  case,  even  had  the  Pope  given 
him  a  dispensation  to  marry,  no  heirs  could  be  expected,  and, 
therefore,  after  his  accession,  there  arose  several  pretenders  to 
the  throne.     Among  these,  there  first  6f  all  appeared    Donna 
Catherina,  of  Braganza,  along  with  her  spouse,  John  ;  then  came 
Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy  ;  thirdly,  there  was  Rainuzius,  Pnnce 
of  Parma;  fourthly,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  Queen  of  France; 
lastly,  Philip  IT..  King  of  Spain,  and  all  of  these  five  proved 
from  their  genealogical  tree  that  they  were  more  or  less  related 
to   the   royal   house.     But   this,   too,  was   not   by  any  means 
sufficient,   for   all   of  them  seemed   bent   upon    gaining  their 
object,  each  one   of  them  assailing  the  venerable  Don  Henri 
in   order  to   secure   the   succession  to    the  throne.     The   one 
who   had   manifestly  the  nearest  title  was  Catherina  of   Bra- 
ganza,    as   she  was    lineally  descended    from  Alfonso  I     the 
founder  of  the  House  of  Braganza,  who  claimed  as  his  father 
the  celebrated  King  John  I.,  and  who  was  also  acknowledged  by 
the  latter  as  his  son,  although  not  a  legitimate  one.     There 
could   not,  also,  be  the  slightest  doubt  that   the   Portuguese 
people,  not  the  lower  classes  and  country  folk   alone,  but  also 
the  nobility  and  regular    clergy  as    well,*  had  no  desire    that 
their  future   ruler  should   be    any  foreign  pretender.     It  was 
moreover,  held  to  be  quite  clear  to  everyone  that  the  house  of 
Braganza,  which  belonged  to  the  country,  was  alone  entitled  to 
the  throne,  and  Don  Henri  himself,  it  was  well  seen,  was  also 
inclined  to  take  this  view  of  the  matter.      The  Jesuits,  how- 
ever,   held  an  entirely  diff'erent  opinion.      They  had  the  con- 
viction that  the  uncontrollable  stream  of  the  Reformation,  or 

12 


178 


HISTORY   OP   THE    JESUITS. 


i 


Pi 


heresy,  as  they  termed  it,  along  with  its  detestahle  innovations, 
could  have  no  more  lasting  and  invincihle  check  put  upon  it 
than  when  the  already  powerful  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  grandson  of 
the  Hapshurger  Philip  I.,  who  had  obtained  the  throne  of  Spain 
by  marriage  with  Johanna  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  should  become 
sole  ruler  over  the  whole  of  Christendom  ;  thev  desired,  in  other 
words,  that  one  universal  monarcbv  should  be  founded,  tbe  chiefs 
of  which  should  be  the  kings  of  Spain  and  their  cousins  the 
rulers  of  the  Austrian  possessions.  So,  on  that  account,  they  left 
no  stone  unturned  in  order  to  create  this  universal  monarchy  ; 
always,  however,  with  this  proviso,  "  that  those  kings  and  rulers 
should  allow  themselves  to  be  guided  by  them  (the  Jesuits),  and 
that,  consequently,  the  supreme  direction  of  this  monarchy  of 
the  world  should  fall  into  no  other  hands  than  their  own. "  Such 
was  the  main  thought  by  which  they  were  influenced,  and,  resting 
upon  this  idea,  they  most  naturally  devoted  their  whole  energies 
to  bring  it  about  that  Philip  II.  should  be  successor  to  Don 
Henri  on  the  Portuguese  throne,  seeing  that  the  annexation  of 
Portugal  was  still  a  step  onward  toward  the  realisation  of  the 
design  of  this  universal  Spanish  monarchy. 

What  a  lucky  circumstance,  then,  was  it  that  Don  Henri 
happened  to  be  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his  Father  Confessor, 
Leon  Henriquez,  and  what  a  further  piece  of  good  fortune  was 
it  that  this  Father  Confessor  happened  to  be  among  the  most 
cunning  and  sagacious  of  his  Order !  How  easily,  then,  was 
the  reigning  monarch,  imbecile  from  old  age,  persuaded  that  the 
gates  of  heaven  should  be  closed  against  him  for  ever  were  he 
to  declare  any  other  than  the  good  Catholic  Philip  II.  to  be 
successor  to  the  Portuguese  crown !  He  was  also  further  in- 
fluenced so  far  as  to  prohibit  John  of  Braganza,  with  his  spouse 
Catherina,  and  their  cousin  Don  Anton  of  Braganza,  from 
appearing  at  Court,  hoping  by  this  maans  to  take  away  from  them, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  all  rightful  expectancy  of  succession  to 
the  throne.  Leon  Henriquez,  as  it  may  be  imagined,  was  not 
the  only  one  connected  with  this  intrigue ;  he  was,  besides, 
excellently  supported  by  his  numerous  other  fellow-brethren, 
and  more  especially  by  the  extremely  influential  Father,  George 
Serraon,  the  Provincial  of  the  Order  in  Portugal,  as  well 
as  by  the  two  Fathers,  Rodrigo  Basquez  and  Ludovico  of 
Molino,   two   most   thoroughly  experienced  Jesuits,   who  had 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      179 

been  sent  expressly  to  Lisbon  by  Philip  II.  to  look  after  his 
interests. 

King  Don  Henri  died  on  the  31st  of  January  1580,  being  the 
last  of  his  House.  During  the  year  and  a  half  of  his  govern- 
ment he  was  completely  under  the  uncontrolled  power  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  now  the  question  came  to  be  considered 
who  should  be  the  heir  to  the  throne ;  but  scarcely  was  the 
breath  out  of  Don  Henri's  body  when  Philip  II.  sent  the  blood- 
thirsty Duke  of  Alba  to  Portugal,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous 
army,  in  order,  with  weapons  in  his  hand,  to  prove  the  legiti- 
macy of  his  claim  to  the  throne.  The  nobility,  together  with 
nearly  all  the  regular  clergy,  now  raised  their  voices  in  favour  of 
the  House  of  Braganza,  and  the  people  cried  loudly  against 
this  forcible  usurpation,  vehemently  cursing  all  the  Jesuits. 
But  still,  what  did  that  matter  ?  What  did  it  signify  that  here 
and  there  the  Spanish  arms  were  also  opposed  by  arms  ?  The 
only  result  was  that  the  refractory  towns  were  pillaged,  and  that 
the  whole  of  the  country  was  handed  over  to  the  brutality  and 
cruelty  of  the  Spanish  soldiery,  upwards  of  two  thousand  of  the 
native  priesthood  and  monkish  orders  being  ruthlessly  massacred.* 
This  was  the  way  in  which  Philip  II.  pacified  the  country,  and 
on  the  1 1th  of  September  1580  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  being 
able  to  put  himself  upon  the  throne  of  Portugal  without 
experiencing  further  resistance.  Portugal  now  remained,  during 
eighty  years,  subject  to  the  Spanish  crown,  and  was  treated 
precisely  like  a  conquered  province,  the  result  being  that  the 
country  fell  more  and  more  every  year  into  decay,  and  one  may 
well  imagine  the  despair  into  which  the  Portuguese,  in  their 
misery,  were  thrown.   When,  however,  the  whole  of  this  formerly 

*  "  One  could  not,"  writes  the  good  Catholic,  Louis  de  Menezes,  "  once 
speak  of  the  new  Government  and  escape  unpunished ;  but  whoever  was 
not  of  assistance  to  the  king  (Philip  II.)  when  he  usurped  the  kingdom,  had 
to  expiate  this  want  of  service  with  his  life,  and  even  the  priesthood  was 
not  by  any  means  excepted."  On  the  other  hand,  whoever  made  it  appear 
that  he  viewed  tyranny  with  disfavour,  and  even  when  there  was  a  mere 
suspicion  attaching  to  him  in  this  respect,  he  was  secretly  and  unexpectedly 
seized  upon  and  thrown  into  the  sea.  Therefore,  the  fishermen  began  to 
catch  the  dead  bodies  of  those  unfortunates  in  their  nets  in  place  of  fish  ; 
and  thus  it  was  that  such  enormous  misdeeds,  by  the  destiny  of  Providence, 
were  not  allowed  to  remain  in  darkness.  Precisely  the  same  things  were 
reported  also  by  the  Frenchman  Mezeray,  and  the  Spaniard  Emanuel 
Eodriguez  Leitaon,  as  also  by  the  thoroughly  trustworthy  Thuan,  the  latter 
of  whom  still  added  that  Philip,  later  on,  demanded  and  obtained  dispensa- 
tion from  Pope  Gregory  XIII.,  inasmuch  as  during  his  usurpation  of 
Portugal,  he  had  allowed  over  2,000  ecclesiastics  to  be  executed. 

12  • 


M 


180 


HISTOET  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


iMi 


well-to-do  population  had  now  been  brought  to  ruin  through 
the  indolent  and  incapable  government  of  the  Spaniards,  as  well 
still  more  by  their  avarice  and  cruelty,  the  ship  of  the  Jesuits 
seemed  to  swim  all  the  more  merrily  on  that  account,  and  all 
the  more  did  Philip  II.  (1556-98),  as  well  as  his    successor 
Philip  III.  (1598-1621),  continue  to  shower  down  favours  upon 
them.     It  may,  indeed,  be  affirmed  that  it  fared  equally  and 
powerfully  as  well  under  these  two  rulers   and  their  governors 
as  it  had  under,  the   preceding  Portuguese  kings;    and   how 
immensely  great  this  power  must  have  been  may  best  be  seen 
from  a  memorandum   of  the   Procurator- General   Royal,  Don 
Seabra  da  Sylva,  who,  under  Joseph  I.,  had  to  examine  the  acts 
of  the  Jesuits.     To  wit,  on  the  occasion  of  a  trial  which  had 
been  instituted  in  the  year  1617,  before  the  Crown  Law  Court 
in    Lisbon,  in   which   the   Jesuits   appeared   as  the  party   ac- 
cused, the  aforesaid  Procurator-General  entered  the  following 
remarks  concerning  them  : — "  It  had  gone  so  far  as  this,  that  no 
one  dare  venture  to  proceed  against  the  Jesuits  in  an  allowable 
way,  without  being  thrown  into  the  sea,  assassinated,  or,  indeed, 
punished  as  an  enemy  of  the  King  and  the  Government,  -and, 
this   beiner  the  case,  they   had  indeed  usurped  the  sole  lord- 
ship over  the  whole  of  Portugal."     Such  a  statement  as  this 
appears  to  me  to  be  sufficiently  plain,  and  I  have,  therefore, 
nothing  more  to  add  to  it.     Somewhat  differently  did  things 
proceed  under  King  Philip  IV.  (1621-65),  as,  during  the  reign 
of  this  equally  weak  as  extravagant  ruler,  the  power  of  Spain 
sank  so  low  that  the  Jesuits  became  clearly  aware  how  impossible 
it  was  to  found  the  projected  universal  monarchy  by  means  of 
this  line  of  rulers ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  great  lead 
which  they  had  hitherto  taken  in  Spain  began  to  cool  down 
considerably.     And  still  more  despondent  did  they  become  when 
they  observed,  to  their  great  annoyance,  according  to  the  words 
of  an  historian  of  these  times,  "  that  the  sun  of  royal  favour 
had  not  infrequently  become  obscured  to  the  good  Fathers,  in 
order  that  it  might  be  allowed  to  shed  its  delightful  rays  upon 
the  holy  Dominicus  and  his  children  ;"  and,  as  they  were  not 
wont  to  put  up  patiently  with  the  slightest  affront  or  neglect, 
they  at  once  contemplated  revenge.     This,  truly,  was  not  of 
such  a  nature  that  the  enemy  would  be  met  with  open  mask, 
but,  rather,  in  a  secret  and  disguised  manner,  the  authorship  of 


(THE    I»OWEBFÜL   tNFLÜEN(JE    Ol»   THß    JESUITS.      l8l 

which  might  be  publicly  denied,  as  there  was  far  too  much  at 
stake  to  enable  them  boldly  to  oppose  Philip  IV.  before  all  the 
world.  In  what,  then,  did  this  revenge,  consist?  Simply 
in  this,  that  they  attacked  the  despotism  of  the  Spaniards  in 
anonymous  publications  of  the  most  violent  character,  and  at 
the  same  time  in  the  confessional,  assuring  the  Portuguese  that 
King  Philip  IV.  had  no  right  to  the  crown  of  Portugal,  but  that 
it  belonged  properly  to  the  House  of  Braganza.  By  means  of 
such  and  similar  machinations  they  succeeded  in  attaining  two 
objects  at  the  same  time ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  while  at  the 
Court  of  Madrid  they  loudly  professed  that  everything  was  done 
on  their  part  in  order  that  the  people  in  Portugal  should  be 
brought  into  submissiveness  to  Spain,  they  secretly  fanned 
into  constantly  increasing  flames  the  smouldering  ashes  of  the 
fire  of  hatred  which  the  Portuguese  entertained  towards  the 
Spaniards ;  and  then,  secondly,  the  Portuguese  people  were  led 
to  begin  to  put  in  play  the  treachery  which  had  been  practised 
by  the  fraternity  io  former  times  in  favour  of  Philip  II.  On  the 
1st  December  1640,  the  conspiracy,  arranged  with  much  adroit- 
ness, and  carried  out  with  equal  skill  by  the  Portuguese  grandees, 
broke  out,  which  was  to  put  on  the  Portuguese  throne  John, 
Duke  of  Braganza,  a  direct  descendant  of  the  frequently  above- 
mentioned  Donna  Catherina  of  Braganza,  under  the  title  of 
John  IV.  ;*  so  it  happened  that  the  Jesuit  Father,  Gaspar 
Correa,  was  the  first  to  greet  him  as  King.  John  IV.  was  con- 
sequently bound  to  remember  what  a  leading  part  the  Jesuits 
had  taken  in  this  revolution,  and  the  weak  and  timid  monarch 
bore  this  in  mind  but  too  well,  for  he  at  once  dismissed  the 
regular  priest,  Barthelemy  de  Quental,  who  had  up  to  this  time 
been  his  Father  Confessor,  and  nominated  in  his  place  the  Jesuit 
Father  Anton  de  Bieira,  who  had  exercised  great  influence  over 
the  inhabitants  of  Lisbon  by  his  fanatical  preaching.  As  soon, 
however,  as  Bieira  had  become  Royal  Father  Confessor,  he 
discontinued  preaching,  and  made  himself  indispensable  to  his  . 
master  as  political  counsellor.  First  of  all,  he  busied  himself  in 
procuring  the  removal  of  the  State  Minister,  Fraz  Lucena,  an 
enemy  of  the  Order,  and  had  no  scruple,  by  means  of  the 
blackest  calumnies,  in  committing  to  the  scaffold  this  honest  map. 

*  The  details  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  subsequent  war  with  Spain,  ma 
be  read,  if  desired,  in  any  general  history  of  the  world. 


i 


M 


HlStOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


iil 


■t'  ! 


He  next  contrived  to  carry  things  so  far  that  the  monarch 
entrusted  to  him  for  supervision  all  the  resolutions  of  the  Privy 
Council,  and,  consequently,  although  Bieira  had  not  the  title 
of  Premier,  still  the  Ministry  was  in  fact  subject  to  his  criticism 
and  authority.  Lastly,  the  confidence  of  John  IV.  increased  in 
him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  despatched  with  ambassadorial 
messages  to  several  of  the  Courts  of  Europe,  and  the  cunning 
Jesuit  acted  at  the  same  time  as  Koyal  Plenipotentiary.  The 
Society  of  Jesus  was  in  reality,  then,  more  than  ever  the  actual 
ruler  of  Portugal,  and  consequently,  in  order  that  this  should 
continue  to  be  the  case,  the  education  of  the  royal  princes 
was  entrusted  to  the  two  Fathers,  Cossmander  and  Andre 
Fernandez.  These  persons  naturally,  devoted  themselves  with 
much  zeal  to  their  task,  and  while  they  rather  neglected  the 
two  younger  children,  the  second  and  third  born  sons,  viz.  Don 
Alfonso  and  Don  Pedro,  they  succeeded,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
bringing  up  the  Crown  Prince,  Theodosius,  in  the  right  way, 
that  is  to  say,  in  making  him  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  purest 
water.  The  Jesuit  Father  Franco  thus  wrote,  in  the  annals  of  the 
Order  which  he  published,  concerning  this  matter:  *'  No  son  can 
cling  more  closely  to  his  mother  than  Don  Theodosius  to  his  tutor 
Fernandez,  and  this  prince  entertained  such  a  predilection  for 
our  Order  that  the  coat  alone  was  wanting  to  make  him  one  of 
ourselves."  In  all  other  respects,  the  Crown  Prince  remained  in 
profound  ignorance,  with  the  exception  of  astrology  and  mystic- 
ism ;  and  had  he  ever  lived  to  attain  the  throne,  he  would  have 
been  truly  a  most  peculiar  monarch.  What  was,  now,  the  object 
of  all  this  ?  The  great  aim  was  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  might 
retain  their  rule  over  Portugal,  irrespective,  be  it  well  under- 
stood, of  the  welfare  of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants. 

In  the  year  1656  John  IV.  departed  this  life,  and  immediately 
thereafter  died  also  the  Crown  Prince  Theodosius,  so  that  the 
neglected  Alfonso  came  now  to  the  throne ;  being,  however, 
under  age,  the  widowed  Queen,  Donna  Louisa,  a  born  Guzman 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  undertook  his  guardianship,  as  well  as  the 
government,  and  certainly,  under  this  regency,  the  Jesuit  Fathers 
bad  also  no  reason  to  complain.  Female  monarchy  was,  as 
history  testifies,  always  favourable  to  the  priesthood,  and  the 
rule  of  Donna  Louisa  proved  to  be  fully  so.  She  previously  had 
lox  Father  Conlessor  a  Capuchin  monk  j  as,  however,  the  above- 


THE    POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF    THhl    JESUITS.      18a 

mentioned  Anton  de  Bieira  had  already,  during  the  lifetime  of 
her  husband,  called  the  Jesuit  Father  Johann  Nunnez  to  the 
Court,  she  would  not  hear  any  more  of  any  other  ecclesiastic, 
but  confided  the  welfare  of  her  soul  to  the  latter  only.  Ah  !  he 
indeed,  was  a  real  saint.  He  lacerated  himself  so  cruelly,  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  Court  ladies,  that  the  blood  ran  in  streams  from 
his  bare  back ;  and,  besides  this,  who  could  pray  so  earnestly 
with  his  confessants  as  Nunnez  ?  The  new  Father  Confessor 
thus  soon  became  all-powerful,  and  things  were  carried  so  far 
under  his  rule  and  governance  that  hardly  any  single  situation 
in  the  whole  country  was  to  be  obtained  except  through  the 
intercession  of  the  Jesuits.  They  formed,  indeed,  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  end,  to  gain  all  favour,  and  in  order  to 
avoid  getting  into  disgrace  everyone  worshipped  them  without  mea- 
sure. In  short,  all  people  bowed  slavishly  in  the  dust  before  them, 
"  the  Apostles,'*  as  they  were  designated  ;  and  the  proof  of  this 
was  that  when  Nunnez  came  to  die,  of  course  under  the  odour  of 
sanctity,  he  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the  first  nobility  of 
the  land  into  the  funereal  vault,  where  he  was  interred  with 
princely  splendour.  The  guardianship  and  government  of  Donna 
Louisa  was  now  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuitical  fraternity. 
A  severe  blow  to  the  Order  was,  however,  threatened  as  soon  as 
the  heir  to  the  throne  became  of  age,  and  ascended  it  under  the 
title  of  Alfonso  VI.  This  young  prince  had  felt  himself  kept 
very  much  in  the  background  as  long  as  his  brother  Theodosius 
lived,  and  on  that  account  was  led  to  take  a  thorough  hatred 
to  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  And  this  dislike  became  intensified  by 
the  bigotry  and  self-torture  which  were  introduced  at  Court  by 
Father  Nunnez,  there  being  every  reason  to  entertain  the  opinion 
that  the  holy  Father  must  be  a  complete  hypocrite,  an  opinion 
which  the  prince  held,  and  which  he  did  not  at  all  attempt 
to  conceal.  Indeed,  he  had,  moreover,  the  courage,  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  to  take  a  Benedictine  monk  as  his  Father  Con- 
fessor instead  of  a  Jesuit,  and  expressed  himself,  in  fact,  quite 
opeuly,  to  the  efiect  that  his  future  ministry  should  be  of  a  very 
different  character  from  the  present  body.  In  all  this  lay  great 
danger  for  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  it  may  be  well  imagined  that 
the  holy  Fathers  looked  to  the  future  by  no  means  without 
anxiety.  Alfonso,  however,  fortunately  for  them,  did  not  by 
any  means  possess  that  strength  of  mind,  and  sLill  less  that 


<»l 


184 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUlTä. 


dDHE   l>OWEBrüL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      185 


energy  of  will,  which  were  necessary  for  the  carrying  out  of  the 
project  he  had  in  view.    Whence  then,  too,  could  he  take  the 
necessary  men  of  enlightened  views  and  free  thought  for  his 
protection,  as  throughout  the  whole  of  Portugal  there  were  no  • 
persons  of  culture  among  the  higher  classes  of  society  who  had 
not  derived  their  education  from  the  Jesuits  ?     Certainly,  then, 
those  good  Fathers  had  no  occasion   to  entertain  such  great 
anxiety,  and  they  themselves,  indeed,  said  as  much.     In  order, 
however,  to  he  prepared  for  all  eventualities,  they  determined  to 
nip  in  the  hud  any  attempt  of  the  prince  to  free  himself  from 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  by  not  allowing  the  youth,  in  fact,  ever  to 
assume  the  reins  of  government.      With  this  object  in  view, 
therefore,  they  spread  about  all  over  the  country  reports  regard- 
ing his  manner  of  life,  which  they  represented  as  so  unbridled 
that  he  had  ruined  himself  both  in  body  and  soul ;  in  order, 
also,  to  insult  him  and  make  him  appear  despicable   both  in 
the  eyes  of  the  common  people  as  well  as  of  the  nobility,  they 
arranged  that  prayers  should  be  oflPered  up  publicly  in  all  the 
churches  with    a  petition    for    his   recovery.      Later  on,  they 
procured,  by  bribery,  a  couple  of  physicians  to  declare  him  to 
be   half-witted,   and  so  worked  upon  the  Regent-mother  that, 
before  the  whole  of  the  assembled  grandees,  she  treated  her  son 
as  mentally  incapable.     Their  idea  was,  in  short,  to  make  the 
Portuguese  believe  that  Alfonso  was  unfit  to  govern,  hoping 
that    on    that  account,   he   would    resign   in    favour    of   his 
brother  Don  Pedro,  who  was  entirely  devoted  to  them.     This 
idea,  however,  was  only  half  of  what  they  desired  to  effect; 
and  in  order  not  to  spoil  their  previous  game  of  intrigue,  while 
taking  care  that  the   deeply   calumniated    prince    should   not, 
on  attaining  his  majority,  ascend  the  throne,  they  thought  it 
prudent  to  receive  with  smiling  and  agreeable  mien  the  proposal 
that  he  should  take  unto  himself  (in  the  year  1666)  a  suit- 
able spouse,  in  the  person,  namely,  of  Princess  Maria  Franciska 
Isabella  of  Savoy-Nemours.     Still,  even  this  last  act,  which  at 
first  appeared  to  them  particularly  dangerous,  turned  out  in  the 
end  to  be  entirely  in  their  favour,  and  speedily  brought  them 
unexpectedly  to  their  long-wished-for  aim.     The  young  Queen 
happened  to  be  of  a  very  warm  nature,  and  did  not,  by  any  ' 
means,  feel  disposed  to  remain  faithful  to  her  liege  lord.     So  she 
past   her  eyes  upon  the  handsome  and  finely- -formed,  though 


weakly   endowed,   younger  brother  of   the  King,   Don  Pedro. 
These  affections  did  not,  of  course,  long  remain  concealed  from 
her  Father  Confessor,  Francis  de  Ville,  whom  she  had  brought 
with  her,  and  he  communicated  these  matters  to  his  friend,  the 
Jesuit  Father  Verjus,  who  had  come  to  Lisbon  as  Father  Con- 
fessor of  the  Duke  d'Estrees,  the  companion  of  the  princess. 
These  two  crafty  Fathers  put  themselves  in  communication  with 
the  rest  of  the  Jesuit  party  at  the  Court,  and  such  a  black  plot 
was  now  soon  devised  for  the  removal  of  King  Alfonso  as  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  its  match  in  the  world— a  plan,  more- 
over, which  could  only  be  carried  out  with  the  connivance  of 
Donna  Maria  the  Queen,  and  her  brother-in-law  Don  Pedro. 
They  both,  indeed,  willingly  lent  their  assistance,  as  the  Queen 
thereby  might  attain  the  object  for  which  she  so  much  longed, 
and,   as   regards   Don   Pedro,   he    might    readily     venture   to 
commit   a   crime   in   order    to    gain   possession    of   a    crown. 
The  comedy  exploded  on  the  21st  of  November,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  which   day  the  Queen,   bursting  into   tears,    declared 
openly    that,    as   the    King    was    quite    unsuitable  as    a  hus- 
band,  she   must  consequently   take  refuge  in  a   convent,    for 
she   could   no  longer  submit  to  his  disgusting   society.     She, 
indeed,   forthwith   carried  her  intention  into  effect,  and    took 
flight,  accompanied  by  all  her  ladies,  in  order  to  betake  herself 
into  the  Franciscan  convent.     Here  she  was  again  seized  with 
a  violent  fit  of  sobbing,  while  at  the  same  time  repeating  her 
lamentations ;  and  the  Jesuits,  being  quickly  summoned,  made 
the  matter  their  own  business,  and  promulgated  the  grand  event 
of  the  day  with  unparalleled  assiduity  all  over  Lisbon.     This,  of 
course,  naturally  gave  rise  to  a  great  commotion,  and  everyone 
commenced  to  rush  about  the  streets,  either  into  their  neighbours' 
or  the  public-houses,  in  order  to  talk  over  the  scandalous  story. 
The  majority  of  the  people  took  the  Queen's  part,  for,  as  I  have 
already  mentioned,  the  Jesuits  long  before  had  thrown  contempt 
upon  the  King,  as  may  be  easily  imagined,  and  now  added  other 
reproaches  to  their  previous  calumnies»      Alfonso  in  vain  com* 
manded  his  spouse  to  return  to  the  palace,  on  the  affair,  so 
shameful  to  himself,  being  brought  to  his  notice.     She,  however, 
hesitated  to  comply,  and  he  in  vain  proposed  to  his  Council  of 
State,  which  he  had  at  once  assembled,  that  inquiry  should  be 
made  into  her  conduct.    Feelings  of  shame,  however,  forbade 


186 


iHSTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


this  being  done,  but  the  Queen  still  protested  that  the  King  was 
not  a   suitable  husband  for  her.     Driven    to  distraction,  the 
monarch  in  vain  endeavoured  to  carry  out  his  wishes  by  the 
employment  of  force.     Some  dozens  of  the  nobility,  sword  in 
hand,  now  furiously  penetrating  into  the  palace,  accompanied  by 
thousands  who  followed  them,  attracted  by  the  uproar,  shut  the 
King  up  in  his  cabinet,  and  after  bringing  forward  Don  Pedro 
in  triumph,  compelled  the  monarch  to  affix  his  signature  to  two 
documents,  in  one  of  which  he  solemnly  affirmed  that  his  spouse 
the  Queen  was  in  the  right,  whilst  in  the  other  he  "  from  his  own 
action,  in  virtue  of  his  own  unlimited  royal  power,  relinquished 
the  reins  of  government  in  favour  of  his  brother  Don  Pedro." 
What  now  followed  may  be  easily  imagined.     Don  Pedro  assem- 
bled the  Parliament  in  order  that  a  document,  drawn  up  by  the 
Jesuit  Father  Nuna  de  Cunha,  should  be  placed  before  them, 
detailing  the  motives  why  it  was  impossible  to  do  otherwise  than 
proceed  against  Don  Alfonso  VI. ;  and  the  assembled  Parliament, 
enUrely  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  decreed  the  deposition 
of  the  unfortunate  monarch,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  imbecile 
and  impotent. 

Don  Pedro  thereupon  ascended  the  throne,  with  the  title  of 
Pedro  II.,  and  after  Pope  Clement'  IX.  had  granted  the  neces- 
sary dispensation,  and  bestowed  his  blessing  on  the  new  marriage, 
shared  the  incestuous  marriage  bed  with  the  woman  who  had 
hitherto  been  his  sister.in-law;  poor  Alfonso,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  had   now    taken   the   place    of  brother-in-law   instead    of 
husband,  was  brought  first  of  all  to  Terceira,  and  next  to  Cintra, 
finally  dying  in  prison  on  the  12th  of  September  1683,  in  great 
misery.     What  were,  then,  the  privileges  which  the  Jesuits  now 
obtained,  under  a  king  who  had  alone  to  thank  them  for  placing 
him  upon  the  throne  ?   No  one  on  earth  could  have  the  slightest 
doubt ;  power  and  influence  especially  now  became  concentrated 
in  Father  Emanuel  Fernandez,  who  succeeded  to  the  office  of 
Father  Bieira,  the  former  Father  Confessor  of  Don  Pedro  pre- 
vious to  the  accession  of  the  latter  to  the  throne.     His  exalted 
patron  created  him  to  be  a  Privy  Councillor,  and,  later  on,  even 
President  of  his  Council  of  State,  so  that  all  transactions,  as 
well  as  all  nominations,  passed  through  his  hands.     The  war 
departmeiil  was  even  placed  under  him,  although  one  might  have 
thought  that  such  an  office  was  not  very  compntible  with  that  'f 


y^HE   POWEEFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      l87 

a  confessor  and  preacher ;  but  it  now  belonged  to  the  plan  of 
the  Jesuits   gradually   to   take   possession   of  all   the  highest 
tribunals,  in  order  that  they  might  be  enabled  to  rule  with  com- 
pletely unlimited  and  despotic  power.     In  short,  Don  Pedro, 
as  long  as  Emanuel  Fernandez  lived,  was  nothing  else  than  a 
complete  machine  in  his  hands,  and  when  the  all-powerful  man 
died,  in  the  year  1693,  Father  Sebastian  von  Magellhans  took 
his  place,  with  all  the  privileges  attached  thereto.     Naturally 
enough,  however,  the  burden  of  the  State  became  too  great  a  load 
for  him  to  bear  alone  on  his  shoulders,  and  he  therefore  shared 
it  along  with  his  associates.   Nunha  de  Cunha  more  especially, 
the  Provincial  of  the  Society  in  Portugal,  as  well  as  Francis  de 
Ville,  the  Father  Confessor  of  the  Queen,  reigned  supreme,  and 
those  three,  namely,  Fernandez,  Cunha,  and  de  Ville,  were  now 
designated  the  "  Triumvirate/*      Yet   it   was,  indeed,  no  tri- 
umvirate of  love,  but,  on  the  contrary,  of  terror,   and  it  made 
itself  feared  by  all  those  who  did  not  blindly  follow   the  orders 
which   proceeded  out  of  the  profess-house   of  the   Society   in 
Lisbon.      We    have    had  enough    now    of    the    sway    of    the 
Jesuits  in  Portugal,  respecting  which  I  -have  gone  almost  too 
much  into  detail.     It  was,  however,  necessary  to  do  so,  as  in 
no  kiugdom  on  the  earth  did  the  Society  of  Jesus  succeed  so 
admirably  in  gaining  the  upper  hand  over  all   classes  of  people 
as  here.     In  no  other  Court  did  they  understand  better  how  to 
combine  the  character  of  Confessor  with  the  power  of  Minister 
of  State.     Nowhere  else  had  they  so  completely  the  education  of 
the  people  in  their  hands,  and  nowhere  else  did  their  despotism 
prevail  so   much  over  the  weakness  of  rulers  as  in  Portugal, 
which  for  several  centuries  was  nothing  more  than  a  slavishly 
obedient  province  of  their  universal  monarchy. 

III.— Influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  Spain. 

The  first  Jesuits  who  were  sent  to  Spain  by  their  General  imme* 
diately  after  the  institution  of  the  Order,  during  the  government 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  were  Father  Araoz,  who  selected 
Barcelona,  and  Father  Villanouva,  who  chose  Saragossa,  re- 
spectively, as  the  field  of  their  operations.  The  first  Jesuit 
college,  however,  which  was  estabUshed  in  Loyola's  native 
country  was  founded  m  Gandia  by  Duke  Francis  Borgia,  of 


188 


illSTOBY   OF    THE    JESÜITÖ. 


Gandia,  who  afterwards  became  the  third  General  of  the  Order. 
A  very  great  increase,  moreover,  soon  took  place  both  in-  the 
number  of  their  members  and  of  their  colleges  and  other  settle- 
ments, for  in  a  nation  so  much  inclined  towards  superstition  and 
fanaticism  as  that  of  Spain,  the  pious  Fathers  were  naturally 
enabled  to   attain  their   end  all  the  more   easily  than  in  the 
more  sensible  and  sober  lands.    It  must  now  be  shown  in  what 
mannerthey  conducted  themselves,  and  what  means  they  pursued  in 
order  to  get  over  the  bigoted  Spaniards,  and  to  cause  themselves  to 
be  regarded  by  the  latter  as  quite  extraordinary  men,  if  not,  indeed, 
as  saints.  They  made  their  appearance,  then,  wherever  they  came, 
always  clad  in  miserable  clothing,  dirty  and  torn ;  they  generally 
took  up  their  abode  in  hospitals,   and  went  about  in  company 
begging,  in  order  to  obtain  a  subsistence.     They  commenced 
teaching  among   children   of  the  houses  of  the  poor,  and,   as 
regards  preaching,  any  corner-stone  they  came  across  was  suffi- 
cient for  them.     They  flogged  their  bodies  with  scourges  before 
everyone,  and  carried  on  this  mad  career  to  such  an  extent  that 
th£  magistracy  had  frequently  to  be  appealed  to,  it  being  feared 
that  they  might  torture  themselves  to  death  ;  in  a  word,  they 
carried  fanaticism  to  its  height,  while  they  sought  at  the  same 
time  to  bring  mankind  to  the  faith  they  themselves  professed. 
Thus,  apart  from  the  self-inflicted  cruelties,  their  whole  proceed- 
ings  were  nothing  else   than   a  real   and   exact  imitation   of 
apostlic  manners  and  customs. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  that  the  common  people  of  Spain— 
that  is,  I  mean,  the  great  masses,  and  especially  the  women— ran 
truly  in  swarms  after  the  Society  of  Jesus,  it  did  not,  however, 
easily  meet  with  such  success  in  this  beautiful  country  as  it 
had   done  in  Italy,    and   more   particularly   in   Portugal,   and 
there  were  many  who  were  much  astonished  in  regard  to  this 
being  the  case.     They   erred,   however,   mainly   owing  to   the 
fact   that  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,   the  then   ruler   of  Spain, 
although   not  himself  otherwise  inimical  to   the  Society,    was 
never  once  induced  to  take  a  Jesuit  as  his  Father  Confessor. 
He,  on  the  contrary,  selected  the  Dominicans  as  his  spiritual 
advisers,  an  Order  doubtless  hitherto  much  esteemed,  while  the. 
influence  of  his  first  Father  Confessor,  the  distinguished  Ximines 
Eisneros,  the  great  Inquisitor,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
and  Minister  of  State,  regulated  the  whole  course  of. his  lifo, 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.      189 

The  more  remarkable  of  these  spiritual  guides,  besides  Ximines, 
were  as  follows  :  Peter  of  Soto,  a  very  learned  man  ;  Garcias  de 
Loaysa,  Bishop  of  Osma;  Caranza,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Toledo  ; 
Johann  de  Regia,  a  Hieronomite ;  Juan  de  Ortega,  almost  con- 
sidered a  saint ;  and  Constantine  Ponce  de  la  Fuente,  Bishop  of 
Seville.     When  these  non-Jesuits;  then,  had  possession  of  the 
great  monarch's  conscience,  how  could  it  possibly  be  expected 
that  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  attain  to  such  great  power  as 
it  had  done  in  Portugal,  where  its  members  were  able  to  turn 
the  heart  of  the  King  in  any  way  that  pleased  them  ?     A  second 
not  lesser  hindrance  to  the  rapid  development  and  extension  of 
the  Order  in  Spain  lay  in  the  resistance  given,  partly  by  other 
individual  theologians  and  priests,  and  partly,  more  especially, 
by  that   off'ered   by   the  whole   of   the  remaining  Orders,   the 
Dominicans  at  their  head.     The  latter  sect,  as  must  by  this  time 
be  sufficiently  apparent  to  my  readers,  through  the  history  of 
many   decades,    was  fashionable  in  Spain ;    it  had  long  since 
gained  the  heart  of  the  people,  through  the  confessional,  and  by 
means  of  the  Inquisition  ruled  with  a  grasp  of  iron  over  ail 
alike,  rich  and  poor,  male  and  female  ;  towards  it  flowed  hitherto 
all  the  riches  of  the  country,  and  from  it  and  its  members  were 
supplied,  for  the  most  part,  all  the  appointments  to  bishoprics 
and  archbishoprics.     Could  it,  then,  be  quietly  submitted  to  that 
another  Order  should  be  allowed  to  penetrate  into  its  domains, 
trying  to  reap  where  it  alone  had. sown,  and  was  wont  to  flourish 
the  sickle  ?     Therefore,  wherever  the  Jesuits  wished  to  establish 
themselves,  especially  in  Salamanca,  Alcala,  and  Saragossa,  it 
bestirred  itself  to  off'er  resistance  to  their  encroachments.     The 
bishops,  by  whom  by  right  the  education  of  the  young,  as  well 
as,  above  everything  else,   the  wants  of  the  confessional  were 
supplied,  ofi*ered  opposition  to  them,  and  on  that  account  con- 
tentions and  angry  encounters  arose  in  those  three  cities.     At 
the  commencement,  too,  at  all  events,  the  Jesuits  always  got  the 
worst  of  it,  and  not  infrequently  the  people,  incited  thereto  by 
the  other  Orders,  rose  against  them ;  as  when,  for  instance,  in 
the  year  1555,  their  college  in  Saragossa  was  nearly  taken  by 
storm,  and  they  were  only  able  to  save  their  lives  by  the  most 
immediate  and  secret  flight.     But  besides  this  opposition  by  open 
force,  individual   theologians,  entering  the  lists  against  them, 
injured  them  in  every  way  by  spiritual  and  scientific  weapons; 


190 


HISTOET  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


I> 


and  among  such  may  be  named  especially  Melchior  Cano,  the 
celebrated  doctor  of  theology  belonging  to  the  Order  of  the 
Dominicans.  This  far-seeing  and  cultivated  priest,  on  his  way 
to  Rome,  had  become  acquainted  with  Ignatius  Loyola  and  his 
followers,  certainly  not  in  the  most  favourable  manner,  and  as 
later  on,  in  the  year  1548,  the  first  Jesuits,  with  Fathers  Le 
Fevre  and  Ortiz  at  their  head,  entered  into  Salamanca,  where  he 
himself  worked  as  professor  of  the  University,  he  particularly 
directed  his  attention  to  them,  and  soon  became  convinced  that 
they  were  far  from  being  "  by  God's  will  the  fools  and  blockheads  " 
that  they  appeared  to  be,  but  rather  that  poverty,  humility,  and 
self-punishment  were  only  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  pretext  and 
artifice  to  insinuate  themselves ;  so  he  described  them,  both  from 
the  pulpit  and  in  his  professorial  chair,  as  false  apostles,  as  well 
as  dangerous  men  who  should  neither  be  trusted  in  the  con- 
fessional nor  with  the  education  of  youth.  Thus,  from  the  great 
consideration  in  which  he  was  held,  he  would  probably  have 
succeeded  in  efiecting  the  expulsion  of  the  Loyolites  from  Sala- 
manca had  it  not  been  for  the  order  of  Pope  Paul  III.,  whom, 
as  is  well  known,  the  Society  of  Jesus  did  everything  in  its 
power  to  favour,  when  called  upon  to  do  so  at  the  Council  of 
Trent.  By  this  means  the  sons  of  Loyola  obtained  free  scope, 
and  also,  later  on,  little  injury  could  be  done  them,  as  after  the 
termination  of  the  Council  the  bishopric  of  the  Canary  Islands 
was  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  Roman  Chair.  How  greatly, 
moreover,  was  the  Society  of  Jesus  at  that  time  already  esteemed 
by  His  Holiness,  appears  in  a  despatch  addressed  by  him  to 
John  de  Regia,  Father  Confessor  of  Charles  V.,  where  a  remark- 
able passage  occurs,  which  may  be  translated  as  follows : 
'*  Would  to  God  that  we  may  not  meet  with  that  fate  which,  as 
history  teaches,  Cassandra  predicted,  and  which  was  not  believed 
by  anyone  until  after  that  Troy  was  sacked  and  burnt !  If  the 
Jesuits  carry  on  as  they  have  begun,  a  time  may  yet  come — may 
God  forbid  ! — in  which  kings  may  feel  inclined  to  resist  them  ; 
but  then  it  will  no  longer  be  in  their  power  to  ofier  opposition  to 
them."  In  the  year  1555  Charles  V.  abdicated  the  throne  of  Spain, 
and  in  the  year  following,  as  Emperor  of  Germany,  handed  over 
the  sovereignty,  including  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America, 
as  well  as  the  crowns  of  Naples,  Milan,  Sardinia,  and  the  Nether- 
lands, to  his  son  Philip  IL,  now  eighteen  years  of  age.     That, 


\ 


THE  TOWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      191 

» 

indeed,  constituted  an  immense  power,  sufficient  always  to  main- 
tain an  ascendancy  in  Europe,  more  especially  as  the  Austrian 
House  of  Hapsburg,  intimately  connected  with  the  ruling  House 
of  Spain,  was  friendly  disposed,  and  iii  no  way  inclined  to 
frustrate  its  designs.  In  addition  to  this,  also,  the  most  distin- 
guished armies  and  the  most  experienced  commanders  belonged 
to  the  side  of  the  young  King;  moreover,  the  gold  derived  from 
the  new  world  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  Spaniards, 
and  flowed  in  plentifully.  Besides  this,  what  the  commercial 
fleets  of  the  Netherlands  acomplished  might  well  be  considered. 
In  a  word,  Philip  TI.  possessed,  as  regards  power  and  splendour, 
everything  that  was  necessary  to  make  him,  as  a  monarch, 
governor  of  the  world. 

Now,  had  this  ruler  been  a  wise  man,  animated  with  zeal  for 
the  welfare  of  mankind,  he  might,  indeed,  have  been  able 
to  accomplish  much  with  such  extraordinary  means  at  his  dis- 
posal. But  Philip  II.  was  not  such  a  ruler.  On  the  contrary, 
his  intellectual  sphere  was  confined  to  very  narrow  limits,  being 
restricted  to  obstinate  bigotry,  universal  belief,  extermination  of 
heresy,  and  suppression  of  all  the  rights. of  the  people.  Such 
were  the  great  ends  after  which  he  strove,  and  he  sought  to 
attain  them  by  the  roughest,  most  determined,  and  most  cruel 
despotism  that  was  ever  exercised  by  one  of  the  Lord's  anointed 

This  of  course,  wap  but  too  well  known  to  the  Jesuits,  and 
this  being  the  case,  no  one  need  wonder  that  they  got  a  hold  over 
Philip  II.  in  order  that,  through  him,  they  might  be  enabled  to 
establish  the  Roman  Jesuitical  universal  monarchy,  which  was 
their  great  desire,  and,  as  I  have  already  detailed  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  to  make  him  the  most  supreme  despot  of  Europe. 
Between,  the  Jesuits  and  Philip  II.,  then,  the  former  having  for 
their  General  at  that  time  Jacob  Laynez,  a  formal  contract  was 
drawn  up,  by  which  the  extension  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  made 
truly  gigantic  progress  in  Spain.  They  now  acquired  a  nght  to 
establish  themselves  wherever  they  wished,  and  a  whole  legion 
of  colleges  sprang  into  existence  one  after  the  other,  of  which 
those  of  Saragossa,  Cordova,  Seville,  Cadiz,  Malaga,  Granada, 
Marcia,  Valentia.  Maloria,  St.  lago  di  Compostella,  Leon, 
Cuenga,  Belmont,  Plasencia,  Montillia,  Trigueros,  Toleda, 
Logronno,  Ocanna,  Onnate,  Salamanca,  Talavera,  Monterez 
Burgos.  Medina  del  Campo  and  Madrid,  became  distinguished 


/ 


•/ 


if: 


192 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


with  the  Sclnt  of  universities.  The  highest  pinnacle  of  power 
for  the  Order  was,  however,  attained  when  Francis  Borgia 
was  called  upon  to  become  the  successor  of  Laynez,  as 
Philip  II.  never  refused  any  request  made  by  him — a  veritable 
grandee  of  Spain,  and  formerly  Viceroy  of  Catalonia,  while 
naturally,  the  example  of  the  monarch  was  followed  with  devo- 
tion, as  a  matter  of  course,  by  all  the  other  grandees  of  .the 

kingdom. 

And  now,  will  it  be  necessary  for  me  to  enumerate  all  the 
possessions  which  individually  belonged  to  this   Order  at  this 
time  so  all-powerful  ?     It  will,  I  think,  be  sufficient  for  me  to 
give  but  a  general  view  only  as  it  stood  towards  the  end  of 
the  16th  century.     Spain  was  in  those  days  divided  into  four 
provinces,  so    far  as    Jesuitism  was    concerned,    viz.    Toledo, 
Aragon,  Castile,  and  Seville ;   and  each  of  them  vied  with  one 
another  in  regard   to   the  number  of  their   establishments,  as 
well  as  the  list  of  members  belonging  to  the  Order.     Thus  the 
province  of  Toledo  could  boast  of  two  profess-houses  (Toledo 
and  Madrid),  two  novice-houses  (Madrid  and  Villarejo),  two- 
and-twenty   colleges  and  seminaries,    four  residences,  and   no 
fewer  than  seven  hundred  members,  belonging  to   the   Order. 
Then,  as  to  the  province  of  Aragon,  it  had  one  profess-house 
(Valencia),  one  novice-house  (Terragona),  fourteen  colleges  and 
seminaries,  three  residences,  and  somewhere  about  five  hundred 
Jesuits.     In  the  province  of  Castile,  there  were  a  profess-house 
and  novitiate,  both  being  in  Garcia,  nine-and-twenty  colleges, 
two  residences,   and  about  six  hundred  Jesuits ;    and   in    the 
province   of  Seville,  one  profess-house    (Seville),    two   novice- 
houses,  those  of  Seville  and  Baeca,  seven-and-twenty  colleges 
and   seminaries,   two   residences,    and    seven    hundred    actual 
members  of  the  Order.     Not  less  strongly  did  the  Jesuits  develop 
themselves  in  the  neighbouring  territories  belonging  to  Spain, 
which  Philip  II.  inherited  from  his  father ;  and  in  the  province 
of  Naples  alone  they  numbered  one  profess-house,  one  residence, 
two  novitiates,  six -and- twenty  colleges,  along  with  at  least  six 
hundred  Loyolites.     In  Milan,  there  existed  two  profess-houses, 
three  novitiates,  sixteen  colleges,  six  residences,  along  with  five 
hundred  members  of  the  Order.     Still  more   numerous,  how- 
ever,* were  their  possessions  in  Sicily,  consisting  of  two  profess- 
houses,  two  novitiates,  two -and- twenty  colleges,  and  seven  hun- 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      193 

dred  Jesuits.  In  Sardinia,  on  the  contrary,  there  were  only 
six  colleges,  one  probation-house,  and  about  two  hundred 
members  of  the  Order.  The  most  fertile  field  of  all,  however, 
was  that  of  Belgium  and  the  Netherlands,  as  within  a  very 
short  space  of  time  there  were  established  in  these  countries  two 
profess-houses,  three  novitiates,  five-and-twenty  colleges,  and 
six  residences,  together  with  no  fewer  than  seven  hundred 
members  of  the  Order,  and  there  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
many  more,  had  not  the  rebellion  of  the  States- General  of 
Holland  restricted  the  lordship  of  Philip  II.  over  the  Belgian 
countries  to  the  so-called  Spanish  Netherlands. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  already,  from  this  mere  sketch,  to  what 
an  enormous  extent  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  expanded  its  power 
in  Spain  and  its  Netherland  possessions  under  Philip  II.  In 
spite  of  all  this,  however,  it  must  not  be  believed  that  the  rest  of 
the  Spanish  priesthood,  and  more  especially  the  Dominicans, 
tamely  submitted  themselves  without  any  resistance  to  the  supe- 
rior power  to  which  the  Jesuits  had  in  so  short  a  time  attained. 
On  the  contrary,  several  bishops  and  university  professors  had  in 
the  meantime  directly  appealed  to  PhilipII.,  in  order  to  explain 
to  him  the  mischievous  tendency  of  the  Order ;  and  that  cele- 
brated doctor  of  Theology,  Benito  Arias,  surnamed  Montanus, 
dedicated  to  the  monarch,  in  1571,  a  memorial,  in  order  to  prove 
to  him  that  the  greatest  mischief  must  necessarily  ensue  if  the 
Jesuits  were  permitted  to  mix  themselves  up  with  the  affairs  of 
the  Government.  The  Dominicans  even  went  still  further  than 
this,  as  they  not  only  dragged  several  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  before  ^he  terrible  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  the  direc- 
tion of  which  had  been  entrusted  to  them,  but  they  also, 
in  the  year  1590,  made  a  strenuous  appeal  to  the  Pope  then 
ruling,  Sixtus  V.,  begging  him  to  submit  the  statutes  of  the 
Jesuits  to  a  more  strict  investigation  than  had  been  hitherto 
done,  and  requesting  that  he  should  put  some  bounds  to  the 
unlimited  supremacy  assumed  by  the  Order.  Sixtus  did,  indeed, 
actually  take  into  consideration  the  matters  advanced  by  the 
Dominicans,  and  there  was  all  the  appearance  that  this  dangerous 
Society  would  have  to  undergo  a  thorough  reform.  He  first  of 
all  ordered  that  the  Jesuits  should  be  in  future  called  Ignatians, 
after  their  founder  Ignatius,  seeing  that  the  name  of  Jesuit 
appertained,  properly  speaking,  to  the  followers  of  Jesus,  and 

13 


I'jf 


194 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


consequently  was  applicable  to  all  Christians.  He  further  required 
of  them  that  they  were  not  in  future  to  meddle  with  secular 
affairs,  and  that  they  should  abstain  especially  from  interfering 
in    political    questions.       Lastly,    he   expressed    the    opinion 
that  it  would  be  best  if  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  to  consent  to 
become  monks,  like  the  members  of  other  Orders,  with  the  sole 
object  of  singing  the  praises  of  the  Lord  from  the  quiet  retire- 
ment  of  their  cloisters.      Such   would,   indeed,   have   been  a 
terrible    consummation,    "equivalent    to  the  extermination   of 
the   Society   as   it   had  been    hitherto    constituted,*'    and    the 
General  of  the  Order,  Claudius  Aquaviva,  directed  that  litanies 
should  -be  offered  up  in  all  the  Jesuit  churches  in  order  that 
God  should  be  implored  to  offer  resistance   to  the  projected 
reforms  of  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  that  "old  man  with  the  iron  head." 
The  litanies  seemed,  in  fact,  to  bring  assistance  to  their  cause, 
as  the  Pope  shortly  afterwards  died,  on  the  27  th  of  August  of 
the  year  mentioned,  without  having  been  able  to  carrv  out  his 
reforms,  which  circumstance  therefore  gave  rise  to  the'  proverb, 
"  When  the  Order  of  Jesus  gives  out  a  litany  the  holy  stool  will 
become  vacant." 

The  successor  of  Sixtus,  Gregory  XIV.,  who  was  chosen 
through  the  influence  of  Aquaviva,  however,  at  once  annulled 
all  that  his  predecessor  had  ordered  inimical  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola;  and  the  Dominicans  were  unable,  for  this  time  at  all 
events,  to  make  good  their  complaints.  The  same  contention 
for  supremacy  which  had  been  begun  under  Philip  II.  continued 
under  the  reigns  of  his  successors,  Philip  III.  (1598-1621)  and 
Philip  IV.  (1621-1665),  and  at  one  time  matters  went  in  favour 
of  the  Dominicans,  while  at  another  the  Jesuits  succeeded  in 
gaining  over  the  heart  and  sceptre  of  the  monarch.  It  cannot 
however,  be  denied  that  the  sons  of  Loyola,  on  the  whole,  lost 
rather  than  gained  ground  under  the  two  monarchs  above  men- 
tioned,  and  they  had,  indeed,  much  difficulty  in  not  being  obliged 
to  vacate  entirely  the  field  at  Court.*     Quite  otherwise  was  the 

•  More  especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  vear  Ifi^fi      Af  fu„*  ♦• 
order  to  be  enabled  to  carry  on  the  warmth  TV^J^L^v-'-ittJ^**  *'°'®'  ^° 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.      195 

case,  however,  when,  upon  the  death  of  Philip  IV.,  his  widow, 
Maria  Anna  of  Austria  took  over  the  government  as  guardian  of 
her  minor  son,  the  future  King  Charles  II.  (1665-1700),  as  she 
happened  to  be  so  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  that 
she  at  once  conferred  upon  her  Father  Confessor,  Everard  Ritard, 
the  title  of  a  Grand  Inquisitor,  and  never  did  anything  without 
first  of  all  asking  his  advice.  The  Dominicans  now,  of  course, 
hurled  fire  and  flames,  and  to  them  adhered  not  only  the  regular 
clergy,  but  also  the  whole  of  the  nobility.  As  it  also  came  to  be 
fully  known  that  Ritard  was  a  German  by  birth,  both  of  his 
parents  being  Protestant  heretics,  the  discontent  still  increased 
to  a  much  greater  extent,  and  there  was  only  a  spark  wanting  to 
give  rise  to  the  outbreak  of  a  great  revolution.  Don  Juan  of 
Austria,  a  natural  son  of  Philip  IV.,  his  mother  being  a  play- 
actress  called  Maria  Calderma,  now  came  to  the  front,  and 
placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  malcontents,  supported  by  the 
army,  which  was  completely  subservient  to  him,  demanded  cate- 
gorically, on  the  23rd  February  1 669,  the  deposition  of  the  Grand 
Inquisitor.  He  declared  to  the  Regent  that  if  Father  Ritard 
did  not,  within  the  space  of  one  hour,  find  himself  outside  the 
gates  of  Madrid,  he  would  thrust  him  out  of  the  same ;  and 
both  Ritard  as  well  as  Maria  Anna  soon  perceived  that  this 
declaration  was  in  truth  meant  in  earnest.  Consequently,  Ritard 
at  once  took  French  leave  and  went  to  Rome,  where  he  was 
accredited  by  the  Regent  as  ambassador  to  Clement  X.  Father 
Moya.  one  of  the  most  ill-reputed  of  the  Jesuits  who  ever  made 
an  appearance  there,  took  his  place  at  Madrid,  and,  con- 
sequently,  the   opposite  party  gained  but  very  little    by  this 

beyond  their  power.  Olivarez  now  renewed  his  demand,  reminding  the 
Provincial  of  his  promise.  But  what  did  the  latter  reply  ?  The  d^erent 
Universities  of  Spain,"  he  was  of  opinion,  "had  endowments  amounting  to 
at  least  eight  milUons  of  ducats,  from  the  interest  of  which  property  the 
salaries  of  the  professors  were  supplied.  Now,  the  Order  of  Jesus  offered  to 
undertake  to  till  ajl  the  university  chairs  gratis,  without  payment  of  any 
description,  and,  consequently,  the  King  mighttake  possession  of  these  ei^^t 
millions  of  ducats  without  any  detriment  whatever  to  the  State.  The  King 
would  be  able  then  to  acquire  not  less  money  thereby  than  ^,  with  the 
Pope's  approval,  he  were  to  seize  upon  the  whole  of  the  professions  of  the 
ecclesiastical  brotherhood  in  Spain  and  India,  and  this  could  ^thout  fail  be 
accomplished,  as  the  Jesuits  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  undertake  to  fiU 
all  the  pulpits,  as  well  as  all  the  appointments  of  father  confessors  Such 
was  the  reply  given  by  the  Jesuits,  and  it  was  pretty  plain  how  the  matter 
would  end  ;  but,  in  consequence,  they  brought  down  upon  t^«^^^/^^«^  ^*  *^? 
same  time/ all  the  ecclesiastics,  as  .veil  as  aU  the  universities  of  Spam.  and 
for  a  long  time  there  were  great  difficulties,  therefore,  with  which  to  contend. 

13  * 


196 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


revolution.  With  Charles  If.  the  line  of  the  Spanish  hranch  of 
the  house  of  Hapsburg  died  out,  and,  after  a  war  of  twelve  years* 
duration,  a  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  second  son  of 
the  Dauphin,  ascended  the  throne  of  Spain,  under  the  name  of 
Philip  V.  upon  him  the  Jesuits  built  their  best  hopes,  as  he 
was,  indeed,  atrue  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  and,  in  fact,  these 
expectations  were  not  disappointed.  He  brought  with  him  from 
France,  as  Father  Confessor,  Father  William  d'Aubenton,  one  of 
the  most  crafty  members  of  the  Order,  and  he  was  so  completely 
governed  by  him,  as  was  also  the  Queen,  Marie  Gabrielle,  of 
Savoy,  the  friend  of  the  never-to-be-forgotten  Madame  de  Orsini, 
that  fot  a  succession  of  several  years  no  favours  could  be  obtained 
except  through  him.  After  d'Aubenton's  death.  Father  Juan 
Marino  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Father  Confessor  of  the 
monarch,  and  this  wily  Jesuit,  who  had  been  indoctrinated  by 
Le  Tellier,the  Father  Confessor  of  Louis  XIV.,  counselled  also 
his  weak  and  insane  successor,  Ferdinand  VI.  (1746-1759). 
Thus,  in  a  word,  it  happened  under  the  line  of  the  Spanish 
Bourbons  that  the  power  and  influence  of  the  Jesuits  rose  higher 
than  ever,  and  very  few  Spaniards,  writes  Llorente,  in  his 
History  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  had  the  courage  to  offer  any 
opposition  to  their  party,  as  in  doing  so  all  employment  in  any 
public  office,  or  any  ecclesiastical  preferment,  had  unquestionably 
to  be  renounced. 


IV. — Sway  of  the  Jesuits  in  France. 

It  was  much  more  difficult  for  the  Jesuits  to  form  any  permanent 
settlements  in  France,  than  in  the  three  countries  already  men- 
tioned, Italy,  Portugal,  and  Spain,  although  they  certainly  left 
nothing  untried  which  they  had  found  to  succeed  elsewhere. 
Loyola  had  already  taken  much  pains  in  endeavouring  to  charm 
the  French  people  with  his  newly-founded  Order,  and  quite  at 
the  commencement  of  his  Generalship  sent  to  Paris  sixteen  of  his 
scholars,  for  the  most  part  Spaniards,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
might  have  the  advantage  of  completing  their  theological  studies 
at  the  famous  university  in  that  city  ;  in  truth,  however,  in  order 
that  they  might  there  sound  the  country  and  gain  friends  for 
Jesuitism.  They  were  either  very  unskilful,  however,  or  hnd 
yery  bad  luck,  for  not  a  single  soul  took  any  notice  of  them,  and 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      197 

Loyola  was  obliged  to  send  money  to  them  from  Rome  in  order 
to  meet  their  daily  wants.  Their  affairs,  however,  seemed  to 
take  quite  a  different  turn  after  the  celebrated  Fathers,  Laynez 
and  Salmeron,  made  the  acquaintance,  at  the  Council  of  Trent, 
of  William  du  Prat,  Bishop  of  Clermont,  and  were  successful 
enough  to  interest  him  greatly  in  their  Order,  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  this  extraordinarily  wealthy  prelate  (he  was  son  of  .the 
former  Ghaücellor  of  France),  presented  them  with  a  special 
residence  in  Paris,  in  the  Rue  St.  Jaques,  and  the  chapel 
attached  thereto.  They  had  then,  at  length,  a  possession  from 
which  they  might  be  enabled  to  carry  on  their  operations  in 
future,  and,  as  may  be  easily  understood,  a  number  of  the  Fathers 
at  once  entered  it  in  order  to  prosecute  these  designs.  But 
what  signified  their  visits  to  the  hospitals,  and  their  fanatical 
preaching  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  ?  What  mattered  their 
self-inflicted  floggings  and  such-like  proceedings  ?  The  Parisians 
were  neither  Spaniards  nor  Italians,  and  consequently  laughed 
at  them  in  their  face  when  they  merely  ventured  to  look  up. 
Besides  which,  they  soon  began  to  quarrel  with  the  regular 
clergy,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  coll  them  publicly  by  the  name 
of  hypocrites.  Indeed,  one  of  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  (that 
is  to  say,  a  professor  belonging  to  the  Theological  Faculty  of 
Paris),*  published  a  pamphlet  against  them,  in  which  he  pointed 
out  to  the  Government  that  the  best  thing  to  be  done  with  them 
would  be  to  hunt  them  at  once  out  of  the  country  with  disgrace 
and  ignominy  as  beggars  and  vagabonds. 

This  was,  indeed,  but  a  bad  beginning,  and  a  rough  snubbing 
into  the  bargain  ;  but  they  were  soon  to  fare  better.  In  the 
year  1549,  Cardinal  Charles  of  Loraine,  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential men  in  France  at  that  time,  who  belonged  to  the  equally 
powerful  as  wealthy  house  of  Guise,  made  a  journey  to  the  Papal 
Court  of  Rome ;  and  here  Ignatius  Loyola  contrived,  by  flattering 
his  passions,  to  gain  him  over  to  such  an  extent  that  the  former 


*  About  the  year  1250,  Robert,  born  at  Sorbonne,  in  Champagne,  Chan- 
oellor  of  Louis  the  Holy,  founded  in  Paris  a  "  Collegium  Pauperum  Magis- 
trorum  btudentium  in  Theologica  Facultate,"  that  is  to  say,  an  educational 
institution  for  poor  young  secular  priests,  which  institution  was  designated 
after  the  founder  "the  Sorbonne."  Whilst,  however,  the  duty  of  teachmg 
in  the  same  devolved  upon  the  professors  of  the  Theological  Faculty  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  the  said  name  was  latterly  attached  to  the  Theological 
Faculty  itself,  and  from  the  14th  century  it  never  went  by  any  other  than  the 
"  Sorbonne." 


198 


HISTOBY   Ol*   THE   JESUITS. 


promised,  on  his  return  to  France,  to  take  the  Society  under 
his  special  protection.     This,  in   fact,  he  truly  and  loyally  did, 
but,   naturally,  not  so  much,  out   of  a  feeling    of  friendship 
towards   the   holy   Ignatius   as    from   purely   selfish    motives, 
as  he   was   promised    for   himself,    and    ventured    to    expect, 
great    assistance  from  the  Jesuits  in  carrying  out    his   plans 
against  the  hated  heresy  of  the  Huguenots.     SuflBce  it  to  say, 
however,  that  he  did    all   in  his   power  in  their   favour   with 
Henry  II.  of  France,  and  in  consequence  of  this  the  Order 
obtained  through  aPatent  Brief  of  January  lööO,  royal  authority 
to  establish  a  college  in  their  abode  in  Paris,  having  the  same 
privileges  and  rights  as  Jesuit  colleges  established  in  the  other 
countries  of  Europe.    The  pious  Fathers  were  now  jubilant ;  but 
they  had  begun  too  soon  to  rejoice,  as  there  was  still  something 
wuiiiingto  justify  this  glee,  namely,  the  approval  of  the  Par- 
liament, the  supreme  tribunal  of  Paris.*     The  King  of  France, 
in  fact,  was  not,  as  it  happened,  so  absolute  a  monarch  as  his 
colleagues  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  inasmuch  as  it  had  been  the 
unimpeachable  custom,  for  a  century  at  least,  that  the  royal 
ordinances,   dispensations,   and   edicts   could   only   have    legal 
sanction   accorded    to   them,    and   be  observed  by  the   French 
nation,    after    they    had    been    recorded    and     registered     by 
Parliament,  and  consequently  the  said   tribunal,  so  to   speak, 
stood  in  the   relation   of  a   legislative   assembly — a  legislative 
assembly,   moreover,    be    it  well  understood,  for  old   France, 
that  is    to    say,    for  that    portion    of   the    French   kingdom 
which   during   ages    had   belonged    to    the    Crown    territories 
of   the  French    kings.      The  remaining,   and    certainly   much 
smaller  portion    of    the    kingdom,    which    had    been     subse- 
quently acquired  either  by  conquest  or  through  confiscation  of 
feudal  tenure,  had,   again,   its  own    particular  Upper  Tribunal 

*  Parliament  is  derived  from  «  parier,"  to  speak,  and  originally  signified 
an  assemblage  called  together  for  the  public  discussion  of  this  or  that  Act. 
Later  on,  in  the  12th  century,  the  French  Senate,  consisting  of  the  highesi 
nobility,  set  aside  this  name,  and  nominated  a  committee  of  the  said  Senate 
which  had  to  deal  with  the  acts  of  the  peers.  Gradually,  however,  a  per- 
manent legislative  commission  was  formed  from  this  committee,  a'  kind  of 
supreme  tribunal  for  which  only  experienced  judicial  legislators  could  be 
elected  ;  and  m  order  to  secure  the  independence  of  this  law  court,  a  member 
oould  only  be  deprived  of  his  place  therein  by  a  judicial  sentence.  Such  was 
the  Parhament  of  Paris  as  it  was  constituted  in  the  16th  century,  ä  most 
important  tribunal,  but,  at  the  same  time,  a  purely  judicial  one,  which  had 
220  resemblance  to  what  we  now  understand  by  Parliament. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      199 

or  Pariiament ;  *  consequently,  a  royal  decree,  in  order  that  it 
should  be  valid  throughout  the  whole  of  France,  must  also  be 
registered  by  all  the  Parliaments  of  the  country.     But  still  it 
seldom  happened   that  the  provincial  Parliament  differed  from 
that  of  Paris,  as  the  latter  enjoyed  special  consideration,  and 
consequently  the  whole  of  the  law-courts  centred  in  that  cor- 
poration, where  questions  were  determined  by  a  majority  of  votes. 
King  Henry  II.,  as  a  matter  of  course,   at  once  remitted  his 
Patent  Brief  relating  to  the  Jesuits   to  the  Pariiament  of  Paris, 
demanding  its  registration.     The  High  Court  of  Law,  however, 
referred   the   case    for   the   consideration    of    its    procurators, 
Bruslart,  Marillac,  and  Segnier,  and  they  at  once  declared  that 
France  stood  in  need  of  no  new  Order,  more  especially  of  none 
such  as  that  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  been  favoured 
by  Rome  with   exemptions  of  so  curious  a  nature.     The  sup- 
plicants, i.e.  the  Jesuits,  were  always  at  liberty  to  travel  about 
among  the  Moors  and  Mahomedans  with  the  object  of  converting 
them,  but  in  France  they  were  not  required.     This  refusal  and 
rebuff  was  taken  up  by  the  proud  Cardinal  of  I.oraine  as  an 
insult  to  himself,  and  afresh  he  urged  the  King  to  insist  on  his 
Patent  Brief  being  carried  through  Parliament ;  and  he  so  far 
succeeded  as  to  cause  the  ruler  to  come  to  a  firm  determination 
on  the  subject.     So  Henry  II.  forthwith  issued  a  command  to 
the  Supreme  Law  Court  to  register  the  brief.     The  latter  now, 
however,  showed  its  independence  of  royal  caprice  by,  instead  of 
obeying  the  command,  handing  over,  as  well  to   the  Archbishop 
of  Paris  as  to  the  Sorbonne,  in  order  that  they  might  be  more 
carefully  examined  and  well  considered,  the  whole  of  the  Acts, 
that  is,  the  petition  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Patent  Brief  of  Henry 
II.  together  with  all  the  Papal  Bulls  referring  to  the  Society 
of  Jesus.     Eustach  du  Bellay,  being  at   that  time  the   Arch- 
bishop,  took   his   time  over   the  matter,   in   spite  of    all    the 
King's  importunity  and  the  pressure  put  upon  him  by  the  latter ; 
the  Theological  Faculty  of  the  Parisian  University,  which  at  that 
time  was  not  excelled  in  learning,  stability,  and  talent  by  any 
other  in  the  worid,  also  pursued  a  like  course.     At  the  end  of 
two  years  they  were  at  length  ready,  and,  strange  to  say,  the 

•  Such  parliaments  existed  from  1302  at  Toulouse,  from  1451  at  Grenoble, 
from  1462  at  Bordeaux,  from  1476  at  Dijon,  from  1499  at  Rouen,  from  1501 
at  Aix,  from  1553  at  Rennes,  from  1620  at  Pau,from  1633  at  Metz,  from  165b 
at  Douai,  and  from  1775  at  Nancy.  ' 


200 


HISTOET   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


• 

decision  at  which  both   parties  bad  arrived  agreed  pretty  well 
together,  although  that  of  the  Archbishop  was  certainly  much 
more  moderate  than   that  of  the  Sorbonne.      The  first  declared 
that    the   privileges   accorded   to    the   Jesuits   were    not    only 
contrary  to  the  common  law,  but  also  equally  so  to  the  dignity 
and  consideration  due  to  the  Bishops  and  Universities ;  and  he, 
lastly,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  *'  that  it  would  be  more  advisable 
to  build  houses  for  the  supplicants  on  the  frontiers  of  Turkey, 
in  order  that  thence  they  might  be  able  to  convert  the  heathen, 
than  that  they  should  be  allowed  to.  have  settlements  in  the 
midst  of  Christendom."     The  Sorbonne,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
its  sitting  of  1st  December  1554,  delivered  its  decision    (which 
it  may  be  remarked  was  come  to  unanimously),  verbatim  in  the 
following  terms  :— "  This  Society  which  arrogates  to  itself  the 
name   of  Jesus,   without   having   any   right  to  do  so,  a  name 
adopted  by  penal,  dishonourable,  and  infamous  people  without 
distinction,  whose  members  difier  in  no  degree  from  the  secular 
priesthood  in  customs,  divine  service,  manner  of  life  or  clothing, 
although  monks — this  Society  which,  in   regard  to   preaching 
and  teaching,  as  well  as  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament, 
directly  infringes  upon  the  rights  of  the  Bishops  and  Ordinaries, 
is  in  opposition  to  the  whole  of  the  hierarchical  Orders  hitherto 
established,  and  conduces  to  the  detriment  as  well  of  other. re- 
maining Orders  as  of  princes  and  the  great  men  of  the  world, 
as  also  to  the  prejudice  of  university  freedom  and  the  injury 
of  the  people,  has  been  accorded  many  privileges,  indulgences, 
and  liberties  on  the  part  of  the  Papal  Chair— this  Society  casts 
a  slur  upon  all  other  Orders  of  monks,  weakens  the  diligent  and 
pious  exercises  of  virtue  in  the  lonely  cell,  causes  the  members  of 
other  Orders  to  desecrate  their  vows,  draws  away  believers  from 
the  obediciice  and  submission  which  they  owe  to  their  ordinary 
spiritual  advisers,  robs  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  secular  authorities 
of  their  rights,  and  gives  rise  to  disturbances  in  both  of  these 
classes  as  well  as  among  the  people,  causing  many  hardships, 
controversies,  schisms,  and  a  number  of  other  disorders.   Indeed, 
in  a  word,  when  one  takes  everything  into  account,  this  Society 
appears  to  be  destined  to  produce  an  imperilment  of  the  faith, 
disturbance  of  the   Church's  peace,   and   the    undermining   of 
monachism.    It  is,  in  fact,  more  adapted  for  pulling  down  than 
for  building  up." 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   TOE   JESUITS.      201 

It  was  thus  that  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris  expressed 
itself,  in  its  celebrated  sentence,  and  in  consequence  thereof  the 
Parliament  hesitated  to  give  eflPect  to  the  Patent  Brief  of  the 
King.  Eustach  du  Bellay,  however,  the  Archbibhop  of  Paris, 
thereupon  went  even  a  step  further,  and  forbade  the  members  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  from  henceforth  exercising  any  priestly 
offices  whatever  within  the  range  of  his  diocese. 

The   pious  Fathers  were  then  worse   off    than   ever,    as   the 
power  of  the  King  could  not  protect  them  against   episcopal 
orders,  and   consequently  everyone  expected   that   they   would 
have,  from  this  time  forth,  to  turn  their  backs  upon  Paris   for 
ever.     They  did  not,  however,  by  any  means  do  so,  for  they 
contrived  to  find  out  a  back-way  of  escape.     They  certainly,  it 
i9  true,  shut   up  their  house  in  the  Rue  St.  Jacques,  leaving 
behind  them  only  a  few  of  their  number  for  its  management ; 
they  themselves,  however,  withdrew  in  corpore,  as  one  is  used 
to  say,  to  the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  to  one  of 
the  magnificent  abbeys  independent  of  the  bishopric  of  Paris, 
where  they  were  joyfully  received,    and  a   chapel   was   therein 
allotted   to  them  to  enable  them  to  hold   divine   service   and 
carry  on   other  priestly   ofl&ces.     At  the  same  time  their  old 
friend,  the  above-mentioned  William  du  Prat,  Bishop  of  Cler- 
mont, in  proof  of  hi^  abiding  favour,  presented  them  with  a 
large  property  in  the  little  town  of  Billon,  along  with  no  less 
than  40,000  thalers  in  ready  money,  so  that  they  might  by  these 
means  be  able  to  erect  there  a  college. 

They  consequently,  then,  still  remained  in  France,  and  ac- 
quired, moreover,  another  possession;  it  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  this  was  as  nothing  compared  with  the  property 
they  had  obtained  in  the  other  proper  Roman  Catholic  countries. 
Besides  this,  did  not  the  publicly  expressed  sentence  of  the 
Sorbonne  find  an  echo  throughout  the  whole  of  civilised  Europe, 
and  was  not  the  injury  arising  to  them  out  of  this  of  much 
greater  consequence  than  might  have  been  at  the  first  moment 
expected  ?  Süll,  it  is  said,  "  Time  will  discover  a  plan,"  and  the 
Jesuits  relied  upon  this  ancient  proverb.  Protestantism,  or, 
more  properiy  speaking,  Calvinism,  as  is  well  known,  now 
extended  itself  with  rapid  progress  throughout  France,  and  were 
it  only  to  go  on  progressing  at  the  same  rate  as  it  had  already 
done,  the  Huguenots,  as  the  adherents  of  the  Reformation  were 


!l 


/ 


äoä 


ÖlSl^ORY   OF*    THE   JESÜIl'S. 


designated  in  France,   must   soon   necessarily  gain   the   upper 
hand. 

Such  a  great  misfortune   for   the   Catholic   Church,  which 
now  impended,  the  pious  Fathers  well  knew  how  to  turn  most 
excellently  to   their  own  advantage,   for   they  secretly   spread 
themselves   about   everywhere,    and  more   especially  about  the 
Court;    and  none  were  more   skilful   in   fighting   against  the 
detested  heresy  than  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  in 
this,   beyond   all    of   them,   did    Father    Pontius    Gongordan 
especially   excel,    going   about    everywhere   in    ordinary  plain 
clothes.     On  this  account  many  of  the  French  began  now  to 
look   upon    the    Order   with   more  friendly   feelings,    and    the 
injurious  impression  caused  by  the  Sorbonne  decree  by  degrees 
disappeared,    at   all   events    among   good  Papists.      A  favour- 
able  circumstance  for  them  now  took  place  in  the  year  15ö9, 
when,  on  the  death  of  Henry  11.,  there  came  to  the  throne  his 
first-born  son  Francis  II.,  espoused  to  Mary  Stuart ;  at  that  time 
the  Queen's  uncle,  the  Loraine  Prince  of  Guise,  was  aU-powerful 
at  Court.*    The  pious  fathers,  however,  with  the  Cardinal  of  Lo- 
raine at  their  head,  urged  the  weak  King  to  prepare  a  new  Patent 
Brief  in  favour  of  the  Jesuits,  supporting  it  and  exerting  their  in- 
fluence upon  Parliament  with  all  their  power,  in  order  that  tbe  latter 
should  undertake  the  registration  of  the  King's  commands.  Strange 
to  say,  however,  the  Court  remained  obstinate,  notwithstanding 
that  it  was  well  disposed,  all  the  same,  towards  Catholicism,  the 
proof  of  such  being  the  case  consisting  in  the  fact  that  many 
sentences  of  death  were  hanging  over  the  Huguenot  heretics.    It 
was,  however,  necessary  for  it  to  remain  obstinate,  as  it  rested 
with  itself  to  save  the  rights  of  the  Gallican  Church,  and  the 
independence  of  the  Government  of  the  country  in  aU  secular 
aflPairs,    since    the    sons   of  Loyola   placed    the  Papal    power 
above  all  church   assemblies,  as  well  a>j  above  princes,  kings, 
and   emperors,    their  whole  thoughts   and    energies  being,   as 
we    know,    directed    towards    forming    a    universal    Bomish 

f«,*  ?^®-^??®®  ^^  ^^^®'  »°  offshoot  from  the  House  of  Loraine     waa 

hi^sZsonT^f  ^^  maxnage  the  lordship  of  Guise.    Claude  left  behind 
Ch^J^  A     tV*^®    ^?^^  distmguished  of  whom  were  Francis  de  Guise 
of  Loraii^^^^''^^^.^^  ^^"^"^«'  ^"^  a  Cardinal  (commonly  T^edCardZi 
maii^ed  to^Ja^r^JiT  %%^^^  ^a^g^^ters,  the   eldest  of  whom,  M^"  w^ 
StS  ""^  Scotland,  and  gave  birth  to  the  unfortunate  Mary 


*HE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS.      203 

Jesuitical  despotism.      Francis   II.  thus  compassed  the  legal 
admission  of  the  Jesuits  even  as  little  as  Henry  II.  had  done, 
and,  as  he  died  shortly  afterwards,  in  the  year  1560,  his  efforts 
were   unavailing.      It   was  not   otherwise  under  his   successor 
Charles  IX.,  whose   guardian,   during  his   minority,   was   his 
mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis.     She  certainly,  at  first,  became 
captivated  by  the  pious  Fathers,  and  some  authors  even  maintain 
that  she  had  secretly  selected  Father  William  Petit  as  her  Father 
Confessor.     She  also  truly  attacked  the  Pariiament  in  two  acri- 
monious documents,  and  demanded  of  the  same  that  it  should 
at  length  relax  its  opposition  towards  the  Jesuit  Fathers.     She 
assuredly,  too,  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  publicly  as  follows:— 
"  One  must  hasten  to  receive  the  Jesuits  into  the  kingdom,  as, 
otherwise,  from  such  delays  and  stubborn  opposition  they  might 
be  driven  into   an  evil  disposition,  and  be  constrained  to  quit 
France  again  of  their  own  accord,  to  the  great  detriment  of  religion 
and  of  the  common  weal."     The  Parliament,  however,  remained 
obstinate  in  its  determination,  and  the  only  thing  that  it  could 
be  induced  to   do  was  to  make  a  declaration  that  the  Church 
Congress,  which  the  Regent  had  the  idea,  of  summoning,  should 
decide  in  regard  to  the  reception  or  otherwise  of  the  Jesuits. 
The  said  Church  Assembly,  or,  more  property  speaking,  the  said 
Religious  Conference  between  the  Huguenots  and  the  Catholics, 
which  was  indeed  at  that  time  a  thing  determined  upon,  had  for 
its  object  to  make  an  attempt,  if  possible,  to  bring  about  some 
amicable  arrangement  and  unity  between  the  two  parties  into 
which  France  was  then  divided,  with  the  view  of  averting  a  civil 
war,  which  otherwise  appeared  to  be  inevitable.     Pope  Pius  IV. 
tried  in  every  way  to  prevent  this  conference  taking  place,  as  the 
Chair  of  Rome  was  a  sworn  enemy  to  all  such  endeavours  to 
bring   about  any  such   accommodation,    attempts  wherein  the 
Romish  Church  always  suffered  in  reputation  through  the  skilful 
attack  of  the  Protestants ;  but  it  was  all  in  vain  that  he  did  so. 
By  the  invitation  of  the  Regent  the  Catholic  prelates,  consisting 
of  a  body  of  six  cardinals  and  forty  bishops,  with  twenty-six 
doctors  of  theology,   assembled  together  at  Poissy,  where  the 
Conference   took    place    at    the   commencement   of    the    year 
1561.      At  the  same  time  there  made  their  appearance  fourteen 
Huguenot    ecclesiastics,    at, whose   head    was     the    celebrated 
Theodor  Beza,  together  with  Petrus  Martyr,  while  a  number 


204 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


1 1 


of  other  secular  gentlemen,  who  were   desirous  of  attending 
the  convention,  were    also    present.     The  disputation  at  once 
commenced  under  the  Presidency  of  Cardinal  de  Tournon;  and 
the  Catholic  prelates,    and  more  particularly  the   Cardinal  of 
Löraine,  gave  themselves  all  the  trouble  possible  to  bring  round 
the  Huguenot  preachers  to  their  viewsi     Still  the  Pope,  in  the 
first  place,  was  right;  that  is  to  say,  the  affair  turned  quite 
contrary  to  their  wishes,  and  the  two  distinguished  leaders  of  the 
Huguenots,  Beza  and  Martyr,  daily  obtained  new  adherents  by 
means  of  their  sharp  intellect  and  stirring  eloquence.     Further 
help  must,    then,    be  obtained,  if  a   deep  incurable  wound   to 
the  Koman  Catholicism  of  the  Papacy  was  not  to  be  inflicted, 
and  Pius  IV.,  on  that  account,  forthwith  despatched  to  Poissy 
another    legate,  in   the  person   of   Prince   Hippolyte   d'Este, 
Cardinal  of  Ferrara,  in  order  to  uphold  the  rights  of  the  Holy 
Chair,  and  he  sent  also,  as  a  companion  to  the  legate.  Father 
Laynez,  the  then  General  of  the  Jesuits,  as  he,  at  that  time,  was 
held  to  be  better  fitted  than  anyone  living,  as  a  debater,  to  parry, 
by  his  masterly  serpentine  mode  of  speaking,  the  severe  blows 
dealt  -by  the   Huguenot  combatants.      The   General,   indeed 
completely  justified  the  high  opinion  the  Pope  entertained  of 
him,  and  the  Catholic  party  had  to  thank  his  keen  eloquence 
alone  that  it  not  only  sustained  no  defeat,  but  even  when  the 
conference  was  broken  up  in  the  autumn,  on  -account  of  its  use- 
lessness,  without  yielding  an  iota,  it  could  claim  a  victory  with 
the  same  right  as  the  Huguenots.    Laynez  became,  then,  among 
the  Cathohcs  at  Poissy,  as  may  be  well  understood,  the  extolled 
hero  of  the  day,  and  a  man  of  such  exalted  talents  had,  indeed  a 
high  claim  upon  their  gratitude.  On  this^account,  therefore,  when, 
through  the  Fathers  Brouet  and  Pontius,  he  presented  a  care- 
fully elaborated  petition  for  the  legal  admission  into  France  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  it  met  not  only  with  the  support  of  the  whole  of 
the  prelates  well  disposed  towards  Kome,  such  as  the  Cardinal 
of  Loraine  and  his  friends,  but  also,  indeed,  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  assembly— of  course,  with  the  exception  of  the  Protestants, 
who  by  this  time,  however,  had  already  taken  their  departure  \ 
so  the  required  decree  was  at  once  prepared  on  the  loth  Sep- 
tember 1501.     Nevertheless,  this  admission,  properly  speaking, 
did  not  take  place  unconditionally,  as  in  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Italy,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  prelates  introduced  all  kinds 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      205 

of  clauses  therein,  with  reservations,  in  order  to  protect  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  Galilean  Church ;  and,  moreover, 
the  Papal  Bulls  issued  in  favour  of  the  Jesuits  were  subjected 
to  the  most  rigid  paring. 

**  Above  everything  must  the  sons  of  Loyola/'  thus  the  excep- 
tional conditions  are  expressed,  "  lay  aside  the  name  of  Jesuit, 
or  Society  of  Jesus,  as  they  are  not  more  entitled  to  assume  these 
designations  than  any  of  the  other  children  of  Christ."    They 
had  further  "  to  renounce  calling  themselves  a  religious  Order, 
like  the  Benedictines,  Dominicans,  Augustines,   &c.;  they,   in 
fact,  merely  have  the  rights  of  a  society  or  company,  whose 
statutes  are  to  be  regulated  according  to  the  constituted  laws'. 
They  must  also,  besides,  promise  to  place  themselves  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  of  the  dioceses  in  which  they  reside, 
the  latter  having  it  in  their  power  to  inflict  the  usual  censures 
upon  any  of  the  members  deserving  of  punishment.    They  should 
especially  undertake  nothing  that  would  be  detrimental  to  the 
bishops,  founders,  parsons,  universities,  or  holy  orders,  and  the 
Papal  Bulls,  which  give  them  a  special  exemption,  are  to  be  of 
no  effect  or  value.     Lastly,  they  have  to-  declare  it  to  be  under- 
stood by  them,  that  the  present  exceptional  permission  should 
at  once  cease  to  have  effect  should  they  at  any  time  overstep 
the  conditions  imposed  upon  them,  or  obtain  other  privileges 
from  the  Papal  Chair  which   might  be  in  opposition  to  any  of 
the  conditions  above  mentioned,  and  thus  and  upon  these  grounds 
and  no  other  shall  this  treaty  be  concluded  with  them." 

Such  were  the  conditions  which  the  convention  of  Poissy 
stipulated  as  regards  the  admission  of  the  Jesuits  into  France, 
and  one  sees  thereby  with  what  extreme  distrust  even  the  ultra- 
Catholic  French  prelates  looked  upon  the  Order;  but  had  one 
ventured  to  make  even  more  stringent  injunctions,  in  regard  to 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  they  would  have  been  accepted.  It  only 
remained  for  them  now  to  plant,  therefore,  a  firm  foot  in  France 
to  make  themselves  powerful ;  once,  then,  that  their  first  object 
was  attained,  what,  eh !  was  easier  for  them  than  to  break  the 
stipulated  conditions,  and  pay  no  further  attention  to  the  treaty  to 
which  they  had  agreed  ?  "  What  does  it  matter  as  regards  per- 
jury if  one  does  not  sv^ear  ?  "  says  the.  Jew.  The  correctness  of 
•  this  conclusion  shortly,  then,  became  apparent.  Scarcely  had 
the  pious  Fathers  secured  the  desired  decree  of  legal  permission 


206 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


in  their  pockets  than  they  at  once  pulled  down  their  house  in 
the  Kue  St.  Jacques,  in  order  to  build  in  its  place  a  beautiful 
new  palatial  college  ;   and   hardly  had  this  magnificent  building 
been  erected  than  they  placed  in  front  of  the  same  the  inscrip- 
tion in  black  letters,  **  College  of  the  Society  to  the  Name  of 
Jesus."    Thus  they  acted,  although  during  the  first  two  years,  as 
far  as  France  was  concerned,  they  had  been  obliged  to  submit  to 
the  renunciation  of  this  name ;  still,  that  was  by  no  means  all 
that  they  did,  but  in  addition  they  hastened  to  erect  colleges 
in  all  the  cities  in  that  part  of  the  country  well  affected  towards 
Catholicism,  as,  for  instance,  in  Avignon,  Rhodas,  Morioc,  Bor- 
deaux, Lyons,  Rouen,  Marseilles,  Clermont,  De  la  Fleche,  Rennes, 
Moulins,    and  wherever   else   such    might   be  the  feeling,  and 
demanded  for  all  those  educational  institutions  the  same  rights 
and  privileges  which  were  possessed  by  the  universities.    Speak- 
ing  more   plainly,    they    were   desirous    of   being  qualified  to 
create  masters  of  philosophy  and  doctors  of  tlieology,  similar  to 
those  of  the  Sorbonne  in  Paris,  and,  as  the   instruction  was 
all  given  gratis,  they  hoped  to  obtain  many  students,  that,  in 
this  way,  they  might  soon  be  enabled   to  provide  the  whole  of 
France  with  priests  of  their  own  stamp   and   of  their  own  reli- 
gious opinions.     The  University  of  Paris,  however,  opposed  this 
arrogance  with  all  its  power,  and  along  with  it  the  Archbishop 
of  Paris,  the  Prefects  and  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  the  Cardinal 
de  Chatillon  as  Curator  of  the  Sorbonne,   the  whole  Orders  of 
monks,  and  all  of  the  regular  clergy  made  common  cause.     In 
spite  of  all  this,  however,   the  Jesuits,  favoured  bv  the  Court, 
and  more  especially  by  the  Guises,  persisted  in  their  demands, 
and,  as  the  matter  was  referred  to  Parliament,  there  now  arose  a 
trial  which  lasted  more  than  two  centuries  without  being  brought 
to  any  definite  conclusion — a  trial  during  which  the  considera- 
'tion  in  which  the  Society  was  held  was  more  and  more   brought 
into  disfavour,  while   the  advocates  of  the  university  threw  the 
most  bitter  reproaches  in  its  teeth.     But  what  did  that  signify  to 
the   warriors  of  Christ?      They,    however,    gained   this    much 
by  the  said  trial,  that,  urged  by    them    to  do  so,    the  Queen 
Regent,  in  the  meantime,  gave  them  permission  to  open    their 
schools,  and   commence   their   instructions,  pending   the  legal 
issue  of  the  matter ;   and  on  account  of  the  enormous  advantage 
which  this  license  secured   to  them,  they  could   wejl  afford  to 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      207 

allow  themselves  to  be  more  or  less  abused.  There  was  only  one 
great  hindrance  which  stood  in  the  way  of  the  rapid  spread  of 
the  Order  of  Jesus  throughout  France,  and  that  was  that  by 
this  time  neariy  one-half  of  the  French  people  adhered  to  Pro- 
testantism, and,  as  may  be  well  imagined,  the  pious  Fathers 
directed  all  their  attention  and  influence  in  urging  on  the 
Catholics  in  the  conflict  against  heresy,  as  only  by  its  extinc- 
tion would  it  be  possible  for  the  Jesuits  to  become  all-powerful. 
I  will  not,  indeed,  affirm  that  the  civil  war  which  at  that  period 
had  begun  to  break  out  in  France  owed  its  origin  entirely  to 
the  machinations  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  as  such  an  asser- 
tion as  this  might  not  be  altogether  founded  on  truth  ;  but  this, 
however,  I  will  say,  that  the  war  in  question  would  not  have  had 
so  long  a  duration,  and  would  not  have  been  carried  on  with 
such  ferocity  as  was  the  case,  had  no  Jesuits  existed  in  France. 
The  pious  Fathers  themselves,  indeed,  took  part  in  the  fight, 
as,  for  instance,  at  the  siege  of  Poitiers,  where  Brother  Lelio 
Sanguini,  afterwards  declared  to  be  a  martyr,  commanded  the 
auxiliary  forces  sent  by  the  Pope  ;  again,  in  the  battle  of  Gamac, 
in  which  Father  Augnier  had  the  honour  of  putting  on  the 
boots  and  cuirass  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou  !  Then,  was  not  their 
college  in  Paris  the  principal  stronghold  of  the  murderous  crew 
which  was  let  loose  upon  the  poor  Huguenots  during  the 
fearful  night  of  St.  Bartholomew ;  while  another  of  their  posses- 
sions in  Paris,  namely,  their  profess-house,  gave  shelter  to  Henry 
Due  de  Guise,  the  leader  of  the  troops  engaged  in  the  bloody 
work,  for  several  days,  immediately  after  the  attempted  assassina- 
tion of  Admiral  Coligny. 

For  all  the  trouble,  notwithstanding,  that  was  taken  by  the 
Jesuits  never  to  allow  any  truce  to  take  place  between  the 
Catholics  and  Huguenots  during  their  contentions,  so  as  to 
make  the  same,  indeed,  a  war  of  extermination,  they  were  unable 
to  succeed  in  this  object  as  long  as  Charles  IX.  and  his  mother 
held  the  reins  of  government.  Their  worldly  dominion  lay  too 
much  at  the  hearts  of  both  the  King  and  the  Regent  to  induce 
them  to  think,  in  earnest,  of  sacrificing  the  half  of  their  subjects 
on  account  of  the  faith  ;  and  thus  the  war  against  the  Hugue- 
nots was  commenced,  indeed,  some  four  or  five  times,  but  on 
each  occasion  peace  was  concluded  without  much  ground  being 
gained  upon  the  heresy.     It  was  otherwise,  however,  under  the 


208 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


reign  of  Henry  III  (1574-89),  the  brother  and  successor  of 
Charles  IX.,  as  this  prince,  totally  enervated  by  debauchery, 
had  already,  while  Crown  Prince,  been  induced  to  take  a  member 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Edmund  Auger  by  name,  as  his  Father 
Confessor,  whose  influence  as  spiritual  adviser  prevailed  no  less 
than  as  we  have  already  seen  in  the  history  of  Portugal,  in 
which  country  a  like  power  was  exercised.  Unfortunately,  the 
weak-minded  Henry  had  long  been  accustomed  to  render 
obedience  to  his  ambitious  and  imperious  mother  in  all  things, 
and  from  this  he  did  not  depart  on  becoming  ruler.  By  the 
efforts  of  the  Guises  and  the  Jesuits,  intimately  allied  to  them, 
there  now  arose  a  new  Huguenot  war, "which  was  indeed  a  fright- 
fully bloodthirsty  and  devastating  struggle.  Still  the  Protest- 
ants, at  whose  head  there  fought  Henry  of  Navarre,  along  with 
the  great  Cond6,  conquered  one  place  after  another  during  the 
year  1575-76,  so  much  so  that  the  Court  concluded  a  new 
peace  with  them  on  the  8th  of  May  of  the  last-named  year,  and 
granted  to  them  unrestrained  religious  freedom,  in  addition  to 
a  number  of  places  of  refuge.  But  think  what  kind  of  religious 
freedom  it  was !  Religious  freedom  granted  to  heretics  by  a 
Catholic  King,  and  in  a  country  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  had 
selected  as  the  scene  of  its  dominion  !  Such  a  thing,  indeed, 
was  not  to  be  allowed  in  any  case,  or  at  any  rate  must  not  be 
lasting,  whenever  it  might  again  become  possible  to  urge  on  the 
King  to  commence  a  new  Huguenot  war.  What  had  previously 
taken  place  proved  that  the  house  of  Valois,  the  designation  by 
which  the  dynasty  then  reigning  was  called,  would  never  allow 
itself  to  enter  upon  a  war  of  extermination,  and,  consequently,  it 
might  be  reckoned  upon  with  certainty  that  a  new  war  would  but 
end  again  in  a  new  peace.  Moreover,  what  was  to  happen  were 
Henry  III.  to  die,  as  there  was  much  reason  to  fear,  without 
leaving  behind  him  male  heirs,  and  the  next  relative,  Henry  of 
Navarre,  were  to  come  to  the  throne  ?  Truly,  against  such  a 
contingency  there  was  only  one  sole  effectual  remedy,  namely, 
that  of  carrying  out  the  idea  of  a  universal  monarchy,  by  getting 
the  crown  placed  on  the  head  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  as  had 
been  already  done  in  the  case  of  Portugal.  When  matters  had 
arrived  at  such  a  point  as  this,  one  might  then,  indeed,  be 
pretty  sure  that  the  sword  once  drawn  by  the  Catholics  would 
uever  more  be  sheathed  until  all  heretics  within  French  confines 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      209 

had  been  exterminated,  and,  on  that  account,  the  Jesuits  forth- 
with took  an  oath  to  carry  this  plan  into  effect  at  any  price. 
Still,  at  the  same  time,  they  took  good  care  to  do  so  without 
hurting  in  any  way  national  French  susceptibilities  by  intruding 
their  views  openly  and  without  reserve,  but  they  christened  their 
small  child  by  another  name,  viz.  that  of  the  Holy  League  of 
all  Catholics  against  the  Huguenot  heresy.  At  the  head  and 
front  of  this  confederacy  they  placed  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  the  Guises,  and  they  easily  succeeded  in  winning 
over  those  parties  to  be  in  favour  of  their  projects :  the  Pope, 
because  it  was  a  matter  of  vital  consequence  to  him  to  see 
heresy  exterminated;  while  to  the  King  of  Spain  the  vision  of 
the  crown  of  a  mighty  kingdom  was  before  him ;  and  so  far  as 
the  Guises  were  concerned,  they  dared  to  hope  that,  under 
Philip  II.,  residing  so  far  away  as  Madrid,  the  whole  governing 
power  of  France  would  be  at  their  command.  However,  this 
was,  after  all,  not  so  easily  carried  out  as  they  would  wish,  as  the 
Catholic  people,  the  Catholic  nobility,  and  the  minor  Catholic 
princes  had  to  be  won  over  to  the  plan,  and  only  then  would 
there  be  any  hope  of  substantial  success ;  and  such  a  result  it 
seemed,  to  begin  with,  beyond  all  human  power  to  attain. 
The  Jesuits,  however,  undertook  the  matter  in  question,  and 
actually  carried  it  out  in  its  entirety. 

From  the  year  1570— for  in  that  year  the  league  or  treaty 
was  concluded  by  the  Pope,  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the 
Guises,  for  the  dethronement  of  the  legitimate  royal  family  of 
France— there  permeated  emissaries  throughout  the  whole  of 
France,  who  instituted  among  the  people  "  associations  for  the 
protection  of  religion  "  ;  but  what  was  the  fundamental  object  of 
such  associations  might  be  seen  in  this,  that  everyone  entering 
into  the  brotherhood  must  solemnly  pledge  himself  never  to 
recognise  the  legitimate  successor  of  Henry  III.  as  heir  to  the 
throne.  Moreover,  the  chief  thing  that  was  preached  at  all 
meetings,  which  were  generally  held  in  cities  where  the  Jesuits 
had  colleges  and  profess-houses,  or  in  other  particular  localities, 
was  that  a  good  Catholic  would  disgrace  the  religion  to  which 
he  belonged  were  he  ever  to  offer  any  opposition  to  the  views  of 
the  Spanish  house  or  of  the  Papal  See ;  these  associations  were 
nothing  else,  in  fact,  than  conspiracies  against  the  royal  house 
of  Bourbon   and    its   heirs.     No   less   activity  was  developed 

14 


It!    I 


210 


HiSTOBY   OF    THE   JESUiO^S. 


among  the  Jesuits  towards  the  Catholic  nobility  of  France,  as 
well  as  in  gaining  over  the  minor  Catholic  courts,  as  the  Order 
had  emissaries  everywhere  who  knew  how  to  conduct  them- 
selves like  the  most  skilful  diplomatists.  Among  these,  Father 
Henry  Sammler  became  especially  distinguished — a  man  for  whom 
nothing  daring  was  too  dangerous,  and  who  understood  how  to 
fill,  with  the  greatest  skill,  any  part  which  might  be  assigned 
to  him  by  the  Society.  At  one  time  he  would  make  his  appear- 
ance as  a  soldier,  and  at  another  as  a  priest,  while  on  a  third 
occasion  he  would  appear  as  a  strolling  pleasure-seeker ;  he  was 
equally  at  home  with  cards,  dice,  and  the  fair  sex,  as  with  his 
breviary.  With  all  this,  he  never  lost  sight  of  his  mission  which 
was  "to  gain  over  members  for  the  League,'*  and  he  carried  on 
his  operations  in  Germany,  Spain,  Italy,  and  France,  between 
which  countries  he  was  always  travelling  backwards  and  forwards, 
conducting  himself  with  such  ability  that  he  was  simply  desig- 
nated "  Director  of  the  League."  A  no  less  conspicuous  part  was 
played  by  Father  Claudius  Matthew,  who,  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  IlL,  conducted  the  correspondence  between  the  Guises 
and  the  holy  Father,  and  who,  on  that  account,  was  continually 
on  the  road  between  Paris  and  Rome  and  Rome  and  Paris.  He, 
again,  went  by  the  name  of  "  Courier  of  the  Leaguists,"  and  it 
was  through  his  zealous  exertions  that  the  Pope  was  induced  to 
launch  his  nefarious  Bull  of  excommunication  against  Henry  of 
Navarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde,  in  the  year  1558.  Another 
famous  emissary  of  the  League  was  Father  Odon  Pigenat,  a  man 
of  almost  stormy  eloquence,  who  on  that  account  was  called  the 
"  Trumpeter  of  the  League.*'  Besides  the  foregoing  may  be 
mentioned  also  the  Fathers  Commolet,  Mandoza,  Aquillon,  and 
Feria,  who  all  performed  important  services  to  the  League.  The 
Jesuits  were,  indeed,  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  Leaguist  con- 
spiracy, and  it  was  through  them  alone  that  it  grew  to  be  of  the 
strength  and  importance  by  which  it  was  distinguished  iu  French 
history.  It  fell,  indeed,  very  little  short  of  success,  and  had  the 
Leaguist  conspiracy  been  only  carried  through  successfully  the 
Society  of  Jesus  would  have  seen  at  their  feet  the  whole  of 
France,  just  as  much  as  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Italy.  On  that 
account,  then,  did  the  Jesuits  rejoice  in  their  inmost  soul,  and 
they  already  stretched  out  their  hands  to  clutch  the  magnificent 
booty,  when  one  single  over-hasty  deed  snaicheJ  away   again 


^HE    POWERFUL   INFLUEKCE   OF    THE    JESUITS.      2ll 

from  them  not  only  all  the  advantages  they  had  hitherto  attained, 
but  also  shut  against  them,  almost  for  ages,  the  whole  of  the 
French  kingdom.  The  account  of  this  occurrence  does  not 
belong  to  this,  but  to  the  sixth  and  last  book  of  my  work,  to 
which  I  must  refer  the  reader. 

V. — The  Sway  of  the  Jesuits  in  Germany  and  the 
Countries  adjacent  thereto. 

In  the  preceding  four  sections  I  have  shown  what  an  in- 
credibly powerful  influence  the  Society  of  Jesus  contrived  to 
gain  among  the  Romance  nationalities,  and  it  will  be  seen  from 
the  statements  therein  made  that  this  result  had  been  attained 
the  more  easily,  and  in  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time, 
on  account  of  the  Romish  character  of  the  Itahan,  Spanish,  and 
other  like  nations ;  but  a  far  more  hard  and  difficult  problem 
had  the  sons  of  Loyola  before  them  in  the  land  of  the  Germans, 
or,  as  it  was  at  that  time  designated,  "  in  the  holy  Roman 
Empire  of  the  German  nation,"  to  establish  themselves  and 
bring  it  under  their  sway.  On  the  whole,  what  had  they  after 
all  gained  when  they  had  still  to  win  the  most  mighty  empire  of 
Europe?  What  did  it  matter  to  them  their  sway  in  Italy, 
Portugal,  and  Spain,  and  even  in  France,  when  that  great 
State  was  still  not  bound  to  own  their  allegiance,  and  whence, 
like  a  running  stream  of  lava,  gushed  out  a  current  of  heretical 
and  Lutheran  opinions  over  the  neighbouring  countries  and 
peoples  ?  Frightful,  ah !  indeed  frightful,  it  was  for  the 
adherents  of  Rome  and  the  Catholic  hierarchy,  that  just  at  the 
time  when  the  founding  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  took  place,  as  I 
have  already  pointed  out  in  the  first  book  of  this  work,  Ger- 
many, as  regards  most  of  its  provinces,  had  completely  fallen 
away  from  Popery ;  and  in  others  where  it  still  existed,  for 
every  single  adherent  of  Rome  there  were  to  be  reckoned  at 
least  twenty,  or  even  thirty,  heretics.  The  cloisters  remained 
forsaken,  while  the  monks  and  nuns  had  become  the  subjects  of 
derision.  Moreover,  seeing  that  hardly  anyone  gave  a  thought 
to  the  regular  Cathohc  priesthood,  it  became  all  the  more  easy 
for  the  evangelical  preachers,  who  were  vastly  in  the  majority, 
to  take  possession  of  all  the  churches  of  the  land.  So  the 
flocks  Ol  Churchmen,  still  loyal  to  the  old  laith,  continued  to 

14  * 


212 


HlStORt   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


decrease  year  by  year,  and  there  really  seemed  to  be  a  certainty 
that  the  whole  of  Germany  must  be  lost  irretrievably,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  decades,  should  no  effectual  remedy  be  found  for 
this  fever  of  decay.  But  even  this  was  not  the  sole  cause  for 
the  greatest  dismay,  which  arose  from  the  extent  of  toleration, 
if  not  even  of  friendship  and  love,  which  had  begun  to  spring  up 
between  Protestants  and  Catholics.  After  the  first  agitation 
which  had  been  excited  by  the  teaching  .of  Luther,  and,  more 
especially,  after  the  conclusion  of  religious  peace  at  Augsburg, 
the  waves  of  rancour  as  regards  faith  began  to  subside ;  and 
while  persecution  ceased,  so  also  did  the  extreme  division 
between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  also  dwindle  and 
diminish.  Both  parties  learned  to  bear  with  one  another,  and 
live  peaceably  among  themselves,  ceasing  to  insult  and  be 
inimical  to  each  other.  In  the  year  1564  it  was  thus  rej)orted 
by  the  Venetian  Ambassador  to  the  Senate  of  his  native  city  :— 

"  One  party  has  accustomed  itself  to  put  up  with  the  other 
so  well,  that  in  any  place  where  there  happens  to  be  a  mixed 
population,  httle  or  no  notice  is  taken  as  to  whether  a  person  is 
Catholic  or  Protestant  Not  only  villages,  but  even  families  are 
in  this  manner  mixed  up  together,  and  there  even  exist  houses 
where  the  children  belong  to  one  persuasion  while  the  parents 
belong  to  the  other,  and  where  brothers  adhere  to  opposite 
creeds.  Catholics  and  Protestants,  indeed,  intermarry  with  each 
other,  and  no  one  takes  any  notice  of  the  circumstance  or  offers 
any  opposition  thereto.^' 

Such  were  the  relations  between  the  two  parties  through- 
out the  whole  of  Germany,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  even  the 
lordships  subject  to  Abbots  and  Bishops,. the  so-called  episcopal 
territories,  formed  no  exception  to  the  rule,  as  best  became 
apparent  in  the  year  1580,  when,  at  a  time  at  which  the  blessing 
of  toleration  had  already  begun  to  disappear,  the  religiously 
zealous  William  V.  of  Bavaria  made  a  proposal,  in  a  circular 
letter  addressed  to  those  bishops  whose  dioceses  extended  into 
his  dukedom,  that  **  they  should  allow  mixed  marriages  to  be 
blessed  without  scruple  in  the  territories  immediately  subject  to 
His  Princely  Highness."  And  even  this  act  of  toleration  was 
by  no  means  enough  !  No,  indeed  ;  but  even  mauy  princes  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany  went  even  a  step  further,  and 
appointed  men  who  were  thorough  Protestants  to  situations  at 


1 


THE   POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS.       213 

their  Courts  as  counsellors,  judges,   magistrates,   or  whatever 
other  oflBce  it  might  be,   without  any  opposition  or  objection 
being  offered  thereto.*      They  even,  indeed,    submitted  to  the 
reproaches  and  censure  put  upon  them  by  the  Apostolical  Chair, 
without  caring  anything  about  the  matter,  as,  for  instance,  the 
case  of  Bishop  John  George  of  Bamberg  quite  clearly  indicated 
when    the   latter,    in    1577,    nominated    the    Lutheran,    John 
Frederick  von  Hoffman,  to  his  Vicedom  in  the  canonical  pos- 
sessions  in  Corinthia,  and  retained  him  in  it  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death  in   1587,  notwithstanding  that  His    HoHness    Pope 
Gregory  XIII.  categorically  demanded,  in  a  special  epistle,  that 
this  outrage  should  be  cancelled.     Things  had  indeed  arrived  at 
this  pitch,  and  there  could  not,  therefore,  be  any  wonder  that 
animosity  and  displeasure  rose  to  their  culminating  point  at  the 
Papal  seat  of  Rome.     What,  however,  could  be  hit  upon  as  a 
cure    for  this   state  of  matters  ?     All  that    had   hitherto  been 
done  in  the  way  of  remedy  had  proved  of  no   avail,  but  on  the 
contrary,  indeed,  the  pestilential  evil  continued  to  be  more  and 
more  on  the  increase,  so  much  so,  in  truth,  that  there  remained 
but  a  very  inconsiderable  number  of  all  the  secular  princes,  not 
even  excepting  the  Duke  of  Bavaria  and  the  ruler  of  the.  Austrian 
territories,  who  remained  faithful  to  the  Roman  belief.     How 
was  this?    Had  not  the  newly-created  Society  of  Jesus  inscribed 
war  with  heresy  as  a  device  upon  its  banner  ?     Had  not  the 
warriors  of  Christ,  the  Jesuits,  taken  an  oath   that  they  would 
never  rest  satisfied  until  they  had  won  over  again  to  the  Pope 
all  those  parties  who  had  relapsed  from  the  faith,  and  had  they 
not  already  given  ample  proof  that  they  were  as  capable  even 
as  they  were  willing  to  maintain  this  oath  ?     Yes,  indeed ;  it 
was   they  who  had  in  their   minds  the    words  of  the  founder 
of  our  religion,  '*  I  am  not  come  to  bring  peace,  but  the  sword." 
It  was  they  alone  who   were  in  a  position    to  extirpate  "  the 
monsters  who  had  devastated  the  vineyards,"  and  to  rivet  again 
the  holy  Roman  Empire  in  the  old  fetters.     The  Chair  of  Rome 
did  not  deliberate  an  instant  in  putting  this  difficult  task  upon 
their  shoulders,   and  they  themselves  were  equally  zealous   in 
the  cause,  and  declared  that  they  were  prepared  to  undertake  it. 

*  There  are  a  very  great  number  of  papal  dispensations  still  extant,  pre- 
served in  episcopal  libraries,  from  which  it  is  apparent  that  such  appoint- 
ments were  not  at  all  exceptional  instances.  (See  Dalham,  Conciiict 
ßalishurgensia.) 


I 


i 


i  1 


'^■■i. 


214 


HISTOKY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


They  well  knew,  also,  the  reason  why  they  thus  acted.     They  were 
fully  conscious  that  if  they  succeeded  in  fulfilling  the  demands 
of  the  Apostolic  Chair,  they  would  be  rewarded  with  the  richest 
evidences  of  its  favour,  and  that  all  the  ground  that  they  con- 
quered for  Rome  would  be  just  so  much  gained  for  themselves, 
and  that   their  dominating   influence   would   become  universal 
only    when    they   had    attained   the    reconversion   of   faithless 
Germany.     They  vowed,  consequently,  to  take  up  arms  in  the 
field,  as  true  knights  of  Catholicism,  and  as  to  how  they  per- 
formed this  vow  the  following  narrative  will  show. 
•    The   first   Jesuits   who   favoured    our   Fatherland  with  their 
presence  were  the  three  Fathers  Le  Fevre,  or  Faber,  as  he  was 
called  in  Germany,   Le  Jay,  and  Bobadilla.     They  were   sent 
there  by  Ignatius  himself,  as  I  have  already  mentioned  in  the 
first  book— Faber,  indeed,  in  the  year  1540,  and  the  other  two 
in  the  year  following.     He  pointed  out  to  them  that  the  task 
that  they  had  in  common   to  execute  was  the  sounding  of  the 
general  condition  of  Germany  at  the  time,  and  the  spying  as 
well  into  the  innermost  thoughts  of  the  people.     It  was  more 
especially  requisite  for  them  to  acquire  patrons  and  friends  for 
themselves  among    those    rulers  still  adhering  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  to  obtain  advantages  from  them   for  the  new  Order, 
that  no  hindrances  should  stand  in  the  way  oi  !heir  reception. 
All  three  of  them  did  as  they  were  directed,  but  each  according 
to  his  own  way  and  idea ;  and  they  certainly  succeeded  in  sowing 
seed  which,  in  a  short  time,  became  indeed  a  tree  of  gigantic 
dimensions.     Faber  directed  his  steps  towards  the  Rhine,  i.e.  to 
Mayence,  and  to  the  Courts  of  two  of  the  chief  Prince  Bishops 
of  Germany,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  establish  Jesuit  colleges 
in  their  territories,   and,  failing  to  succeed  in  that  object,  he 
made  another  conquest,  which  was  of  far  greater  value.   This  con- 
sisted in  at  once  becoming  acquainted  with  and  gaining  over  for 
the  Order,  in  xMay  1543,  Peter  Canisius,  a  theological  candidate, 
and  a  youth  at  that  time  of  three-and-twenty  years  of  age,  which 
stripling   came   from   Nimwegen   in    Gelderland,   belonging   to 
Mayence.     But  this,  of  itself,  was  indeed  an  immense  conquest," 
as   Canisius  was  endowed   with  extraordinary  intellect,  and,  in 
addition  to  great  learning,  possessed  such  a  talent  of  eloquence  as 
few  mortals  were  then  gifted  with.  Canisius  naturally  did  not  enter 
ipto  the  Order  with  the  object  of  doing  penance,  but  he  perceived 


r 


THE  POWEBFUL  INFLUENCE   OF  THE   JESUITS.      215 

at  a  glance  what  an  immense  field  for  ambition  was  presented 
by  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  it  became  his  great  desire  to  play 
a  distinguished  role  in  the  worl.d.  He,  indeed,  succeeded  in  this 
last  respect  almost  beyond  all  expectation,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  and  no  single  member  of  the  Order  accomplished  more,  in 
Germany  at  all  events. 

Bobadilla  commenced  his  operations  at  first  in  Ratisbon, 
where,  just  at  that  time,  a  religious  conference  was  going 
on  between  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  theologians ;  but  he 
launched  out  so  violently  in  a  very  vehement  speech  against 
Protestantism,  that  he  exasperated  the  people  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  would  soon  have  been  thrown  by  them  into  the  Danube  had  he 
not  succeeded  in  efi'ecting  his  escape  in  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
He  got  on  much  better  in  Munich,  to  which  capital  he  now  wended 
his  way  from  Ratisbon,  as  he  there  established  a  position  by  the 
intruction  he  gave  to  a  number  of  pupils,  and  after  a  lapse  of 
some  years  he  contrived  by  his  courteous  manner  so  to  worm 
himself  into  the  good  graces  of  Duke  William  IV.,  that  the 
latter  would  hardly  do  anything  without  his  advice.  He 
equally  succeeded,  also,  without  much  trouble,  in  putting  up 
that  prince  against  the  so-called  "  Interim,"  which  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  wished  to  introduce  all  over  Germany  in  the  year 
1548,  so  much  so  that  it  met  with  no  success,  at  least  in 
Bavaria ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  so  short-sighted  and 
injudicious  as  to  give  utterance  to  such  insulting  remarks  about 
the  Emperor,  that  Charies  V.,  on  being  informed  about  the 
matter,  made  short  work  of  it,  and  without  any  further  ado 
banished  him  out  of  Germany. 

Le  Jay,  the  most  experienced  of  the  three  delegated  Loyolites, 
directed  his  steps  towards  the  capital  of  Austria,  and  scarcely 
had  he  arrived  there  than  he  succeeded  in  fascinating  the 
Viennese  by  his  eloquent  preaching.  The  brother  of  Charies  V., 
Ferdinand  I.,  who  had  been  raised  up  to  be  a  German  king,  was 
so  carried  away  by  his  eloquence,  and  thereby  became  so  favour- 
ably disposed  towards  him,  that  he  desired  in  1546  to  make  him 
Bishop  of  Trieste,  which,  however,  as  already  mentioned  in  the  first 
book,  Loyola  on  good  grounds  interfered  to  prevent.  Le  Jay, 
consequently,  continued  to  remain  in  Vienna,  and  exercised  so 
much  influence  upon  the  King,  that  he  induced  the  latter  to  erect 
a  college  for  the  Order  in  the  above-mentioned  city  ;  up  to  this 


216 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


time  there  bad  been  no  fixed  habitation  for  the  Society  through- 
out the  whole  of  Germany,  but  now,  if  only  the  capital  would 
but  lead  the  dance,  other  towns  would  doubtless  follow  suit. 
Still,  notwithstanding  the  favour  in  which  Le  Jay  stood  at  Court, 
and  in  spite  of  his  being  zealously  supported  in  his  proceed- 
ings by   his   trusted  friend.  Urban  Tertor,  the   Father   Con- 
fessor of  Ferdinand,    and   Court  preacher,  the  King  hesitated 
for   a  long  time,  and  it  was  not   till   the   year  1.551    that  he 
handed  over  to  the  supplicant  an  abandoned  Dominican  cloister, 
which  during  the  siege  of  Vienna  by  the  Turks  had  been  reduced 
almost  to  ruins  by  the  bombardment.    Le  Jay,  however,  at  once 
jumped  at  this,  rejoicing  beyond  measure  thereat,  and  presently 
begged  Loyola  to  send  him  a  dozen  more  Jesuits  from  Rome,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  enabled  with  these  newly-acquired  forces 
to  commence  a  course  of  collegiate  instruction.     The  General, 
too,  of  course,  immediately  complied  with  his  request,  and  not 
only  sent  him  at  once  eleven  Fathers  most  distinguished  for 
their  gift  of  teaching,  but  nominated  Le  Jay  to  be  the  first 
rector  of  the  first  Jesuit  colony  established  on  German  ground. 
Such  was  the  modest  commencement  of  Jesuit  operations  in 
Germany  ;  now,  however,  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  once  taken 
the  first  step,  which  was  followed  by  the  activity  of  the  Fathers 
Laynez,  Salmeron,  and  Couvillon,  at  the  Synod  of  Trent,*  and 
had  won  a  good  reputation  among  the  adherents  of  Rome,  it  pro- 
ceeded  to   advance   with   gigantic    strides,   and   Austria,   more 
especially,  proved  itself  to  be  a  promising  soil  for  its  operations. 
Le  Jay  having   died  in  the  year  following  his  nomination  as 
"  Rector  of  the  first  Jesuit  colony,"  Canisius  was  chosen  to  be 
his  successor,  and  this  sagacious  individual  so  contrived  to  in- 
sinuate himself  into  the  confidence  of  King  Ferdinand,  that  he 
soon  became  a  most  prominent  person  at  Court,  at  least  in  clerical 
and  religious  affairs,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the  King  desired 
to  nominate  him  Bishop  of  Vienna,  and  it  required  no  end  of 
trouble  to  divert  the  monarch's  mind  from  this  idea.    Now,  how- 

F«*tW  J«TL^  t""^  1°  ^?!?J®'  on  whose  commission  the  above-mentioned 
ft  the  svno^  wL  '^''*  ^'  Theologians  of  the  Pope,  possessed  none  present 
thanllvnil^  vT  ^«^^^^^ly.  «ombated  for  its  rights,  real  or  assumed, 
S  h«  /Jl^  ^^'^  ^""^  companions.   These  three  proved  themselves,  also 
to  be  determmed  enemies  of  church  reforms,  and  even  the  very  clearest 

lTr^o«7rr*T'  °PP^'^"?  ^y  *^^^'  ^i*^  ^  determination  which  approached 
almost  to  fanaticism.     The  particulars  concerning  this  are  to  be  found  in 

^eBEenberg^sHUtory  of  Great  Assemblies  of  the  Church. 


t 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE  JESUITS.      217 

ever,  that  Canisius,  having  arrived  at  this  point,  was  obliged  by 
order  of  his  General  to  play  a  modest  and  humble  part,  so  that 
something,  one  way  or  other,  should  be  gained  for  the  advantage 
of  the  Order,  he  showed  himself  all  the  more  zealous.     Among 
other  things,   he  brought  it    about  in    1554    that    Ferdinand 
presented  the  beautiful  and  capacious  Carmelite  cloister  to  the 
Society  in  order  that  it  might  be  converted  into  a  Jesuit  college, 
and  also  he  obtained,  two  months  later,  another  large  building 
with  the  object  of  founding  a  civil  convent,  and  four  years  after- 
wards a  seminary  sprang^  into  existence  for  poor  theologians,  as 
well  as  an  educational  establishment  for  the  youth  of  the  nobility. 
Moreover,  not  only  did  the  strongly  credulous  Ferdinand  pro- 
vide pleasant  abodes  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  his  capital  of 
Vienna,  but  he  did  so  also  in  other  parts  of  his  dominions,  and, 
indeed,  throughout  the  whole  of  his  empire,  upon  the  openly 
declared  ground  *'  that  bounds  might  be  put  to  the  constantly 
increasing  progress  of  the  Reformation."     Some  of  these  esta- 
blishments were  indeed  very  grand  and  imposing,  especially  that 
at  Innsbruck  in  the  Tyrol,  and  at  Tyrnau  in  Hungary,  as  well 
as  at  Prague  in  Bohemia  (previously  the  cloister  of  St.  Clements). 
This  latter  college  was  provided  with  exceedingly  rich  endow- 
ments, and,  indeed,  after  being  established  for  seven  years,  was, 
in  the  year  1562,  raised  to  be  a  regular  academy  for  the  study  of 
theological  and  philosophical  sciences,  thereby  enabling  it  to  put 
itself  in  a  position  to  enter  into  competition  with  the   greatly 
celebrated  University  of  Prague.     In  Bavaria,  at  the  same  time, 
Bobadilla  had  obtained  a  promise,  in   154H,  from  Duke  William 
IV.,  that  he  would  erect  a  college  for  the  Order ;  but  so  long  as 
William  lived  this  promise  remained  unfulfilled,  in  consequence 
of  Bobadillas    banishment,   and   still    less   did    his   successor 
Albert  V.,  who  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign  showed  him- 
self to  be  very  tolerant  in  religious  matters,  think  of  attracting 
to  himself  the  Jesuits  who  remained  in  the  country.     This  tole- 
ration was  not  by  any  means  agreeable  to  the  liking  of  the  sons 
of  Loyola,  and,  indeed,  the  Duke  was  suspected  of  being  secretly, 
in  his  inmost  mind,  inclined  himself  to  be  favourable  to  heresy. 
Nothing  could  actually  have  been  more  untrue  ;  but  what  did  that 
signify,  when  by  a  falsehood  one  might  succeed  in  gaining  one's 
end  ;  and  the  Loyolites,   indeed,  attained  t/ieir   object !      The 
Puke  was,  therefore,  in  the  highest  degree  irritated  whe»  the  com^ 


11 


218 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


munication  \9as  made  to  him,  by  those  about  him,  of  the  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  by   his  orthodox  subjects,  and  the 
wily  Canisius  took  advantage  of  this  irritation  when  he  was  sent 
fromA^ienna  to  Munich  in   1555,  with  great  recommendations 
in  his  pocket  from  King  Ferdinand,  in  order  to  represent  to 
the  great  man  how  that  there  was  no  more  effectual  means  of 
counteracting  the  injurious  suspicion  placed  upon   him  than  to 
welcome  as  his  protector  the  Society  of  Jesus,  now  treated  with 
so  great  consideration  by  the  Pope  and  all  good  Catholics.    This 
enlightened  the  Duke  considerably,  and  he  at  once  bound  himself, 
in  a  treaty  concluded  with  Canisius,  on  the  7th  December  1555, 
to  build  a  grand  college  for  the   Order  at  Jngoldstadt,  with  a 
considerable  endowment.      He  not  only  promised  this,  but  also 
expedited  the  construction   of  the  building  so  rapidly  that  the 
institution  was  actually  opened  in  the  year  following,  with  ten 
Jesuit  teachers  sent  in  haste  from   Rome.     Still   not  satisfied 
with  such   success,  the  insatiable   Canisius  longed  to   establish 
a  permanent  abode  in  the   Bavarian  capital  itself  and  did  not 
rest  until  he  induced  Albert  V.  to  erect,  in  the  year  1559,  that 
beautiful  college  in  Munich,  the  construction  of  which  is  even 
now  an  object  of  admiration  to  all  connoisseurs  in  art.     With 
the  approval  of  his  General  in  Rome,  having  now  first  of  all 
appointed    his   step-brother   Theodor  Canisius  to    be   the   first 
rector  of  the  institution,  Peter  Canisius  returned  to  Vienna,  in 
order  to  pursue  his  work  as  first  Provincial  of  the  Jesuit  pro- 
vince of  Upper  Germany,  comprising  the  countries  of  Austria, 
Bavaria,  and  Suabia.     From  this  time  forward,  the  founding  of 
new  colleges  proceeded  vigorously,  and   eapecially  in  the  terri- 
tories of  those  German  princes  of  the  Church    in  which  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  had  become  Protestants. 

The  Jesuits  now  commenced  a  system  of  sending  out  in- 
sinuating emissaries,  who  travelled  through  the  countries  by 
order  of  their  General,  with  the  view  of  bringing  the  most  con- 
spicuous of  the  prelates  to  the  conviction  that  the  question  of 
their  sway,  or,  at  all  events,  of  its  permanency,  not  only 
depended  upon  the  obedience  of  their  subjects  in  regard  to 
spiritual  matters,  wherein  they  had  become  in  a  measure  inde- 
pendent, but  that  political  considerations  as  well  must  not  be 
ovoriooked,  for  it  might  one  day  happen  that  their  sceptre 
might  be  wrested  from  them,  ia  which  case  the  people  woul(J 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OE   THE   JESUITS.      219 


reckon  upon  the  support  of  the  neighbouring  Protestant  princes. 
"  Against  such  a  danger,  it  should  always  be  considered  that 
the  most  effectual  counteracting  means  would  be  the  return  of 
the  whole  population  to  Catholicism,  and  without  doubt  the  men 
best  fitted  to  bring  about  this  desirable  object  would  be  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who,  it  was  well  known,  had 
for  their  chief  aim  the  conversion  of  heretics." 

Such-like  representations  seldom  remained  without  effect, 
and,  above  all  others,  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Augsburg,  Otto 
Truchsess  von  Waldburg,  accorded  to  them  his  approval.  He 
hastened,  therefore,  in  the  year  1 563,  to  establish  a  college  for 
the  sons  of  Loyola  in  Dillingen,  and  at  once  handed  over,  to 
their  guidance,  charge  of  the  High  School  there,  which  he  had 
founded  fourteen  years  previously.  It  was  more,  difficult  for 
him,  however,  to  open  to  them  the  gates  of  Augsburg  itself, 
as  the  magistrates,  as  well  as  his  own  chapter,  opposed  with 
all  their  might  the  settlement  therein  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
At  length,  however,  but  only  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Otto,  in 
the  year  1579,  the  founding  — under  tolerably  restricted  con- 
ditions-—of  a  Jesuit  college  wos  successfully  effected,  and  the 
very  wealthy,  as  well  as  very  bigoted  Fugger  family,  took  good 
care  that  it  was  sufficiently  well  endowed.  Jesuit  settlements 
were,  furthermore,  established  in  Würtsburg,  in  the  year  1564, 
through  the  Bishop  at  that  time  reigning  there,  Friedrich  von 
Wirsberg,  as  also,  four  years  subsequently,  in  Mayance  and 
Aschaffenburg  by  the  influence  of  Archbishop  Daniel,  who  also 
endowed  both  of  them  very  richly.  In  the  year  1570  the  same 
thing  was  done  by  Archbishop  James  III.  of  Treves  ;  or,  rather, 
he  merely  carried  out  what  his  predecessor  John  VI.  had  already 
projected.  Upon  this,  then,  followed  the  establishment  of  the 
Colleges  of  Foulda  (1573),  and  of  Heiligenstadt,  Eichsfelde, 
Cologne,  Coblentz,  as  well  as  Spiers,  the  last  four  in  the  year 
1581. 

I  have,  finally,  still  to  mention  the  colleges,  seminaries, 
and  residences  in  Ratisbon  (1589),  in  Munster  (1589),  in 
Kildesheim,  and  in  Paderborn,  all  of  which,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  latter,  which  had  Bishop  Theodor  von  Furstenberg  to 
thank  for  its  existence,  were  called  into  being  by  members  of 
the  Bavarian  ducal  house,  who  derived  their  origin  from  the 
Wittlesbach  family,  all  of  whom  were  bishops. 


•VT" 


/' 


220 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


We  see,  then,  that  within  a  few  decades  the  Jesuits  made  right 
good  progress,  although  not  such  as  they  had  effected  in  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Portugal.  They  had  achieved  this  result,  however,  not 
by  any  means  without  contention  and  strife  ;  for  the  municipalities 
at  the  time  being,  as  well  as  frequently  the  regular  clergy,  along 
with  the  chapters,  considered  it  expedient  to  throw  every  con- 
ceivable obstacle  in  the  way  of  their  settling,  and  not  seldom  the 
help  of  the  Emperor  was  invoked,  as  the  highest  authority  of 
the  German  Empire  When,  however,  it  had  got  as  far  as  this, 
at  least  as  long  as  Ferdinand  I.  reigned,  the  Jesuits  could 
readily  count  upon  a  decision  in  their  favour,  and  even  his 
successor  and  son,  Maximilian  II.  (1564-76)  was  not,  indeed, 
altogether  antagonistic  to  them.  This  celebrated  monarch 
observed  more  toleration  than  any  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg, 
either  before  or  after  him  ;  and,  if  he  did  not  exactly  grant  to 
his  Protestant  subjects  an  entirely  free  exercise  of  their  religion, 
it  was  that  he  did  not,  on  the  same  ground,  consider  it  well  to  do 
aught  to  imperil,  in  any  way,  the  existence  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
He  was  anxious,  rather,  to  deal  justly  towards  all  and  everyone, 
and  when,  in  the  year  1566,  the  Austrian  Parliament,  the  members 
of  which,  being  then  almost  all  thoroughly  Protestant,  demanded 
the  complete  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  the  Grand  Duchy, 
he  replied :  "  That  is  the  Pope's  affair ;  it  rested  with  me  to 
drive  out  the  Turks — not,  however,  the  sons  of  Loyola."  One 
cannot,  therefore,  designate  the  time  of  Maximilian  II. 's  Govern- 
ment as  being  at  all  unfavourable  to  the  Order  of  Jesuits ;  and, 
still  less  was  this  the  case  under  his  successor,  Rudolph  II.,  who 
reigned  from  1570  to  1612.  This  monarch,  at  the  particular 
desire  of  his  relative  Philip  IL,  King  of  Spain,  was  educated 
in  Madrid  until  his  twentieth  year,  and  it  may  be  well  imagined 
how  the  Jesuits,  all-powerful  at  that  Court,  knew  how  to  bring 
their  influence  to  bear  upon  the  shy,  weak,  and  unstable  prince. 
They  got  him,  indeed,  completely  in  their  power ;  and  as  they 
moulded  him  to  their  wishes  in  his  youth,  they  also  led  him 
during  his  manhood,  and,  with  Father  Lorenz  Magius,at  their 
head,  kept  him  in  leading-strings  throughout  the  whole  period 
of  his  government.  Consequently,  on  ascending  the  throne 
in  the  year  1580,  he  immediately  presented  to  them  the  vacant 
cloister  of  St.  Anne  in  Vienna,  with  all  its  rich  possessions,  and 
similarly,  in  the  year  1581,  he  conferred  great  privileges  upon 


tTHE   POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      221 

the   Jesuit  College    founded   at   Olmutz    by.  Bishop   William 
Brussinowski  von  Kiczkowa,  and,  moreover,  even  permitted  the 
erection  of  another  Jesuit  colony  at  Brunn  in  Moravia.     He 
gave,  also,   his  support  to  the  efforts  of  the  Order  to  form  a 
settlement  at  Glatz  in  Silesia,  as  well  as  at  Thurocz  in  Hungary, 
overcoming  all  the  difficulties  advanced  by  the  Parliaments  of 
Silesia   and   Hungary,   although   they    cleariy  represented  how 
inadmissible    was  the  way  in  which  the   Jesuits  proceeded  to 
install  themselves.     For  this  reason,  indeed,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
refrained  from  censuring  their  great  patron  when  he  succeeded 
in  finding  favour  in  the  eyes  of  several  of  the  Court  ladies, 
and  even  when  he  occasionally   descended    amongst   the  hum- 
blest of   their  ranks,  and  sometimes  conducted    himself    with 
force  and  violence  towards  his  mistresses ;  the  Jesuits,  indeed, 
rather  encouraged  him  in  his  wild  conduct,  calling  his  atten- 
tion  to   new  charms   when  they  were  of  opinion  that  special 
advantages  might   be   obtained   for   themselves    through    their 
possessors.     As  yet,  however,  the  founding  of  colleges  and  the 
acquiring  of  settlements  throughout  the  entirely,  or  partially, 
Catholic  territories  of  Germany,  was  still  far  from  being  by  any 
means  satisfactory,  as,  in  spite  of  the  establishment   of  these 
colleges  and  settlements,  the  great  majority  of  the  Germans  still 
adhered  to  the  Protestant  faith ;  and  as  long  as  this  was  the  case 
there  could  be  no  question  as  to  the  proper  sway  of  the  Order  of 
Jesus  in  the  Koman  Empire.     "  Wholesale  conversion  "  must 
follow,  if  anything  of  great  importance  was  to  be  effected,  and, 
in  order  to  pave  the  way  for  this,  it  must  be  necessary  to  put  an 
end  to  the  friendly  intercourse   which   had  hitherto  subsisted 
among  the  Catholics  and  Protestants.     The  old  rancour  between 
the  two  opposite  faiths,  which  for  several  decades  had  remained 
dormant,  must  again  be  stirred  up  ;  and  the  spectre  of  religious 
fanaticism  must  no  longer  be  allowed  to  remain  chained  in  hell, 
to  which  it  had  lor  some  time  been  consigned.     When  things 
came  so  far   as  this,   that   the  Catholics  had  been   roused  to 
entertain   resentment,    and   more  especially   the  rulers  among 
them  had  been  excited  to  such  a  pitch  of  anger  as  earnestly  to 
desire  the  complete  extermination  of  heresy,  then,  indeed,  might 
the  visor  be  thrown  aside,  the  time  having  at  length  arrived  for 
conversion  by  force  to  be  initiated,  and  then,  also,  might  the 
expectation  ol  tinal  victory  be  entertained.    In  the  meantime, 


/ 


■\ 


1 


222 


filSTCyKY   OF   THE   JE8UITÖ. 


through  the  royal  House  of  Hapsburg,  the  two  most  mighty 
thrones  in  the  world,  those  of  Spain  and  Austria,  had  been 
secured,  together  with  a  number  of  the  neighbouring  provinces. 
Moreover,  was  not  powerful  Bavaria,  and  were  not  all  of  the* 
Catholic  Principalities,  on  their  side  ?  and  what  was  even  of  still 
greater  consequence,  were  not  the  Protestants  themselves  divided 
into  two  parties,  who  were  so  inimical  towards  each  other  that 
their  large  numerical  preponderance  was  not  by  any  means  a 
real  one,  but  existed  only  on  paper  ?     Certainly  the  division  of 
Evangelicals  into  the  two  sects  of    Lutherans  and  Calvinists 
must,  of  itself,  be  a  great  advantage  for  Catholicism,  and  when 
once  an  established  hatred  had  been  thoroughly  roused  between 
them,  or,  at  least,  when  such  a  feeling  was  known  to  exist, 
unanimity  could  never  again  be  brought  about  among  themj 
and  then,  indeed,  would  they  not  be  weakened  by  at  least  one 
half?     Such  was  the  remarkably  shrewd  calculation  respecting 
the  situation  made  by  the  Jesuits,  and  the  honour  of  the  dis- 
covery or,  at    any  rate,  of  its  practical  application,  was  due, 
before  all  other  able  heads,  to  Father  Peter  Canisius,  to  whom 
I  have  already  made  frequent  allusion.     The  mode  in  which 
he  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  projects  was,  besides,  not  open 
or  straightforward;  hjs  means  were  rather  sly  and  stealthy,  like 
the  steps  of  a  cat.     At  the  period  that  the  operations  of  the 
Jesuits  in  Germany  began,  almost  all  religious  education  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Protestants,  and  those  for  the  most  part  firmly 
adhered  to  the  catechism  of  Luther,  which,  indeed,  reflected  the» 
Evangelical  faith  in  short,  clear,  and  distinct  formulas.     Every 
one,    even   among   the   common   people,  could    easily    under- 
stand his  catechism,  and  on  that  account  it  was  to  be  found 
in  every  school  and  almost  in  every  family.     It  might  well  be 
affirmed,  indeed,  that  the  great  extension  to  which  Protestantism 
had  at  that  time  attained  was  in  no  small  degree  to  be  attri- 
buted to  that  popularly  written  little  religious  book.     But  how 
was  it  now,  in  this  respect,  in  the  Catholic  world  ?    Ah  I  they  did 
not  possess  any  work  at  all  approaching  to  it,  but  the  whole  of 
their  religious  instruction  was  confined  entirely  to  the  public 
devotional  exercises  prescribed  by  the  priesthood,  namely,   the 
Mass,  the  Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  along  with  process'ions. 
Consequently,  it  now   entered   into   the   head   of  (Janisius   to 
supply  this  notorious  want,  by  publishing  a  handbook  of  Uutliolio 


tHE    POWEBFUL   li^FLÜENCE   OF   THE    JESUITS.      223 

instruction,  after  the  pattern  of  the  Lutheran  catechism,   and 
therefore,  in   the  year   1554,  there  appeared,  written  in  Latin, 
his  Su.una  Doctrine.  Chnstian<B,  that  is  to  say,  Tke  Summary 
of  Chnstian   Feaching.     But  while  the  Summa  entered  con- 
.siderably  into  details,  he  prepared,  at  the  same  time,  an  abridge- 
ment of  it,  after  the  form   of  the  smaller  Lutheran  catechism, 
under  the  title  of  Imtitutiones  ChristiancB  pietatis,  seu  parvus 
Katechismus  Katholicorum  ^  and  also  took  care  that  a  German 
translation  as  well  should  appear  of  this  -  small  Catholic  cate- 
chism.     Both  of  these  publications  soon  found  an  enormous 
circulation,  as  Ferdinand  L  of  Austria   (l^th  August  1554)   as 
well  as  King  Philip  IL  of  Spain  (6th  December  1557),  ordered 
their  general  introduction  into  all  schools  and  educational- insti- 
tutions within  their  dominions  ;  the  best  proof  thereof  was  that 
thirty  years  after  its  first  appearance  the  Summa  had  already 
reached   its   four  hundredth  edition,  while,  at   the  same   time 
the  small  catechism  was  to  be  found  in  neariy  every  Catholic 
house  m  town  or  country.     But  what  were  the  principles  which 
were  inculcated  by  these  Principles  of  Christian  Piety  '>     Was 
there   any   of  the   spirit  of  Christianity   or  of  Christian   love 
contained  in  them  ?     No,  no  ;  oh,  three  times  no  !     It  was  the 
spirit  of  intolerance  that  was  therein  displayed,  the  spirit  of 
religious  rancour,  the  spirit  of  religious  fanaticism. 

"  Only   he  was  a   Christian  "  (according  to   the   teaching  of 
Canisius)  "  who  acknowledged  the  Pope  as  the  representative  of 
Christ;  those,   on   the   other  hand,    who  did  not    do  so   were 
deserving  of  the  punishment  of  eternal  hell-fire."     He  even  con- 
demned "  the  holding  of  any  intercourse  whatever  with  heretics 
as  highly  deserving  of  punishment  and  supremely  dangerous  on 
account  of  contagion;  but  friendship  with  apostates,  or,  in  a 
still  greater  degree,  connection  with  them  by  marriage,  led  to 
immediate  damnation,  and  the  good  Catholic  must  avoid  every 
Protestant   as   he  would  a  person   tainted  with  leprosy.       He 
must,  indeed,    not   only  sbun  him,  but  he  must  fight  against 
him,    as  one  has  to   contend   with  the  wicked,    and  the  more 
valorously  one  carries  on  the  combat,  the  more    one    contri- 
butes to  the  extermination  of  heresy,  so  that  the  rays  in  the  halo 
surrounding  the  head  of  the  beloved  Son  of  the  only  blessed 
Church  should  thus  shine  more  brightly.*' 
In  this   way  did   Canisius   teach,   and  the  great  aim  and 


I 


1 


' '*_-i 


„jesiäBis**''' 


222 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JEöUITÖ. 


through  the  royal  House  of  Hapsburg,  the  two  most  mighty 
thrones  in  the  world,  those  of  Spain  and  Austria,  had  been 
secured,  together  with  a  number  of  the  neighbouring  provinces. 
Moreover,  was  not  powerful  Bavaria,  and  were  not  all  of  the 
Catholic  Principalities,  on  their  side  ?  and  what  was  even  of  still 
greater  consequence,  were  not  the  Protestants  themselves  divided 
into  two  parties,  who  were  so  inimical  towards  each  other  that 
their  large  numerical  preponderance  was  not  by  any  means  a 
real  one,  but  existed  only  on  paper  ?     Certainly  the  division  of 
Evangelicals  into  the  two  sects  of    Lutherans  and  Calvinists 
must,  of  itself,  be  a  great  advantage  for  Catholicism,  and  when 
once  an  established  hatred  had  been  thoroughly  roused  between 
them,  or,  at  least,  when  such  a  feeling  was  known  to  exist, 
unanimity  could  never  again  be  brought  about  among  them; 
and  then,  indeed,  would  they  not  be  weakened  by  at  least  one 
^  half?     Such  was  the  remarkably  shrewd  calculation  respecting 

the  situation  made  by  the  Jesuits,  and  the  honour  of  the  dis- 
covery or,  at    any  rate,  of  its  practical  application,  was  due, 
before  all  other  able  heads,  to  Father  Peter  Canisius,  to  whom 
I  have  already  made  frequent  allusion.     The  mode  in  which 
he  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  projects  was,  besides,  not  open 
or  straightforward ;  his  means  were  rather  sly  and  stealthy,  like 
the  steps  of  a  cat.     At  the  period  that  the  operations  of  the 
Jesuits  in  Germany  began,  almost  all  religious  education  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Protestants,  and  those  for  the  most  part  lirmly 
adhered  to  the  catechism  of  Luther,  which,  indeed,  reflected  the» 
Evangelical  faith  in  short,  clear,  and  distinct  formulas.     Every 
one,    even   among   the   common   people,  could    easily    under- 
stand his  catechism,  and  on  that  account  it  was  to  be  found 
in  every  school  and  almost  in  every  family.     It  might  well  be 
affirmed,  indeed,  that  the  great  extension  to  which  Protestantism 
had  at  that  time  attained  was  in  no   small  degree  to  be  attri- 
buted to  that  popularly  written  little  religious  book.     But  how 
was  it  now,  in  this  respect,  in  the  Catholic  world  ?    Ah  I  they  did 
not  possess  any  work  at  all  approaching  to  it,  but  the  whole  of 
their  religious  instruction  was  confined   entirely  to  the  public 
devotional  exercises  prescribed  by  the  priesthood,  namely,   the 
Mass,  the  Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  along  with  processions. 
Consequently,  it  now   entered   into    the   head    of  (Janisius   to 
supply  this  notorious  want,  by  publishing  a  handbook  of  Cutlioiio 


I 


L. 


The  powebful  influence  of  the  jesüits.    223 

instrucüon,  after  the  pattern  of  the  Lutheran  catechism,   and 
therefore,  m  the  year   1554,  there  appeared,  written  in  Latin, 
his  Sum,»a  Doctrin^e  Chnstian<e,  that  is  to  say.  The  Summary 
of  Chruuan   reaching.     But  while  the  Summa  entered  con- 
siderably into  details,  he  prepared,  at  the  same  time,  an  abridge- 
ment of  it,  after  the  form   of  the  smaller  Lutheran  catechism 
under  the  title  of  Institutiones  GhristiavcB  pietatis,  seu  parvus 
Katechtsmus  Katholicorum ,  and  also  took  care  that  a  German 
translation  as  well  should  appear  of  this  "  small  Catholic  cate- 
chism.     Both  of  these  publications  soon  found  an  enormous 
circulation,  as  Ferdinand  L  of  Austria   (lath  August  1554)   as 
well  as  King  Philip  IL  of  Spain  (6th  December  1557),  ordered 
their  general  introduction  into  all  schools  and  educational- insti- 
tutions within  their  dominions  ;  the  best  proof  thereof  was  that 
thirty  years  after  its  first  appearance  the  Summa  had  already 
reached   its   four  hundredth   edition,  while,  at   the  same  time 
the  small  catechism  was  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  Catholic 
house  in  town  or  country.     But  what  were  the  principles  which 
were  inculcated  by  these  Principles  of  Christian  Piety  ">     Was 
there   any   of  the   spirit  of  Christianity   or  of  Christian   love 
contained  in  them  ?     No,  no  ;  oh,  three  times  no  !     It  was  the 
spirit  of  intolerance  that  was   therein  displayed,  the  spirit  of 
religious  rancour,  the  spirit  of  religious  fanaticism. 

"  Only  he  was  a  Christian  -  (according  to  the  teaching  of 
Canisius)  "  who  acknowledged  the  Pope  as  the  representative  of 
Christ;  those,    on    the   other  hand,    who  did  not    do  so   were 
deserving  of  the  punishment  of  eternal  hell-fire."     He  even  con- 
demned "  the  holding  of  any  intercourse  whatever  with  heretics 
as  highly  deserving  of  punishment  and  supremely  dangerous  on 
account  of  contagion;  but  friendship  with  apostates,  or,  in  a 
still  greater  degree,  connection  with  them  by  marriage,  led  to 
immediate  damnation,  and  the  good  Catholic  must  avoid  every 
Protestant  as   he  would  a  person  tainted  with  leprosy.       He 
must,  indeed,   not  only  shun  him,  but  he  must  fight  against 
him,    as  one  has  to    contend   with  the  wicked,    and  the  more 
valorously  one  carries  on  the  combat,  the  more    one    contri- 
butes to  the  extermination  of  heresy,  so  that  the  rays  in  the  halo 
surrounding  the  head  of  the  beloved  Son  of  the  only  blessed 
Church  should  thus  shine  more  brightly." 
In  this   way  did   CanisiuB   teach,   and  the  great  aim  and 


y 


^ 


224 


fiISl?OBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


object  of  his  religious  handbook  could  be  looked  upon  as  nothing 
else  than  an  endeavour  to  propagate  the  extension  of  hatred 
among  the  Catholics  towards  the  non-Catholic  community.  He 
also  fully  attained  this  object,  as  a  more  poisonous  seed  of  the 
dragon  was  never  sown  than  in  this  case,  while  the  whole  of 
the  Catholic  rising  generation  was  henceforth  brought  up  in 
accordance  with  this  said  spirit  of  religious  rancour.  Now, 
moreover,  as  this  fanatic  hatred  began  to  take  root,  oppor- 
tunity must,  of  course,  be  given  for  it  to  express  itself;  and 
on  that  account,  in  the  year  1570,  the  Jesuits  determined,  by 
an  arbitrary  rupture  of  religious  peace,  to  initiate  a  kind  of 
Protestant  persecution  in  a  small  way.  This  persecution  was 
at  the  same  time  to  be  a  sort  of  touchstone,  whereby  to  show 
whether  the  Evangelicals  would  allow  of  it  without  at  once 
taking  up  arms;  and  according  as  it  turned  out,  one  might 
either  in  this  way  proceed  further,  or  temporise  for  some  time 
longer.  It  was  not,  indeed,  necessary  to  consider  long  where  to 
carry  out  the  tragedy  now  about  to  commence,  for  an  opportunity 
at  this  time  offered  itself  respecting  the  princely  Abbey  of  Fulda, 
one  of  the  smallest  priestly  principalities  of  Germany.  It  was 
here,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1570,  that  Balthasar  von 
Dernbach,  a  priest  brought  up  in  the  Protestant  faith,  but  who 
had  only  latterly  gone  over  to  Catholicism,  had  been  elected 
Abbot ;  immediately  after  his  installation,  he  summoned  the 
Jesuits  to  his  small  court,  notwithstanding  that  previous  to  his 
accession  to  the  Government  he  had  bound  himself  by  an  oath 
not  to  burden  the  bishopric  with  any  foreign  ecclesiastics.  The 
sons  of  Loyola,  naturally  enough,  came,  and  at  once  began  to 
make  themselves  at  home ;  they  at  the  same  time  urged  upon 
their  protector  that  he  should  come  forward  as  a  hero  of  the 
faith,  and  restrain  his  Protestant  subjects,  who  for  several 
generations  had  lived  unmolested,  from  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion.  The  zealot  Balthasar,  like  all  new  converts, 
acted  at  once  with  vigour,  and  not  only  turned  to  the  right- 
about the  pair  of  Evangelical  clergymen  in  his  diocese,  but  even 
banded  over  their  churches  to  the  Jesuits,  in  order  that  they 
might  from  that  time  conduct  public  worship  therein.  This 
oppressive  action  of  the  Abbot  created  an  enormous  uproar 
throughout  Germany,  and  the  most  prominent  Evangelical 
members  of  Parliament  took  up  the  cause  of  the  poor  oppressed 


THE  POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF  THE   JESUITS.      225 

people,  writing  at  the  same  time  to  their  oppressor,  demanding 
that  he  should  remove  the  Jesuits  and  discontinue  his  oppres- 
sive  measures.     On  the  other  hand,  however,  he  received  the 
highest  approval  of  his  conduct  from  the  Pope,  as  well  as  from 
the  Romanists  on  German   soil ;   and  Albert  V.  of  Bavaria,  as 
well  as  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  of  Austrian  Tyrol,   promised 
him  their  strenuous  support.     Both  parties  now  finally  appealed 
to  the  Emperor,  and  seeing  that  at  that  time  Maximilian  II.  was 
in  possession  of  that  dignity,  it  was  fully  expected  that  strict 
justice  would  be  done.     The  question,  however,  did  not  actually 
come  before  the  Emperor  for  his  decision,  as  the  Chapter  of 
Fulda,  who  were  equally  in  the  highest  degree  incensed  at  the 
appointment  of  the  Jesuits,  by  the  aid  of  the  united  knighthood 
of  Hesse  insisted  upon  the  abdication  of  Balthasar   in   June 
I57Ö,   and   handed  over   the  administration  of  the  Abbey  to 
Bishop  Julius  of  Würzburg,  who  put  an  end  to  the  discontent  by 
^he  removal  of  the  Jesuits.*     As  it  was  now  indubitably  appa- 
rent,  as  the  result  of  their  proceedings  in  Fulda,  that  the  Pro- 
testants hesitated  to  have  resort  to  arms,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
saw   fit   to  begin   the  same  game  in  some  of  the  other  archi- 
episcopal  states,  and  they  selected  the  Archbishopric  of  Mayence 
for  their  purpose.     In  this  territory  Protestantism  had  by  de- 
grees become  so  established  that  some  of  the  villages  and  towns, 
more  especially  Düderstadt  and  Heiligenstadt,  contained  only  a 
few  Catholic  families,  nor  was  it  uncommon  that  Lutheran  clergy- 
men were  actually  appointed  by  Catholic  patrons.    No  opposition 
had  been  offered  to  this  state  of  matters,  and  the  burgesses  of 
both  confessions  lived  quite  cordially  together  during  several 
decades.     It  was  quite  different,  however,  in  this  respect,  on  the 
accession  of  Arcb>ishop  Daniel,  as  he  selected  as  his  Father 
Confessor  the  Jesuit  Louis  Backarell,  and  moreover,  the  Jesuit 
Provincial   of  the  Lower   Rhine,  Father  Tyreus,   obtained  the 
greatest  influence  over  him.   At  the  instigation  of  Backarell  and 
Tyreus,  Daniel  declared  himself  ready  to  commence  purifying 
the  whole  of  the  bishopric  from  heresy,  and  ßs  it  had  more  par- 

•  It  was  not  for  long,  however,  as  I  shall  presently  remark.    After  much 
strife  and  contention,  the  deposed  Abbot  was  restored  in  the  year  1602 
under  the  Emperor  Rudolph  H.,  and  he  thereupon  immediately  recalled 
his  beloved  Jesuits.     He  also  succeeded,  with  their  assistance,  in  bringing       ■ 
over  agam  his  whole  country  to  CathoUcism,   and  on  that  account  ho 
Obtained  a  special  letter  of  thanks  from  Pope  Clement  ym. 

15 


w 


226 


HISTOSY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


..ticularjyidomeftticated  itself  in  a  t)lace  ealled  Eichsfeld,  he  nomi- 
nated a  certain  Leopold  von  Stralendorf  as  chief  magistrate  of 
öAat  diatrict,  a  man  whom  the  Jesuit  Lamhert  Auer  had  con- 

-  wetted  to  the  only  saving  Church  from  the  Protestant  faith. 

This  person  might,  indeed,  he.  called  a  man  after  the  heart  of 
i.the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  his  zeal  was  so  great  that  he  carried 
out  the  expulsion  of  the  Protestant  ecclesiastics  from  all  of  the 
»irillages  of  his  circle.     He  had,  indeed,  at  his  disposal,  to  assist 
I  him  in  this  work,  an  armed  troop,  who  made  short  work  with 
,  the  contumacious,  and  he  might  he  pretty  well  sure  that  even 
the  hardest  of  his   regulations  would   meet   with   the   hearty 
.approval  of  the  ruler,  or  rather  of  the  Jesuits  as  rulers  of  the 
r  ruler.     The  inhabitants  of  Diiderstadt  alone  showed  any  hesita- 
tion in  deciding  upon  giving  over  their  churches  to  the  Jesuits 
.  for  them  to  conduct  their  religious  services  therein,  and  declared 
themselves  prepared  to  meet  force  hy  force.  ^ 

What  did  the  Archbishop  do  now  hy  the  advice  of  Stralendorf 
and  his  Father  Confessor?      He  forthwith  prohibited  all  hiö 
iBubjects   (1576)  from   procuring  beer  from  the  contumacious 
-town,  and  thereby  deprived  it  of  a  chief  source  of  existence. 
Besides  this,  he  also  levied  taxes  upon  the  civic  revenues  of  all 
-the    surrounding  villages,   with    the   alternative   of    arrest  in 
case  of  failure,  and.    finally,  in   this  way,  compelled  the  bur- 
gesses to  give  in  after  a  continued  resistance  of  three  years'    : 
-duration.  j 

In  the  Archbishopric  of  Mayence,  then,  the  Jesuits  succeeded 

*  in  their  aim,  as  to  the  suppression  of  heresy,  without  any  very 
1  great   diflBculty,   and  this   circumstance,    therefore,  gave   them 

-  encouragement  to  proceed  in  the  same  manner  in  the  Bishopries 
of  Treves  and  Worms.     Here,  also,  everything  went  in  jiccord- 

tftnce  with  their  wishes,  or,  at  all  events,  mostly  so,  and   on 

•  this  account  their  courage  assumed  always  increasing  dimen- 
«sions.     Still,  however,    they  would  never  have   dared  to  offer 

opposition  to  Protestantism  with  even  more  startling  bold- 
ness, had  it  not  been  for  a  peculiar  case  which  showed  them 
that  they  might  with  impunity  attempt  anything,  even  of  the 
most  foolhardy  nature,  against  their  antagonists,  though  the 
latter  were  by  far  numerically  superior  to  them,  and  this 
peculiar  case  was  the  celebrated  defection  of  the  Archbishop 
Gebhard  of  Cologne  from  the  Catholic  faith. 


.  J 


THE  POWEBFUIi.  INFLUENCE   OP  THE   JESUITS.     .227 

Gehhardhad  sprang  from  the  celebrated  house  of  the  Truoh- 
sissen  (grandmasters)  of  Waldberg.     Those  who  wish  to  read 
■the  whole  story  in  detail,  may  do  so  either  in  my  own  or  some 
(Other  history  of  Germany ;  but  we  may  here  in  a  few  words  relate 
ohow  that  the  said  Gebhard,  after  he  had  succeeded,  in  1670,  with 
much  trouble,  in  getting  himself  raised  to  the  dignity  of  arch- 
bishop, no  lesser  a  personage  than   Duke  Ernest,  of  Bavaria 
being  his  fellowt  candidate  for  this  distinguished  position,  and 
»shortly  after  his  elevation  to  it,  was  seized  with  such  a  violent 
passion  for  the  beautiful  Countess  Agnes  von  Mansfeld,  that  he 
.  could  no  longer  live  without  her.     The  question  with  him  now 
ccame   to   be,   what  was  he   to  do   under   the  circumstances? 
!  Should  he  abdicate  as  his  predecessor  Salentin  von  Isenberg 
»had:  done,    who,   with   the   Pope's   approval,   had  reverted   to 
lithe,  condition   of  layman  in  order  to  be  in  a  position  to !  be 
?  able,  to  marry  ?      Must  he  abdicate,    and  instead  of  being  a 
J  irioh  and  electoral  prince,  with  almost  royal  consideration  and 
income,   become    again  !  a  poor   count  ?      No,  by  no  means ; 
that  was,  indeed,   too   much  to  be    demanded   of  him ;   and 
consequently   Gebhard    determined  to  ^  adopt   another  way   of 
rgetting  out  of  the  difficulty,  namely,  he  openly  went  over  to  the 
.hProtestant  faith  in  i  the   year   1582,  and  married  his  beloved 
Agnes;  he i did  not,  however,  on  that  account,  relinquish  the 
Bishopric  of  Cologne,  but,  on  the  contrary,  continued  to  reign  as 
he  had  dona  hitherto,  and  with  the  publicly  expressed  avowal  of 
-making  it  henceforth   an  heritable ;  Electorate.    In  this  bold 
wuüdertafcing, :  he,  .of  course,  naturally,  reckoned  upon)  having 
!  the  support  of  thö  great  Protestant  party  of  Germany,  as  it- was 
(Of  great  importance  to  them  to  have  onei  Catholic  ^Electoral  hat 
the  less  in  the  Empire  ;  and,  moreover,  it  mighty ^he  considered, 
.  be  looked  upon  asi^a  certainty  that  most  of,  theuinhahitantsof 
t  the  Archbishopno! would  follow  itha  example«,  of  their  ruler, >and 
:  go  over  to  the  Evangelical  faith.     What»  a  gain  would  there 
1  then  be  for  Protestant  interests,  and,  at  the  same,  time,  what  a 
blow  would  be  dealt  to  Catholicism  if  Gebhard  carried  out  htis 
idntention !     AH  the  friends  ofi  Borne  were  xwnsequenUy  at  once 
.seized  with  panic  and  horror,  and  more  especially,  »the  Jesuits^tus 
{-soon. as  they  heard  this  news;  so  messengers  were,  immediately 
:  sent)  off  to  Italy,  in  order  to  get  the  Pope,  Gregory  XIII.,  to 
I  launch  instantly  hiaNanath^ma  upon.(tbe>apostatev  prince  otibe 

15  • 


228 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Church.  This  took  place,  and  even  more  than  this,  indeed,  for 
Gregory  not  only  excommunicated  Gebhard,  but  also  pronounced 
upon  him  the  sentence  of  deposition  from  the  Electorate,  thereby 
giving  a  slap  on  the  face  to  German  rights.  The  Chapter  of  the 
Cathedral,  which  was  now  assembled  outside  of  Cologne,  pro- 
ceeded to  a  new  election  in  the  year  1583,  and  the  choice  fell 
upon  Duke  Ernest  of  Bavaria.  As  Gebhard,  however,  would 
not  voluntarily  yield,  but  resisted  to  the  uttermost,  the  former 
brought  against  him  a  powerful  army,  to  which  flocked  his 
brothers  and  cousins,  as  well  as  many  other  high  Catholic  per- 
sonations, at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits ;  and,  aided  with 
money  and  men,  proceeded  to  seize  upon  the  Bishopric  by  force. 
What  now  took  place  on  the  side  of  the  Protestant  princes  ? 
They  saw  very  well  that,  as  the  whole  German  world  friendly  to 
the  Pope  now  embraced  the  side  of  Ernest  of  Bavaria,  Gebhard 
must  of  necessity  be  defeated  if  powerful  aid  was  not  given  to 
him,  nor  did  it  escape  their  observation  that  great  advantages 
would  accrue  to  the  Protestant  Church  were  the  victory  to  be  on 
the  side  of  Gebhard,  and  consequently  no  one  in  the  world 
gifted  with  any  sense  doubted  that  the  Catholic  army  would  be 
encountered  with  a  Protestant  force.  How  differently,  however, 
did  it  turn  out !  Gebhard,  poor  man,  had  not,  as  it  appeared, 
adopted  the  teaching  of  Luther,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  of 
Calvin ;  and  as  soon  as  the  Lutheran  princes  became  aware  of 
this  fact,  they  completely  withdrew  their  support  from  him. 
They,  in  their  spiritual  narrow-mindedness,  hated  Calvinism  even 
more  than  the  Papal,  or,  indeed,  the  Turkish  abomination  ;  how 
could  they  then  give  their  countenance  to  an  adherent  of  that 
faith  ?  Gebhard  might,  indeed,  beg  and  pray  as  he  would,  and 
even  bind  himself  to  allow  all  his  subjects  to  become  Lutherans ; 
nothing  could  overcome  the  hatred  of  such  faith  among  the 
Electors  of  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and  the  like,  and  they  looked 
with  the  gravest  indifference  and  scorn  at  the  further  proceedings 
of  the  Witelsbacher.  This  was  truly  "  more  than  brutal 
stupidity  " — {helluina  stupiditas) — writes  a  contemporary  his- 
torian, the  Swiss  Gualtherus ;  but  the  narrow-mindedness,  of 
the  Lutheran  princes  did  not  perceive  this  to  be  the  case, 
not  even  when  Gebhard,  after  losing  Bonn,  the  last  of  his 
strongholds,  was  compelled  to  fly  to  Holland  in  the  year  1Ö84  ; 
and  when  the  new  Archbishop,  Ernest,  compelled  by  force  all 


1 


THE   POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.      229 

his  subjects,  hitherto  Lutherans,  to  return  again  to  the  Catholic 
faith.     What  a  glorious  triumph  now  was  this  for  the  Catholics, 
and  more   especially   for   the   Jesuits.     More   than   this,  with 
what  heartfelt  scorn  did  the  latter  look  down  upon  the  wrong- 
headed  Lutherans,  whose  blindness,  disorganisation  and  weakness 
were  now  apparent  to    everyone.     The  natural   result  of  this 
victory,  gained  at  Cologne,  was  that  the  whole  of  the  Episcopal 
sees,  as  they  in  future  became  vacant,  were  filled  up  by  men 
Jesuitically    minded;    as,   for  instance,    those    of  Freisingen, 
Wildesheim,  Liege,  Hablo,  Munster,  Osnabrück,  Minden,  and 
Paderborn.     The  first  five,  indeed,  were  all  united  together  by 
Ernest  of  Bavaria,  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,   all  were  com- 
pletely in   his  hands,  and  one  may   well  imagine   what  a  fine 
kind  of  life  was  led  by  this  spendthrift,  without  strength  either 
of  mind  or  body,  and  entirely  governed  by  the  Jesuits.*   In  the 
other  three  spiritual  principalities  it  went  otherwise,  and  only  by 
a  hairbreadth  ;  the  Jesuits,   however,  had  free  scope  to  proceed 
with  their  operations  of  conversion  within  them  without  the  least 
obstacle  being  placed  in  their  way  by  either  high  or  low.     They 
also,  indeed,  succeeded  in  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time 
in  again  bringing  round  to  Koman  Cathohcism  all  the  Evan- 
gelicals in  these  territories ;  and  one  might  be  tempted  to  feel 
astonishment    at  these  stupendous   results,   were  it  not  that 
taking    into   consideration    the   ways  and   means    which   they 
employed,   the   illusion   is  at   once   removed.     This  may    best 
be  made  clear  by  an  example,  as  in  the  case^f  the  Bishopric  of 
Paderborn.     Here  Protestantism  had,  indeed,  already  taken  deep 
root,  and  when,  in  the  year  1 Ö85,  the  Jesuits'  friend,  Theodore 
von  Fürstenburg,   was   raised   to  the  throne,  if  one  may  be 
allowed  to  make  use  of  the  expression,  hardly  one  tenth  part  of 
the  whole  population,  both  in  the  capital  as  well  as  throughout 
the  territory,  belonged  to  the  old  faith.     In  consequence  of  this 
state  of  matters,  the  whole  of  the  magistracy,  which  were  elected 
by  the  people,  were  worshippers  of  heresy ;  and  the  ruler  had, 
therefore,  to  take  good  care  not  to  issue  any  order  of  an  anti- 
Protestant  sounding  nature,  otherwise  not  only  would  it  be  dis- 
obeyed, but  it  would  be  even  treated  with  mockery  and  disdain. 

*  The  proof  for  this  assertion  can  be  read  in  Aretius'  History  of  MaxU 
milian  I.,  in  which  the  miserable  ^condition  of  Ernest,  and  his  immoralityi 
are  depicted. 


'•vv       - 


2o0 


mSTOBY   OF    THE   JESUITS, 


On  this  account  the  Jesuits,  aa  they  entered  into  the  small 
kingdom  along  with  Theodore  von  Fürstenburg,  and  obtained, 
from  him  money  and  the  site  for  erecting  a  Jesuit  College,  said 
to  themselves,  **Here,  at  least  at  the  commencement,  nothing  can 
be  effected  by  the  hitherto  favourite  means  of  force,  but  it  will, . 
first  of  all,  be  necessary  that  the  field-acre  (as  they  termed  the; 
territory  of  Paderborn),  should  be  well  prepared  beforcy  it  could, 
to  good  purpose,  be  gone  over  with  the  plough."     Experience 
had,  a» previously  shown,  proved  that  certainly  Protestant  princes  ^ 
and  deputies  need  not  be  feared  any  more  than  formerly  in 
Cologne;  but  the  people  of  Paderborn  must  not  be  roused  to 
anger,  and  thereby  driven  either  to  depose  the  Bishop,  or  to 
cause  him  to  abdicate,  and  to  give  the  Loyolites  their  conge  ? 
Prudence,  therefore,  dictated  that  the  faith  of  the  people  in  their. 
Protestant  belief  must  first  of  all  be  shaken,  previous  to  the  r 
Catholic  faith  being  offered  them,  and,  in  order  to  accomplish ; 
this,  one  must  not  drive  it  into  them  with  the  fist.     On  the 
contrary,   it  is  necessary  to  proceed  with   subtlety,   modesty^, 
and  humanity,  as  if  one  was  unable  to  count  even  five.     One  » 
must    conduct   oneself   like    an    innocent    child   in    order  to 
gain  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and,  above  everything  else, . 
it  is  imperative  to  exhibit  a  halo  of  sanctity  round  the  head, 
in  order  thereby  to  give  Catholicism  the  appearance  of  being 
the  sole   saving  faith.     The   sons  of  Loyola,  therefore,  acted 
thus,  and  proceeded,  indeed,  with  a  patience  and  perseverance 
worthy  of  all  commendation.     They  found  themselves,  however, 
in  an  exceedingly  difficult  position,  as  the  Paderbomers  received^ 
them  not  only  with  extreme  distrust,  but  even  with  the  most . 
intense  hatred,  and  they  barely,  indeed,  escaped  being  stoned  on  > 
their  making  their  appearance  in  the  streets.     Many,  Jndeedy . 
entertained  the  conviction  that  the  pious  Fathers  were  not  even 
made  of  flesh  and  blood,  like  other  mortals,  but  that  they  were 
demons  spewed  out  of  hell;  and  the  women,  especially,  were  im 
the  habit  of  frightening  their  children  with  the  name  of  the^ 
Black  Brotherhood.     By  degrees,  however,  people  were  brought 
to  change  their  opinions  and  sentimeuts.     Ah  !  the  Fathers  con- 
ducted themselves  so  lovingly,  and  with  such  kindness  of  heart,. , 
that,  in  fact,  it  came  even  to  be  considered  a  sin  to^think  ill  any 
longer  of  such  angelic  beings.     They  voluntarily  attended  upon 
the  sick,  and  without  any  recompense  or  reward.     They  not 


THE    POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS.      231 


only  nursed  them  tenderly,  but  provided  them  also  with  food  and 
drink  when  necessary.     They  educated  the  rising  generation, 
too,  without  recompense;  they  not  only  educated  them,  indeed, 
but  they  even  supplied  the  needy  ones  among  the  children  with 
lodging  and  clothing,  relieving  the  poorer  parents  of  a  burden 
which  weighed  heavily  on  their  heart.     Then,  in  addition  to  all 
this,  wonderfully   beautiful  processions  were   introduced  from 
time    to    time  by  the   worthy    Fathers,  while,    to   crown   all, 
the  pageantry,  pomp,  and  splendour  of  their  religious  services 
made  an  impression  in  the  eyes  of  the  non- Catholic  population. 
They  lastly,  moreover,  knew  how  to'  make  use  of  the  credulity 
of  the  masses  in  the  most  cunning  way,  and  especially  of  the 
women  ;  and  from  this  time  forward  no  daughter  of  Eve  dared 
to  work  against  them,  as  on  one  occasion  a  woman,  who  had 
hitherto  been  one  of  their  most  deadly  enemies,  had  a  mis- 
carriage— a  circumstance  which  was  represented  by  them  as  ai 
punishment  from  heaven.     In  short,  they  succeeded  so  well  in 
gradually  inducing  the  people  of  Paderborn   to   change  their 
opinions  that,  in  a  period  of  less  than  eleven  years,  they  wore  no 
longer  hated  by  the  majority,  as  before,  but  even  contrived  to 
make  no  less  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty  proselytes.     ^'^^ 

Having  thus,  then,  got  on  so  far  as  to  consider  that  they  had 
sufficiently  prepared  the  soil,  in  order,  as  I  have  said  before, 
to  be  able  to  go  over  it  with  the  ploughshare,  they  now 
began  to  throw  off  their  sheeps'  clothing,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  assume  again  their  own  true  wolfskin.  In  other  words 
they  now  urged  their  patron,  the  reigning  Prince  Bishop,  to 
further  the  work  of  conversion  by  coercion,  and,  of  course, 
Theodor  von  Fürstenberg  promised  to  meet  their  wishes  in  every 
respect.  He  accordingly  issued  an  order,  in  the  year  1Ö96, 
-that  all  Protestant  ecclesiastics  should  either  revert  to  Catho- 
licism, or  leave  the  country  without  the  least  further  delay; 
whoever  did  not  at  once  obey  was  imprisoned,  and  kept  on  bread 
and  water  until  he  at  length  became  compliant.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  he  delivered  over  to  the  Jesuits,  at  the  same  time,  all  the 
churches  belonging  to  the  Protestants,  and  these  did  their  best 
endeavour,  and  skilfully  made  use  of  all  their  persuasive  powers, 
in  order  to  instil  into  the  people  the  doctrines  of  the  old  faiths. 
With  many,  too,  they  were  successful ;  but  by  far  •  the  greater 
majority  still  remained  stubborn,  and  after  earnest  exertions. 


•\,~ 


232 


HISTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


extending  over  a  period  of  six  years,  the  sons  of  Loyola  came 
to  the  conclasion  that  they  would  he  unahle  to  attain  their 
object  by  the  means  they  had  hitherto  employed.  The  Bishop, 
therefore,  by  their  advice,  adopted  another  method,  namely  this, 
that  all  his  Evangelical  subjects  were  given  the  choice  of 
becoming  again  Catholic,  or  of  quitting  the  country  ;  a  method 
which  proved  to  be  of  a  much  more  effectual  nature.  !Nor  did 
be  remain  satisfied  with  this  order  only,  but  he  stationed,  at  the 
S6une  time,  a  number  of  troops  about  his  dominions,  with  whose 
assistance  the  Jesuits  knew  well  how  to  give  expression  to 
their  episcopal  teaching.  In  what  manner  did  the  burgesses 
of  the  towns  and  inhabitants  of  the  country  receive  this 
frightfully  cruel  arrangement  ?  Eh !  part,  indeed,  did  either 
become  again  Catholic,  or  emigrated  to  neighbouring  countries; 
but  another  part  now  forsook  the  quiescent  attitude  which 
they  had  hitherto  strictly  maintained  in  regard  to  the  law 
of  the  land,  and,  in  their  rage  and  fury,  stormed  the  Jesuit 
College,  threatening  to  put  all  its  inmates  to  death.  This, 
however,  was  a  frightful  mistake,  for  now  the  Jesuits  had  reason 
to  call  out  *'  Bebellion,"  and  assured  the  Bishop  that  he  would 
be  quite  justified  in  making  short  work  with  the  mutineers. 
They  next  came  to  blows,  and  in  the  strife  the  burgesses, 
unaccustomed  to  the  use  of  arms,  and,  besides,  having  no  one  to 
take  the  lead,  were  of  course  defeated.  In  short,  it  was  not 
long  ere  the  rebellion  was  suppressed,  and  the  result  was  that, 
in  the  year  1604,  the  whole  of  the  people  of  Paderborn  had  to 
abjure  ^Protestantism,  and  pay  homage  afresh  to  their  liege  lord. 
In  this  manner  the  sons  of  Loyola  attained  their  object  in 
Paderborn ;  and,  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  they  set  about 
the  business  of  conversion  to  Catholicism  from  Protestantism  in 
the  remaining  Principalities  of  which  I  have  made  mention. 
Still  the  results  were,  after  all,  of  not  so  great  consequence,  as 
the  above-named  territories  formed,  relatively  speaking,,  but  a 
small  portion  of  Germany,  and  consequently  there  was  no  need 
for  wonder  when  the  pious  Fathers  were  observed  to  brood  over 
the  matter  day  and  night,  considering  whether  it  might  not  be 
possible  for  them,  with  the  aid  of  the  secular  rulers,  to  purge, 
now  this  province,  now  that  dukedom,  or  even  that  kingdom,  of 
Evangelical  teachers.  More  especially  did  tbey  direct  their 
attention  in  this  respect  to  ''  Inner  Austria,"  as  it  happened  to 


/''. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      233 

be  governed  by  a  man  quite  after  their  own  heart;  so  here  again 
their  schemes  met  with  success.     King  Ferdinand  I.  so  divided 
by  his  will  all  his  heritable  possessions  between  his  three  sons, 
that  the  eldest,  who  became  his  successor  directly  in  the  Empire, 
obtained  the  Archduchy  of  Austria,  along  with  Bohemia  and 
Hungary ;  the  second-born,  Ferdinand,  the  Tyrol,   along  with 
Outer  Austria ;  and  the  third,  Carl,  that  of  Inner  Austria— that 
is  to  say,  Styria,  Carinthia,  Krain,  Görz,  Istria,  and  Trieste. 
Now  this  Archduke  Charies,  the  founder  of  the  Styrian  line  of 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  was  held  by  the  Loyolites  in  great 
estimation ;  and  they  well  knew  what  they  were  about,  as  the 
same  duke  had,  in  the  year  1571,  married  Maria,  daughter  of 
Albert  V.  Duke  of  Bavaria,  who,  being  a  supremely  pious  Catholic, 
was  esteemed  by  the  Jesuits  with  the  innermost  devotion  of  their 
hearts.    Having  convinced  herself  that  the  greater  part  of  Inner 
Austria  at  that  time  adhered  to  the  Evangelical  Church,  she 
never   ceased  to  din  into  the  ears  of  her  husband  that  there 
was  no   other  means  of  preventing  the  complete  overthrow  of 
the  true  faith  than  by  convoking  the  aid  of  the  Black  Brother- 
hood,   and   she   soon   succeeded  in  inducing  her  husband  to 
believe   in   what  she  told   him.      He,  consequently,   made   an 
application  for  his   assistance  to  the  General  of  the  Order  in 
Rome,  who  sent  him,  in  the  year  1 573,  five  members  of  the 
Society,  at  the  same  time  promising  that  several  others  should 
immediately  follow  whenever  there  appeared  to  be  need  of  them. 
Those  üye,  however,  at  once  domesticated  themselves  in  Gratz, 
the  capital  of  the  country,  and  soon  obtained  from  their  high 
patron  so  many  buildings,  together  with  so  much  money  and 
property,  that  within  the  course  of  a  few  years  they  possessed  a 
college  and  seminary  for  priests,  and  an  educational  establish- 
ment for  the  nobility.     In  spite,  however,  of  accomplishing  all 
this,  they  did  not  succeed  in  attaining  great  results  as  regards 
conversion;  on  the  contrary,  there  appeared  even  to  be  an  exten- 
sion of  Protestantism  more  than  ever  since  their  advent,  and 
the  annals  undoubtedly  show  that  in  the  year  1580  not  only  the 
burgesses  of  most  of  the  villages,  market-places,  and  towns,  but 
also  almost  the  whole   of  the  nobility,  as  well  as  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  the  Government  officials,   belonged   to  the 
Evangelical  faith.     This  was  a  great  grief  to  the  pious  Fathers, 
and  the  Father  Confessor  of  the  Archduke,  the  worthy  Father 


234 


HISTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


Johannes,  represented  to  his  confessant  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  adopt  much  stricter  measures  against  the  Protestants. 
The  same  course  was  followed  by  his  spouse  Maria  in  her 
curtain  lectures,  while  her  brother,  the  fanatical  Duke  William  V. 
of  Bavaria,  in  the  year  1581,  undertook  on  one  occasion  a 
journey  to  Gratz  expressly  in  order  personally  to  influence  his  • 
brother-in-law.  The  latter  now  actually  began  to  waver,  and 
issued  at  this  time  several  enactments  which  restricted  the  free 
religious  exercise  of  the  Evangelical  religion  ;  but  as  he  hap- 
pened to  be  in  financial  diflSculties,  from  which  he  could  only  be 
relieved  by  his  deputies,  and  as  the  latter  would  not  suffer«* 
any  serious  Catholic  attacks,  he  limited  his  whole  proceedings 
against  the  Protestants  to  almost  nothing.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  endeavoured  to  indemnify  his  friends  the  Jesuits  for  his 
inactivity  by  a  large  distribution  of  favours,  the  most  consider- 
able being  this,  that  he  raised  their  college  in  Gratz,  in  the  year 
1585,  to  the  dignity  of  a  university,  with  all  the  rights  and  pri- 
vileges of  such.  In  this  way,  as  long  as  the  Archduke  Charles 
lived,  all  the  desires  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  regarding  religious 
matters  were  fulfilled  in  respect  to  Inner  Austria;  but  things 
assumed  a  Very  different  aspect  when,  in  the  year  1590,  his 
first-borUj  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  who  afterwards  became  thai 
Emperor  Ferdinand  II.,  succeeded  him  on  the  throne.  This^ 
Prince,  born  in  Gratz  in  the  year  1578,  was  handed  over  to  the 
Jesuits  for  his  education,  while  yet  in  his  very  tender  years,  and 
his  name  appears  in  the  matriculation  books  of  the  newly-founded 
University  of  Gratz.  Still,  at  that  time,  although  matriculated 
from  the  25th  November  1586,  he  was  too  young  to  be  considered 
as  a  regular  student;  however,  on  the  youth  entering  upon 
his  twelfth  year,  his  father,  at  the  instigation  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  William  V.  of  Bavaria,  the  great  friend  and  patron  of 
the  Jesuits,  sent  him  to  the  High  School  of  Ingoldstadt,  the  > 
head-quarters  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  Germany  ;  and  here  he  • 
was,  in  company  with  William  V.,  the  first-born  son  of  Maxi- 
milian, who,  however,  exceeded  him  in  age  by  five  years ;  he 
was  thus  so  excellently  instructed  in  all  the  principles  of 
Jesuitical  state  wisdom,  under  the  special  supervision  of  Duke 
William,  that  he  might,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  be  looked  upon 
as  the  perfect  pattern  of  a  Catholic  ruler. 

'*  All  the  good  fortune,  and  all  the  blessing  of  a  then  existing 


I 


THE   P0WEBFX3L   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      235 

good  government,"  so  taught  the  Jesuits,  *^  depend  upon  the ' 
establishment  of  unity  in  the  Catholic  faith,  as  religious  dispu- 
tations had  brought  about  nothing  but  disorder  into  a  State,  and 
had  roused  the  burgesses  one  against  another.  On  that  account 
a  ruler  who  happened  to  be  called  to  the  throne  during  a  time 
of  distraction  through  religious  dissensions  in  his  country,- 
ought  to  look  upon  it  as  his  first  duty  to  accord  no  considera- 
tion whatever  to  heretics,  and  show  such  no  toleration  or  for- 
bearance ;  no  means  should  be  considered  too  stringent  and  no 
sacrifice  should  appear  too  dear  in  order  to  restore  again  the 
foundations  of  society,  shattered  by  religious  separation.*'  * 

It    is  evidently  perceptible    that  it    was    similar   principles 
which  made  Philip  IL  of  Spain  to  prosper,  and  consequently 
historians  are  quite  right  in  reporting  that  his  dear  friend  as   ' 
well   as  cousin  Ferdinand  was   only  a  true  copy  of  his  great 
Spanish  model. 

"  The  same  glowing,  stifling  hatred  of  all  feeling  of  right  and 
morality  regarding  the  new  religious  convictions,  the  same  dis- 
avowal of  all  truth  and  all  faith,  the  same  wicked  toying  with 
the  solemnity  of  an  oath  and  of  the  most  solemn  treaties,  the 
same  want  of  feeling  in  regard  to  the  misery  of  peoples  writhing 
in  the  agony  of  death,  the  same  spiritual  energy  united  to  an 
almost  stupid  obstinacy  in  the  prosecution  of  principles  once 
determined  upon,  and,  lastly,  the  same  boundless  rrrogance  in 
respect  to  good  fortune  which  almost  demanded  the  wrath  of 
heaven;  in  short,  all  the  same  poisonous  principles  and  quali- 
ties which  luxuriated  in  the  Spanish  Philip  animated  also  the 
breasts  of  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian,  and  the  two  striplings 
left  the  High  School  of  Ingoldstadt,  in  the  year  1596,  with  the 
firm  determination  to  devote  their  whole  lives  to  the  task  of 
exterminating  heresy."  t 

In  the  year  1596,  Ferdinand  took  charge  of  the  government 
of  his  dominions,  which  since  the  death  of  his  father  had  been 

•  Compare   Sugenheim*B  •  History    of  the  Jesuit*   in  Genmnyt  vol.    i., 

pp.  119-120.  .  ^  r  J    IT.  , 

t  In  a  letter  still  extant  (see  Hormay's  Archives  of  Geography  and  History 
for  the  Year  1812,  p,  540)  the  Rector  of  the  University  of  Ingoldstadt  writes  . 
to  the  Rector  of  the  CoUege  in  Gratz :— "  The  Archduke  Ferdinand  has,  up 
to  this  time,  concluded  the  fourth  year  of  his  studies,  and  certainly  with  no 
small  advantage.  Nothing  is  spoilt  which  has  been  planted  in  so  fruitful  a 
soil,  and  the  disposition  of  the  good  prince  has  been  thus  confirmed  m  such 
a  way  as  nothing  better  could  be  desired." 


-iJ*- 


•*sis!W«Hn 


236 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      237 


conducted  by  his  guardians,  and  at  once  intimated  to  his  cousin, 
the  Emperor  Rudolph  II.,  that  he  would  no  longer  tolerate  the 
religious  freedom  which  had  hitherto  subsisted  in  his  territories. 
As,  however,  the  Emperor  in  his  reply  reminded  him  of  the 
great   superiority   of  the    Protestants,    and  at  the    same   time 
gave  him   to  understand  that  such   conduct  might  very  easily 
give  rise  to  a  bitter  loss  of  his  land  and  people,  for  the  first 
two  years  he  refrained  from  taking  coercive  measures  of  a  very 
powerful  nature.     On  the  other  hand,  this  time  was  employed  in 
ascertaining,  by  means  of  trifling  oppressions,  whether  the  Pro- 
testants possessed  courage  enough   to   oppose  force  by  force; 
and  here  the  pious  Fathers,  who  naturally  undertook    the  busi- 
ness of  feeling  the  national  pulse,   stepping  forward,  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  Evangelicals  of  Inner  Austria  possessed 
far  too  great  a  respect  for  the  legitimate  rights  of  their  princes, 
or,  as  it  may  be  more  properly  expressed,  an  incarnate  loyalty  as 
subjects,  to  induce  them  ever  to  revolt.     Upon  this  report  being 
made  to  him,  Ferdinand  determined  not  to  put  off  his  under- 
taking any  longer ;  still,  previous  to  that  resolve,  he  made  a 
journey  to  Rome,  in  the  year  1598,  in  order  to   invoke  the 
blessing   of  the   Holy   Father  for   the    success    of  his  work  ; 
besides  which,  he  carried  out  a  pilgrimage  to  Loretto,  where  he 
solemnly   renewed  his  "Generalissima"  vow  before  the  image 
of  the  Mother  of  God,  to  purge  all  his  lands   thoroughly  of 
heresy.     Hardly,  however,  had  he  returned  from  Rome,  where 
he  had  taken  up  his  quarters  in  the  profess-house  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  when,  before  taking  any  steps,  he  summoned  to  his 
council  his  three  chief  Jesuit  advisers,  namely  his  Father  Con- 
fessor, Bartholomew  Viller,  along  with  the  two  rectors,  Hauer 
and  Neukirk,  and  after  he  had  also  taken  into  his  counsel  the 
Catholic  town  priest  of  Gratz,  by  name  Lorence  Sunabenter,  a  plan 
of  campaign  against  the  Evangehcals  was  then  discussed.  It  was, 
indeed,  of  a  very  simple  nature  (as  why  should  it  be  necessary  to 
make  much  ado  about  heretics),  and  it  began  in  this  way,  that 
Sunabenter  complained  bitterly,  in  a  well-drawn-up  petition,  how 
the  Evangelical  preachers  conducted  themselves,  going  about  in 
his  circle,  daring  to  baptise,  marry,  and  perform  other  spiritual 
functions.      Such    a   representation   was,   indeed,   founded    on 
fact;  the  town  parson  forgot,  nevertheless,  to  add  that  these 
duties  had  for  many  years  been  exercised  by  the  Evangelical 


preachers  unhindered  an  a  time  of  religious  freedom.  How, 
then,  did  the  Archduke  reply  to  this  petition  of  Sunabenter  ? 
Simply  in  this  way,  that  he  rescinded  the  religious  liberty  which 
had  been  previously  granted,  declaring  the  mode  of  proceedings 
of  the  preachers  in  question  to  be  a  breach  of  the  peace,  and  as 
such  liable  to  punishment ;  an  order  was,  therefore,  issued  to 
the  chief  authority  in  the  land  of  Styria  to  close  all  the  Pro- 
testant churches  and  schools,  within  a  period  of  fourteen  days 
from  the  13th  of  September  1598,  and  a  further  decree  was  pro- 
mulgated that  the  schoolmasters  and  preachers  were,  under  the 
penalty  of  death,  to  cease  all  preaching  and  instruction,  or  within 
eight  days  to  leave  the  country.  Edicts  of  an  exactly  similar 
tenour  were  now  published  in  the  remaining  provinces  of  Inner 
Austria,  and  with  the  further  proviso,  moreover,  that  all  Evan- 
gelicals and  heretics  were  either  to  become  at  once  Catholic  again, 
or  instantly  to  sell  their  goods  and  possessions,  and,  after  paying 
a  tenth  part  of  the  proceeds,  to  leave  the  country.  Duke  Fer- 
dinand, it  may  be  observed,  now  made  use  of  flowery  language 
no  longer,  nor  did  he  conceal,  in  the  least  degree,  what  was  his 
great  aim.  But  what  did  the  Protestants  do  on  the  occasion, 
seeing  that  it  was  now  a  matter  of  life  and  death  for  them  ? 
They  formed,  as  I  have  explained  above,  by  far  the  greatest 
majority  of  the  population,  and  might,  if  they  wished  to  do  so, 
thus  offer  with  ease  a  stout  resistance,  especially  as  most  of  the 
property  was  in  their  hands.  But  did  they,  then,  offer  this 
resistance  ?  Yes,  certain  communities  did,  indeed,  do  so,  as, 
for  instance,  that  of  Klagenfurt,  the  capital  of  Carinthia.  All 
the  others,  however,  contented  themselves,  from  submissive 
courage,  in  making  merely  earnest  remonstrances,  or,  at  most, 
vehement  representations  on  the  subject,  and  in  this  case  it  was 
an  easy  matter  for  the  Archduke  to  crush  them  by  mpÄUs  of  his 
troops  and  powerful  opposition,  the  small  communities  being  so 
isolated. 

I  will  not  further  dilate  upon  this  unworthy  submission  of 
those  Protestants  of  Inner  Austria,  founded  upon  the  teach- 
ing that  it  was  the  duty  of  Christians  rather  to  endure  the 
greatest  injustice  than  oppose  the  divine  right  of  the  ruler 
of  the  country,  merely  reiterating  the  observation  that  the 
victory  would  certainly  have  been  on  their  side  had  they  only 
risen  in  masses  against  their  oppressor.     Under  such  circum^ 


i 


238 


iHISTOBr  OP. THE   JESUITS. 


*  stances  aä  these,  a  sentence  was  forthwith  pronounced  against 
them — such    a  sentence,    indeed,    as   was    seldom    carried   out 
against  a  city  taken  hy  storm.     As  soon,  namely,  as  the;  Jesuits 
— and  these  were  from  this  time  forth  the  sole  directing  powers 
of  Inner  Austria— saw,  to  their  particular  astonishment,  that 
the  hundred  thousands  of  their  heretical  opponents  allowed  with 
humility  anything  to  take  place,  they  then  moved  their  Archduke 
to  estahlish  a  great  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  emis- 
saries thereof  penetrated  throughout  the  whole  country  under 
the  designation  of  royal  commissioners,  proceeding  from  village 
to  village,  and  from  town  to  town,  in  order  to  hring  back  the 
stray  lambs  into  the  sheep-fold  of  the  only  saving  Church.    This 
result,  however,  was  not  effected  by  means  of  mild  persuasion, 
or  derived  in  the  least  degree  from  convictions  originating  in 
the  Bible  or  the  Word  of  God,  but  rather  by  the  sword  of  the 
warriors  by  whom  the  commissioners  were  accompanied,    and 
especially  by  fear  of  the  gallows;  before  every  village,  indeed, 
the  latter  were  erected,   and  whoever  did  not  at  once    either 
abjure  Protestantism,  or  emigrate,  might  be  certain,  to  find  a 
halter  round  his  neck. 

After  this  fashion,  the  Jesuits  proceeded  for  five  long  years, 
!  and  during  that  space  of  time  they  consigned  to  the  flames 
more  than  forty  thousand  Lutheran  Bibles,  while  they  also  occa- 
sionally, to  make  short  work  of  it,  converted  a  number  of  Pro- 
testant churches  into  ruins  by  means  of  cannon  or  by  blowing 
them  up  into  the  air  with  gunpowder. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1600  they  could  thus  trust 
that  the  whole  of  the  heretics  had  become  reconverted,  at  leaet 
outwardly,  with  the  exception  of  about  30,000  who  had  chosen 
to  emigrate,,  ^d  thus  was  the  peace  of  the  Church  scattered  to 
the  winds. 

Thus  terminated  the  fearful  war  of  heresy-extermination 
which  was  undertaken  by  the  Jesuits  in  Germany,  .and  ,;it 
may  easily  be  understood  that  they  had  at  the  same  time 
not  neglected  to  enlarge  the  supremacy  of  their,  power.  In 
this  way  they  obtained,  at  the  beginning  of  Ferdinand's  govern- 
ment, a  large  college  at  Laibach,  the  capital  of  Carinol^; 
while,  further,  in  the  year  1598,  the  lordship  of  Mullstadt  in 
Carinthia  was  given  to  them,  with  all  thereto  belonging,  equ^l, 
indeed,  ta. a,  principality  endowed  with,  coippxekensiye  sovereign 


'/ 


THE   POWEEPUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      239 

'rights.  Then,  again,  in  the  year  1607,  a  fine  new  college  was 
erected  by  them  in  Klagenfurt,  and  another  not  less  splendid  at 
Leoben;  besides,  lastly,  in  the  year  1609,  a  really  princely 
palace,  in  the  shape  of  a  university  building  in  Gratz  itself, 
together  with  a  whole  quantity  of  smaller  properties  and  incomes', 
to  enumerate  which  would  take  up  far  too  much  time.  Of  con- 
siderably greater  importance,  however,  was  the  fact  that,  since 
the  accomplishment  of  the  heresy  conversion,  they  governed 
the  whole  of  Inner  Austria  as  supreme  lords,  and  ordered  every 
thing  according  to  their  own  will  and  pleasure. 

The  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  it  is  true,  perceived  the 
progress  of  events  in  Inner  Austria  with  much  inward  indigna- 
tion, seeing  all  this,  however,  without  moving  hand  or  foot;  and 
consequently,  going  upon  the  principle  of  striking  when  the  iron 
is  hot,  the  Jesuits  did  not  cease  to  whisper  into  the  ears  of  the 
Emperor  Eudolph  II.  that  now  was  the  important  juncture 
and  now  was  the  time  for  again  establishing  the  universal 
faith  throughout  all  the  states  of  Austria.  Kudolph  showed  him- 
self not  at  all  disinclined  to  follow  this  counsel,  nominating,  for 

instance,  special  commissioners  for  his  Archduchy  of  Austria 

who,  during  the  years  from  1599  to  1603,  penetrated  throughout 
the  whole  country  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  out  all  the  Pro- 
testant clergy.  He  also  presented  to  the  sons  of  Loyola  a 
splendid  dwelling  together  with  several  ruined  Protestant  churches 

in  Linz — Austria's  capital,  oh  der  Ens,  **  beyond  the  Ens  " 

and  in  it  sprung  up  shortly  such  a  beautiful  college  as  few  like 
it  had  ever  before  made  their  appearance..    On  the  other  hand, 
he  did  not  hesitate  carrying  out  similar  measures  in  his  other 
two  kingdoms  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  which,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Turks,  had  hitherto  quite  withdrawn  themselves  from  his 
sway  ;  but  now  they  were  penetrated  by  the  four  Jesuit  Fathers, 
George   Scherer,    William    Lamormain,   Jacob    Geranus,    and 
Johannes  von  Milien,  who,  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life, 
had   almost  completely  ruled   over  this   weak  monarch.     As, 
however,  in  this  case,  the  Order  had  to  renounce  the  above- 
mentioned  measures,  at  least  openly,  it  indemnified  itself  in  this 
way,  that  it  now  began  in  a  truly  fiendish   spirit,  and  by  slan- 
derous writings  of  all  kinds,  to  stir  up  and  irritate  the  Catholics 
against  the  Evangelicals  ;  and  it  is  an  established  fact  that  thpy 
'pursued .this .plan   with    true    art,    although  the  Protestants 


240 


HISTÖBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ccrtftinly,  it  must  bo  ndiDiUccl,  were  not  bcliinahnncl  in  their 
replies.  It  would,  indeed,  be  very  amusing  to  serve  up  before 
the  public  a  list  of  such-like  abusive  writings,  but  I  must  for 
good  reasons  forego  this,  and  the  reader  must  just  be  coDtent 
with  a  few  fragments  instead  of  with  a  full  meal. 

Father  Aiulreas,   for  instance,   wrote  in  this  way  :  /*  It  would 
be  better  to  marry  the  Dovil  rather  than  a  Lutheran  woman,  as 
one  might  be  able  to  drive  away  the  Evil  One  with   holy  water 
and    exorcism,    whilst,   with    a    Lutheran    woman,    the    Cross, 
Chrysom,  and  baptismal  water  would  be  thrown  away.''     Then, 
again,   Father  Gretser  gave   it  as  his  opinion   "  that  whoever 
reci'ivcd  the  siu-rarnont  in  both  kinds  from    a  Lutheran  parson, 
received  the  Devil   into   his  body";  and  in    another   place  he 
affirmed  "  that  Evangelicals,  when   they  wished  to  marry,  were 
not  worthy  of  being  proclaimed  by  a  priest,  but  by  the  Jxecu- 
tioner  or  hangman."     Father  Conrad  Better  used  to  describe  the 
Evangelicals  publicly  as  ''rogues,    miscreants,    and   traitors •^• 
and  Luther  himself  was,   in   his  opinion,    "a   lost  apostate,   a 
thief,  a  robber,  a  filthy  sow,  and   a  senseless  beast,  the  Devil's 
boon  companion."     Then,  in  the  year  10 10,  Father  Christopher 
Ungersdorf  published   a  pamphlet,  in  which  he  applied   to  the 
Evangelical  deputies  of  the   state  the  following  flattering  nick- 
names: to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  "the  serene  sow";  to  him  of  the 
Pfalz,  ''  tlie  beast  from  Heidelberg  "  ;  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse 
"the  highly-learned  swine";  to  the  Duke  of  Würtcmberg,  "  the 
rich   temple-r..bber  of  Stuttgart";  to    the  Landgrave  of  Bran- 
denburg, 'M^iittels  von   Anspach'';  and  to  the  Pfalzgrave  von 
Neuburg,  "  a  senseless  and  demented  fool." 

The  sons  of  Loyola,  indeed,  were  not  satisfied  merely  with 
loading  the  Lutherans  with  insults  and  derision  of  all  kinds,  but 
they  also,  without  disguise,  from  their  pulpits  as  well  as  in  their 
publications,  demanded  that  the  Catholics  should  take  up  arms 
for  the  extermination  of  the  heretics ;  and  Anton  Tossevin,  one 
of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Society,  went  so  far  as 
to  deny  eternal  happiness  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  1.,  because 
he  was  actually  so  godless  as  to  grant  to  the  Protestants  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion. 

"  For  what  ol)ject  have  we  given  to  us  money,  soldiers,  sabres 
and  cannon,"  cried   the  Fathers  Adam   Tanner,  Paul  \Vindeek' 
and  Vitus  Eberman,  "  but  to  use  them   against  ihe  enemy  ? 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.       241 


Why  do  we  hesitate,  then,  in  commencing  to  eradicate  and  root 
out  heresy  root  and  branch,  and  especially  this  Calvinistic 
abomination  ?  Kill  them,  then,  the  hounds,  strike  them  down, 
and  hurl  them  to  the  ground,  give  them  their  finishing  stroke, 
bum  their  houses  over  their  heads,  and  overwhelm  them  with 
everything  of  the  worst  description  that  can  bo  invented,  so 
^hftt  the  hateful  brood  may  finally  disappear  from  off  tlie  face  of 
'the  earth." 

So  cried  out  the  Loyolites  ;  and  there  could  be  no 
longer  any  doubt  that  what  they  had  been  striving  for  was 
nothing  else  than  to  stir  up  a  war  of  annihilation  against 
Protestantism.  This  must  become,  moreover,  the  more 
clear  to  everyone  who  vouchsafes  a  penetrating  glance  at 
the  proceedings  of  the  pious  Fathers  in  their  beloved  Ba- 
.yaria.  There,  as  we  have  seen,  the  fraternity  had  attained 
"to  great  power  under  Albert  V..  and  still  more  so  under 
his  son  and  successor  William  V.,  who  reigned  from  1579  to 
1596. 

During  the  education  of  the  latter,  Father  Hoflaus  had 
obtained  such  an  influence  over  him  that  one  might,  on  that 
account,  well  prophesy  a  brilliant  future  career  for  the  Order 
under  the  coming  reip^n  of  William  ;  and  then,  again,  these 
expectations  would  be  all  tlie  more  increased  on  the  said  William, 
as  Crown  Prince,  becoming  united  in  marriage,  in  156,9,  with  the 
over-pious  Renata,  the  daughter  of  Duke  Francis  I.  of  Loraine, 
whose  Father  Confessor,  Dominicus  Men^'in,  also  made  her  his 
own.  As  this  man  was  naturally  not  only  at  heart  a  very 
arrogant  individual  but  outwardly  a  very  fawninpr  and  courtier- 
like Jesuit,  he,  too,  in  a  short  time,  completely  obtained  the 
mastery  over  his  distinguished  confessant  son.  William,  indeed, 
after  his  succession  to  the  Government,  allowed  himself  to  be  led 
like  a  child  by  the  pious  Father,  and  vied  with  his  spouse,  from 
this  time  forward,  in  the  most  foolishly  extravagant  favouritism 
towards  the  Order  of  Jesus,  of  which  the  splendid  building  devoted 
to  it  in  Munich  is  a  most  striking  proof.  As.  however,  this  waste 
of  Government  property  gradually  assumed  enormous  proportions, 
and  as  the  ruler  came  at  last  to  have  no  thought  for  anything 
else  than  for  Jesuit  affairs,  a  general  feeling  of  discontent 
manifested  itself  at  length  among  the  people,  and  in  consequence 
thereof,  the  Duke  saw  himself  compelled  to  abdicate  in  favour  of 

16 


242 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


his  son  MaximiliiiD,*  in  the  year  159G.  He  hecame  so  infatu- 
ated, indeed,  tlmt  he  was  espcciallv  fond  of  making  pilgrimages 
on  foot  along  witli  his  beloved  Father  Confessor,  even  in  the 
burning  sun  or  pouring  rain,  clad  in  the  garments  of  a  poor 
pilgrim,  sometimes  to  thcDuntcnliausen,  sometimes  to  Allotting, 
sometimes  to  the  Black  Virgin  .Mary,  carrying  with  him  con- 
siderable olltM-ings. 

The  Bavarians  now  indulged  a  hope  that  they  were  going  to 
enter  upon  a  golden  age,  thinking,  from  outward  indications, 
that  the  young  monarch  would  do  his  best  endeavour  to  briug 
his  country  into  a  most  nourishing  condition  ;  but  they  had  not 
taken  the  Jesuits  into  account. 

Maximilian  I.,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  from  1590  to  IGoI,  was 
educated  by  the  Jesuits  at  Ingoldstadt,  as  we  already  stated,  along 
with  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  and  had,  of  course,  there  imbibed 
precisely  the  same  principles  as  the  latter.  It  may  well,  then, 
be  imagined  that  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  at  the  time'of  hh 
accession  to  the  Government,  was  not  by  any  means  smaller 
than  it  had  been  under  that  of  his  father  ;  only  he  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  views  in  another  way,  as  Maximilian  was  of  quite  a 
dillerenl  stamp  of  cliaracter.  and  could  boast  of  being  possessed 
of  an  energetic  mind,  and  of  no  inconsiderable  degree  of  culture. 
How,  and  in  what  manner,  did  Jesuit  influeuce''then  manifest 
itself?  It  was,  indeed,  in  nothing  less  than  this,  that  the  holy 
Fathers  succeeded  in  bringing  the  new  ruler  to  the  couviction 
that  God  had  provided  him  with  armour  in  order  that  the 
universal  faith  might  be  restored  throughout  the  whole  of  ' 
Germany,  and  an  end,  once  for  all,  made  of  the  hated  heresy  of 
Protestantism.  As  respects  Bavaria  itself,  tJn-n.  was,  indeed 
nothing  for  the  y.ealous  prince  to  (lo,t  as  the  whoh/countrv* 
thanks  to  the  fostering  care  of  his  forefathers,  had  remained 
thoroughly  Catholic,  and  there  was  aroused  in  his  honour- 
seeking  breast  an  emulous  feeling  of  envy  towards  his  brother- 

•  J^^^^n^^ici:^^^  the 

i!l5^i^-;/*;^L-J^  ^^-^V«^  --t,  leavin,  behind  tuJ^nu^ll^!:- 


m. 


book,  which,  liowovcr,  was  never  printo<l. 


imscript  prayer-       Hi 


t  In  order  to  j^ivc  tlie  reader  nn  idea  ..f    liis  zotil  for  the  fiitli   T  ^ni       i 


THE   POWERFUL    INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS.       243 

in-law,  Ferdinand  of  Inner  Austria,  the  friend  of  his  youth,* 
vhose  heroic  deeds  in  church  matters  had  at  the  time  electrified 
ihe  whole  of  the  Catholic  world.     Was  there,  then,  anything 
more  natural  than  that  the  Jesuits  should  take  advantage  of  this 
feeling  tofan  such  envy  into  ever  higher  and  increasing  flames, 
«o  that  they  might  lead  the  aspirant  to  similar  renown,  in  order 
ibat  he  might  succeed  in  attaining  even  still  greater  results  'i    In 
this  respect  Maximilian  had,  no  doubt,  from  the  very  beginning, 
entertained  an  idea  that  the  religious  peace,  which  the  Emperor 
had  concluded  in  the  year  155.0  with  the  Protestants,  might  now 
bd  broken  at  any  moment  by  the  Catholics,  because  by   this 
means  the  country  would  be  freed  from  an  erring  religion,  and 
in  bis  eyes  Evangelical   teaching  was  erroneous.      To  do  this 
was  nothing  but  an  allowable  transaction,  and  consequently  the 
only  question  was  as  to  the  proper  time  "when"  it  should  be 
hrekon.     In  order  to  determine  that  this  *'  when  "  should  take 
place  at  once,  and  with  the  view  of  immediately  carrying  the 
affair  into  effect,  he  very  quickly  assembled  soldiers,  with  war 
material  and  ammunition,  under  the  pretext  that  this  was  on 
account   of  the   Turkish    war  then  imminent,  the  truth  being 
that  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  for  a  great  struggle  for  the  faith,  for 
the  prosecution  of  which  the  Jesuits  were  now  working  with  all 
their  might  and  main.      Before,  however,   lifting    the  curtain 
of  what  might  be   such    a  frightful    tragedy,  they    desired    to 
previously  exercise  the  intended  hero  of   the  scene  with  somo 
prehminary  and  tentative  transactions,  two  of  which  are  especially 
worthy  of  notice,  namely,  the  forcible  capture  and  conversion  of 
Donauwörth,  as  well  as  the  secession  to   the   Catholic  faith  of 
Wolfgang    Wilhelm    of    Pfalz-Neuburg,    and    the    eradication 
of  Protestantism  from    his  ountry.      Donauwörth,    in   former 
limes  a  Bavarian   town,  had   been    successful   in    wresting   its 
freedom,  and  had  contrived  to  retain  it  for  a  period   of  nearly 
two  centuries  from  the  year  H20.      Regarding   the  faith   of  its 
inhabitants,  a  part  belonged  to  the  Catholic  belief,  which  found 
its  support  in  the  cloister  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  possession  of  the 
Benedictine  Order  of  monks.     More  than  four-fifths,  however, 
of  the  inhabitants  adhered  to  Lutheranism,  and  the  Protestants 
might,  therefore,  be  considered  the  ruling  body.     But  since  the 

•  The  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  had  become  united  in  marriage  \^ith  the 
«Ikr  of  Maximilian  on  the  2ard  of  Ai^rii  1000. 

16  ♦ 


if 


VM 


244 


HISTOBT  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


establishment  of  religious  peace  both  parties  had  got  on  very 
well   together,  and  during  the   last  twenty  years  of  the   16th 
century  a  most  friendly  relation  subsisted  between  the  Catholics 
and  the  Lutherans.     After  the  decease  of  the  tolerant  Abbot 
Christopher   Gerung,   the   Jesuits    succeeded    (in  May   1602), 
through  the  intercession  of  their  great  patron,  Maximilian  I.,  as 
also  of  their  very  particular  friend  Bishop  Henry  V.  of  Augsburg, 
in  inducing  the   monks  of  the  time  to  elect  as  their  Abbot, 
Leonard  Hörman,  a  Bavarian  subject ;  and  now,   consequently, 
there  would  doubtless  soon  be  an  end  of  peace.      By  the  advice 
and  at  the  instigation  of  his  Father  Confessor,  the  Jesuit  John 
Buslidius,  Duke  Maximilian  now  incited  Hörman  no  longer  to  re- 
gard the  magisterial  regulation,  which  had  for  dozens  of  years  been 
established,  to  the  effect  that  no  public  processions  with  cross  and 
banners  should  be  allowed  to  proceed  through  the  town,  and  the 
Abbot  immediately  took  the  hint :  this  was  in  the  year  1605. 
He,  therefore,  organised  a  most  pompous  procession  on  the  Feast 
of  Corpus  Christi,  and  thereby  hurt  not  a  little  the  Protestant 
inhabitants.      No    disturbance,   however,    occurred ;    the    only 
result  being  that  the  magistrate  forbade  that  anything  of  the 
kind   should  in  future  take  place.      Upon  this,   however,  the 
Abbot,  as  well  as  the  above-mentioned  Bishop    of  Augsburg, 
took  ^reat  offence,  and  both  of  them  made  a  complaint  to  the 
Imperial    Councillor  in   regard  to  the  oppression  which    they 
represented  the  Catholics  of  Donauwörth  had  to  suffer.     The 
Imperial  Court  Councillor,  not,  indeed,  the  most  suitable  person  to 
determine  the  point,  now  gave  it  as  his  decision,  in  October  1605, 
that  all  such  processions   might  be  allowed  to  take  place,  and 
determined  to  make  the  magistrate  responsible  for  any  excesses 
that  might  come  to  pass ;  the  magistrate,  however,  firm  to  his 
purpose,  afiBrmed  that  it  would  be  better  not  to  irritate  the  common 
people,  and  entreated  the  Abbot  to  keep  the  peace.     Hörman, 
nevertheless,  thereupon  organised  a  magnificent  procession  to  a 
neighbouring  village,  on  the  llth  of  April  1606,  proclaiming  his 
project  from  the  pulpit  the  day  before,  to  the  whole  of  the  in- 
habitants, in  a  very  scornful  manner.     It  was  not,  then,  a  matter 
of  any  surprise   that  the  rough  element  among  the  Protestant 
population  collected,  and  greeted  the  procession  8C()**nfii]ly,  not 
only   with   showers   of  stones,   but   that  they    also    tore   into 
pieces  one  of  the  flags  belonging  to  the  fraternity.    Naturally 


tHE   POWEßFÜL  INFLUENCE   OF   ÜHE   JESUITS.       245 

enough,  this  proceeding  gave  rise  to  a  much  more  energetic 
complaint  to  the  Aulic  Court,  and  afterwards  to  considerable 
wrangling  and  contention  between  the  parties  concerned.  The 
Emperor  Rudolph  IL,  being  urged  to  do  so  by  Maximilian  L, 
authorised  the  latter  "  to  protect  the  Catholics  in  Donauwörth 
from  further  insolence,  as  the  magistrate  was  clearly  too  weak 
to  hold  in  check  the  evil-disposed  part  of  the  population." 

The  Jesuits  had  accomplished  as  much  as  they  wanted,  and 
the  result  followed  as  a  natural  consequence.     In  the  first  place, 
Maximilian  sent  certain  commissioners  to  the  town,  in  order  to 
take  the  necessary  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  Catholic 
community ;  but   these  gentlemen,  having  been  previously  in- 
structed by  Buslidius  how  to  proceed,  conducted  themselves  with 
such  arrogance  that  the  people  hustled  them  out  of  the  gate. 
It  was  then  declared  that  Donauwörth  was  in  a  state  of  rebellion 
against  His  Imperial  Majesty  ;  and  the  Jesuit  entourage  of  the 
Emperor  Rudolph  urged  him  so  much  to  do  so,  that  he  finally 
decided  that  from  the  3rd  of  August  1607  the  town  should  be 
put  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire.     As  was,   of  course,   to  be 
understood,  the  carrying  out  of  this  was  entrusted  to  MaximiUan, 
as  the  nearest  Catholic  power  belonging  to  the  Empire,  and  he 
forthwith  surrounded  Donauwörth  by  a  military  force   of  such 
considerable  numbers  that  resistance  was,  of  course,  no  longer 
to  be  thought  of.     Moreover,  not  a  single  one  of  the  Protestant 
princes    came    to    the   aid   of    the    poor   inhabitants,    conse- 
quently, nothing  else  remained  for  them  to  do  but  to  open  the 
gates,  on  the  17th  December  1607,  to  the  Bavarian  Duke.    This 
they  did,  however,  only  on  condition  that  no  one  was   to  be 
interfered   with  as    regards    his  religious  liberty,    and  Majd- 
miUan  promised,  on  his  ''  princely  honour,"  to  maintain  this 

condition.  '^ __- ~— -j 

In  what  way  did  he,  then,  keep  his  plighted  word?  It 
was,  truly,  a  very  peculiar  mode  of  respecting  his  *'  princely 
honour."  His  secular  counsellors,  or,  as  one  would  now  caU 
.  them,  ministers,  advised  him,  it  is  true,  to  leave  untouched  the 
religious  condition  of  the  conquered  town,  and  merely  to  hold 
it  in  occupation  until  the  expenses  of  the  war  had  been  paid ; 
for,  had  he  acted  otherwise,  Donauwörth  having  hitherto  been  a 
free  Imperial  town,  he  would  necessarily  have  rendered  himself 
Uable  to  very  severe  reproaches  from  the  Protestant  Impentil 


r 


^6 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Members  of  Parliament;    his  spiritual   adviser,  however,  the 
above-named  Father  Confessor  Buslidius,  together  with  the  pious 
Fathers  Matthias  Mitner  and  George  Schrettl,  whom  he  had 
brought  along  with  him  to  Donauwörth,  as  well  as  several  other 
Jesuits,  demanded  of  him  that  he  should  at  once  put  an   end  to 
heresy  in  Donauwörth  by  force,  in  order  that  Catholicism  might 
be  able  to  hold  up  its  head  therein,  and  without  further  ado  to 
incorporate,  the  town  in  his  dominions.     They  very  well»  knew 
that,  by  thus  acting,  he  would  make  himself  an  open  violator  of 
the  religious  peace,  and  they,  at  the  same  time,  were  equally  well 
aware  that  the  Duke,  in  following  their  advice,  would  be  regarded 
by  the  world  as  a  dishonourable  traitor  to  his  word.     But,  on 
the  latter  point,  they  consoled  him  that  he  was  bound  by  reli- 
gious duty  not  to  keep  faith  with  heretics,  and,  as  regards  the 
first  point,  they  scornfully  expressed  their  opinion  that  the  Pro- 
testant members  of  the  Imperial  Government  would  not  allow 
themselves  to  proceed  to  extremities  for  such  a  trifling  affair,  as 
they  would  at  once  be  silenced  by  what  had  already  occurred  in 
Inner  Austria  and  other  places.     Should  they,  however,  deter- 
mine upon  taking  coercive  measures,  then  the  aim  of  the  Jesuits 
would  be  attained  by  the  "  opening  up  of  a  great  religious  war," 
and  in  this  the  Catholics  would,  most  certainly,  be  sure  to  get  the 
upper  hand,  as  Maximilian  was  already  fully  prepared,  whereas 
the  Protestant  party  were  not  so.     Maximilian  could  not  with- 
stand such  arguments  as  these,  and  he  therefore  at  once  took  the 
necessary  steps  for  the  suppression  of  Protestantism  in  Donau- 
wörth.    He  commenced  by  driving  out  of  doors  the  whole  of  the 
Protestant  clergy,  and  by  assigning  their  churches  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola.     At   the  same  time  he  proceeded  equally  against  the 
Evangelical  teachers,  whose  places  were,  without  exception,  at 
'  once  filled  up   by   Catholics ;    the   burgesses,   moreover,  were 
obliged  by  force  to  send  their  children  to  the  schools  to  which 
they  had  not  gone  before ;  and  those  who  wished  to  escape  being 
teased  and  tormented  were,  as  well,  obliged  to  go  to  Mass.     In 
short,  no  means  were  omitted,  not  even  the  most  execrable,  in 
order  to  drive  the  burgesses  to  receive  the  old  faith,  long  laid 
aside,  while  Maximilian,  at  the  same  time,  fully  carried  out  the 
other  advice  of  the  Jesuits  in  making  Donauwörth,  with  the 
approbation  of  the  Jesuitically  bigoted  Emperor  Rudolph  II., 
a  Bavarian  country  town,  and  in  this  way  the  work  of  oon- 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLÜEMÖE  OF  THE   JESUITS.       247 

version  met  with  complete  success  in    the    course  of   a  few 

years. 

How,  then,  was  it  with  the  Protestant  members  ?     These  were 
at  that  time  (1607-1608)   assembled,  along  with  the  Catholics, 
in  the  Parliament  at  Eatisbon,  and  they  right  well  understood 
what    this  exercise    of   power   properly  signified.      They  per- 
ceived that  the^  occupation  of  Donauwörth  was,  so  to  speak, 
nothing  else  than  the  flight  of  the  first  arrow  in  the  great  reli- 
gious war,  and  that  doubtless  it  must  have  been  determined  upon 
in  the  High  Council  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  so  that  the  work  of 
annihilation  of  heresy,  begun  as  it  was  among  the  weaker  portion 
of  the  Protestant  estates  and  Imperial  towns,  would  be,  later  on, 
continued,  according  to  circumstances,  among  the  stronger  places 
also.     They  cleariy  perceived  all  this,  and  now  candidly  gave 
expression  to  their  opinion ;  but  what,  in  fact,  did  they  now 
do  ?     Ah  !  action  was  expected  from  them,  but  in  vain.     They 
contented  themselves  merely  in  making  a  protest,  that  is  to  say, 
they  confined  themselves  to  words  only,  to  which  the  other  party 
gave  themselves  no  trouble  to  pay  any  heed  whatever.     This 
much  good  was,  however,  caused  thereby,  that  in  May  it  gave  rise 
to  the  formation  of  the  Protestant  League,  with  the  view  of  in- 
cluding  within   one   bond  of  brotherhood  the   Lutherans  and 
Calvinists,  who  had  hitherto  been  sworn  enemies,  unfortunately, 
this  said  union  was  but  of  too  short  duration  in  order  to  have 
anything  of  a  truly  permanent  effect,  besides  which,  in  July 
1609,  Maximilian  I.   called  into   existence  a  Catholic  League, 
the  strength  of  which  counterbalanced  that  of  the  other  union. 
What,  then,  was  the  upshot  of  this  attempt  of  the  Jesuits  upon 
Donauwörth  ?    Nothing  else  than,  apparently,  the  open  division  of 
Germany  into  two  great  inimical  camps,  which  now  only  awaited 
a  signal  from  the  leaders  to  enter  into  a  deadly  strife  with  each 

other.  t    .       i.«    i 

Thus  the  Jesuits  always  advanced  nearer    to  their    object. 

But  still  another  skirmish  must  yet  be  undertaken  prior  to  the 

proper  commencement  of  this  great  religious  war,  namely,  the 

secession   to  the   Catholics    of  Wolfgang   Wilhelm    of  Pfalz- 

Neuburg,  and  the  extinction  of  Protestantism  in  his  dommions. 

After  the'  death  of  John  William  III.,  Duke  of  Zülich  and  Cleve, 

without  leaving  behind  him  any  direct  heirs,  the  two  princely 

Houses  of  Pfalz-Neuburg  and  Brandenburg  each  believed  them- 


ä48 


HlSTOBY  OF  THE  JESÜITÖ» 


iHE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.       249 


selves  to  have  an  equal  right  to  the  inheritance,  and  Ziilich  was 
at  once  taken  possession  of  hy  the  Crown  Prince  Wolfgang 
Wilhelm  of  Pfalz-Neuburg,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Cleve  was 
seized  upon  by  the  Electoral  Prince  of  Brandenburg.  Each  of 
these  magnates,  however,  was  desirous  of  obtaining  the  whole  of 
the  inheritance  for  himself,  and  each  of  them  applied  to  the 
Protestant  union,  of  which  both  were  members,  demanding  of 
the  same  to  make  intercession  for  him  with  the  Imperial  Diet. 
The  union  had  then  to  determine  to  which  of  the  two  pretenders 
they  would  give  their  support,  and,  for  a  time,  it  appeared  that 
Kurbrandenburg  was  to  gain  the  victory.  This,  however,  was 
only  apparent,  as  the  members  constituting  the  union  were  too 
disunited  and  wanting  iu  energy  to  come  to  any  definite  decision 
on  the  subject,  and,  consequently,  Kurbrandenburg  as  well  as 
Pfalz-Neuburg  was  put  off  from  one  session  to  another.  It 
was  now  pointed  out  to  Wolfgang  Wilhelm  by  the  Jesuits, 
through  the  medium  of  the  Ambassador  of  Philip  III.,  King  of 
Spain,  that  an  excellent  means  of  obtaining  the  inheritance  for 
himself  would  be  for  him  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  House  of 
Bavaria,  and  thereby  gain  the  powerful  intercession  of  Duke 
Maximilian  I. ;  so  the  Catholic  league  united  with  him.  This 
enlightened  Pfalz -Neuburger  then  lost  no  time  in  soliciting  the 
hand  of  the  Princess  Magdalena,  the  sister  of  Maximilian.  This 
offer  was  received  very  favourably  by  the  latter,  who,  at  the  same 
time,  declared  that  he  could  not  call  a  heretic  his  brother-in- 
law.  Such  an  announcement,  clearly  made,  could  not  be  mis- 
understood. Now  Wolfgang  Wilhelm,  together  with  his  whole 
family,  had,  up  to  the  present  time,  belonged  to  the  most 
orthodox  of  all  orthodox  Lutherans,  and  often  used  to  make  a 
boast  of  having  read  through  the  whole  Bible  not  less  than,  at 
least,  two  dozen  times  during  the  course  of  the  year.  How, 
then,  could  he  ever  be  expected  to  make  a  change  in  his  faith  ? 
Wonderful  to  relate,  however,  doubts  now  began  to  arise  in  the 
mind  of  the  Neuburger  as  to  whether  he  had  hitherto  really  fol- 
lowed the  true  faith ;  so  when  he  proceeded  forthwith  to  Munich, 
in  order  to  expedite  his  marriage  projects,  the  above  so  often 
mentioned  Johann  Buslidius  contrived  to  work  upon  his  mind  so 
strenuously  that  it  at  last  yielded,  and  the  affair  came  thereupon 
to  a  head.  He,  consequently,  in  July  1613,  went  over  to  the 
Catholic  religion  secretly,  fearing  the  anger  of  his  old  father,  who 


t 


was  still  then  living,  and  four  months  afterwards  married  the 
sister  of  Duke  Maximilian.  Not  long  after  this,  the  Jesuits 
began  purposely  to  spread  abroad  the  intelligence  of  his  having 
come  over,  in  order  to  compel  him  to  throw  off  this  secrecy, 
which  he  at  length  formally  did  in  May  1614,  not  caring  that, 
by  so  doing,  he  would  necessarily  break  the  heart  of  his  poor 
father,  whose  death  actually  occurred  in  consequence  two  months 
afterwards. 

The   Jesuits   had    now   attained    their   first  object,   in    the 
gaining   over  to    their   side  of  Wolfgang  Wilhelm,   and   their 
second    aim,  that   is,    the  extinction  of  Protestantism    in    his 
dominions,  could  no  longer  be  very  difficult  of  accomplishment. 
Those  newly  converted,  as  a  rule,  make  themselves  conspicuous 
as   zealous   partizans  of  the    newly-accepted    faith,    in    order 
to  prove  their  sincerity  to  the  world,  and  Wolfgang  Wilhelm, 
formed  no  exception  to  the  rule.     In   a  few  days,  too,  after,  he 
had  taken    the  step  of  secession,  he  assured   the  then  Pope, 
Paul  v.,  in  an  autograph  letter,  of  his  unqualified  devotion  to 
him,  and  expressly  added  that  he  had  formed  the  resolution  "  of 
rooting  out  Lutheranism  and  of  making  himself  a  pillar  of  the 
Boman  Catholic  Church,  of  prohibiting  in  his  dominions  the  free 
exercise  of  the  Evangehcal  religion,  and  of  proceeding  to  the 
uttermost   against   the  Protestants,   and   bringing   about   their 
destruction   and   downfall,"   thereby   proving   himself  to   be  a 
true  disciple   of  the  Jesuits.     Nevertheless,  two  months  after 
his    accession   to     the    Government,    he     did   not    hesitate   to 
promise  solemnly,  in  a  special  edict,  to  allow  his  Protestant 
subjects   the   undisturbed   retention  and  free  exercise   of  their 
religion,  for  otherwise  the  Pfalz-Neuburgers  would  have  failed 
to   pay  him  homage;  moreover,  what  did  his  promise  signify, 
when  at  any  moment  he  might  easily  free  himself  from  it  ?     I 
will  now  shortly  state  what  took  place.      Immediately  after  his 
arrival,  in  February  1616,  in  Neuburg,  the  capital  of  his  paternal 
possessions,  he  gave  over  the  Castle  church  to  two  Jesuits,  named 
Jacob  Beihing  and  Anton  Weiser,  the  first  of  whom  was  his 
own,  and  the  second  his  wife's.  Father  Confessor.     And  now  the 
expulsion    of  Lutheranism    vigorously   proceeded,    the  means 
employed  being  just  the  same  as  in  Donauwörth  and  elsewhere, 
namely,  in  the  first  place,  the  expulsion  of  all  Protestant  eccle- 
siastics and  teachers,  followed  by  the  deposition  of  all  opposing 


I 


/ 1 


.JMk. 


r 


250 


filSTOEY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


officials,  and  the  oppression  of  all  those  who  still  were  disposed 
towards  heresy,  favour  being  shown  to  all  who  went  over  to  the 
only  saving  Church.    For  instance,  such  means  were  specially  em- 
ployed as  the  quartering  of  soldiers  on  such  of  the  inhabitants  as 
proved  to  be  refractory,  a  proceeding  which  was  found  to  be  so 
efficacious  that  not  only  the  Neuburgers  but  the  inhabitants  of 
the  other  remaining  villages  became  acquiescent  within  a  few 
months   or  years;   but   wherever   any   resistance  showed  itself 
among  this  sorely-tried  people— oh  !  this,  indeed,   constituted 
nothing  else  than  rebellion,  and  against  such  it  was  at  once 
necessary  to  take  up  arms.     By  such  means  as  these,  complete 
success  was  now  attained,  in   a  comparatively  short  space   of 
time,  in  the   territory  of  Neuburg,   as  well   as  in   the    Princi- 
pality of  Zülich,  in  which  Wolfgang,  thanks  to  the  aid  of  the 
league,    was   supreme;  for    this   the  Jesuits   had   occasion    to 
rejoice.     With  the  Principality  of  Cleves,  however,  on  account  of 
which  he   had  become  a  Catholic,  he   never  succeeded,  as   it 
continued,  along  with  Kurbrandenburg,  to  remain  stedfast  to  the 
Protestant  cause.     It  no  less  rejoiced  the  Jesuits  that  the  Duke 
was  pleased,  through  the  influence  of  his  beloved  Jacob  Reihing,» 

*  to  found  colleges  for  them  in  various  parts  of  his  small  domains, 
especially  in  Neuburg  and  Düsseldorf,  as  by  such  means  their 
sway  became  all  the  greater,  and  it  was  all  the  more  pleasing  to 
them  in  that  they  now  had  an  opportunity  of  further  extending 
their  influence  in  other  neighbouring  Protestant  countries. 

It  will  be  observed,  from  these  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in 
Germany,   that  progress  was  now   being   rapidly   made  in   the 

•  furtherance  of  a  great  war  of  annihilation  against  heresy, 
while  before  they  came  into  these  parts  the  most  perfect  peace 
reigned  there  between  Catholics  and  Protestants.  The  latter 
especially  were  in  no  degree  to  blame,  as  it  was  not  until  the 
coercive  measures  of  the  Jesuits  came  upon  ilie  scene  that  they 
took  weapons  into  their  hands  and  opposed  like  with  like.  Had 
they  done  so  previously,  in  the  first  Protestant  persecutions  in 

♦  I  caanot  here  refrain  from  mentioning  that  the  so-called  Reihing  him- 
«elf  went  over  afterwards  to  Protestantism.  On  account  of  his  disputation» 
with  the  Protestants,  he  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  studying  the 
Bible  accurately,  and  thereby  such  a  light  was  thrown  upon  the  taith  he 
had  hitherto  professed,  that,  iu  the  year  1621,  he  came  over  to  th^  Evan- 
gelical  faith  at  Tübingen.  He  became,  also,  professor  of  theology  in  the 
said  university,  and  thus  remained  until  the  end  of  his  life. 


THE   POWEBFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS*       251 


rfi 


Fulda,  Mayence,  and  elsewhere,  instead  of  manifesting  internal 
disunion  and  cowardice,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Archbishopric 
of  Cologne,  the  arrogance  of  the  much  smaller  Catholic  com- 
munities would  never  have  increased,  year  by  year,  as  occurred 
in  the  Bishoprics  of  Paderborn,  Minden,  Münster,  &c.;  nor, 
equally,  would  what  happened  in  Donauwörth  and  Pfalz-Neuburg 
ever  have  taken  place.  There  existed,  indeed,  a  much  too  great 
amount  of  passiveness  and  want  of  energy,  and  a  much  too 
great  spirit  of  the  innate  feeling  of  loyalty  and  submissiveness 
towards  the  laws  of  the  country  and  towards  Imperial  Majesty. 
This  was  the  only  reproach  that  could  be  made  against  them 
with  any  reason,  and  I  now  reiterate  that  the  action  proceeded 
entirely  from  the  side  of  the  Jesuits,  and  upon  them,  therefore, 
rested  the  responsibility  for  the  frantically  atrocious  thirty 
years*  religious  war. 

But  now  let  us  proceed  to  facts.  The  several  examples  we 
have  already  given  had  been  continually  preparing  the  world  for 
the  approaching  tragedy.  But  how  could  this  come  about, 
unless  the  destiny  of  Germany  should  happen  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  prince  who  was  fully  competent  to  the  task  ?  Such  must 
prove  himself  to  be  a  man  of  great  spiritual  power,  and  at  the 
same  time,  of  indomitable  and  terrible  energy  ;  a  man  endowed 
with  a  will  which  could  work  itself  up  to  a  condition  the  most 
hard-hearted  of  hard- hear tedness,  so  as  not  to  shrink  from  any 
deed,  even  of  the  most  horrible  nature ;  not  the  less,  also,  a  man 
who,  brought  up  in  the  principles  of  the  Jesuits,  would  allow 
himself  to  be  completely  guided  by  them,  never  turning  a 
deaf  ear  to  their  inspirations.  It  was  only  when  such  a  prince 
was  found  to  occupy  the  German  Imperial  throne,  and  threw  his 
weighty  Imperial  sword  into  the  balance  on  the  side  of  the 
Catholics,  that  it  could  have  been  hoped,  with  any  degree  of 
confidence,  that  Protestantism  in  Germany,  in  spite  of  its 
always  increasing  and  preponderating  majority,  would  not  only 
not  maintain  the  upper  hand,  but,  on  the  contrary,  be  beaten 
down  even  to  extinction. 

It  was  only  then  that  all  this  could  have  a  chance  of  taking 
place,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola  very  well  knew.  What  a  great  piece 
of  luck  was  it  indeed,  for  them  that  there  happened  to  exist  at 
that  time  such  a  prince  as  this ;  and,  besides,  what  still  greater 
good  fortune  for  them  was  it  that  he,  the  said  prince,  happened  to 


252 


mSTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITÖ. 


be  an  Archduke  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  who,  moreover,  had 
a  claim  to  the  Imperial  throne,  in  the  person  of  the  said  Ferdi- 
nand of  Inner  Austria,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been  made 
above  more  in  detail.  It  was  he,  indeed,  this  said  Ferdinand, 
who  must  wield  the  Imperial  sceptre,  if  the  great  religious  war 
now  about  to  commence  was  ever  to  turn  out  to  be  a  glorious 
victory,  and,  therefore,  was  it  of  so  much  importance  that 
this  sceptre  should  be  procured  for  him.  This,  however,  was 
indeed  no  easy  matter,  as,  on  the  demise  of  the  Emperor 
Eudolph  II.,  it  was  his  brother  Mathias  who,  in  the  year  1612 
ascended  the  Imperial  throne,  and  in  respect  to  him  it  was  pretty 
well  known  that,  for  various  reasons,  he  had  for  some  time 
past  fostered  a  grudge  against  Ferdinand ;  of  the  numerous 
causes  in  question,  only  a  single  one  need  here  be  adduced, 
namely,  that  Ferdinand  had  induced  the  childless  Emperor 
Eudolph  to  make  over  to  him,  a  distant  cousin,  the  crown  of 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  instead  of  to  the  King's  brother  Mathias, 
the  rightful  heir.  There  was,  therefore,  a  deep  grudge  existing 
on  the  part  of  the  latter,  and  this  apparently  seemed  likely  to 
be  of  permanent  continuance.  How,  then,  would  the  equally 
childless  Mathias  appoint  the  cousin  Ferdinand  as  heir  ?  for 
there  happened  to  be  several  rivals,  some  of  whom  could  boast 
of  even  a  nearer  relationship  to  him.  But  the  Jesuits  had 
already  shown  what  they  could  be  capable  of  effecting,  making 
what  was  impossible,  or  what  appeared  to  be  impossible,  simple 
enough.  They  strove,  above  everything,  to  win  over  to  their 
side  all  those  persons  who  were  in  the  immediate  surrounding 
of  the  Emperor,  and  more  especially  the  venal  women  in  whose 
arms  he  was  wont  to  revel.  This,  indeed,  was  certainly  but  a 
very  impure  channel  in  which  to  labour;  the  pious  Fathers, 
however,  would  have  been  quite  ready  to  adopt  still  more  dis- 
gusting measures  had  it  been  for  their  advantage  to  do  so. 
The  inamoratas  of  Mathias  were  now,  therefore,  assailed  in  every 
sort  of  way,  at  one  time  by  presents,  at  another  by  flattery,  at 
a  third  time  by  a  lightly-obtained  absolution,  and  then  again 
by  frightful  threats  regarding  the  world  to  come,  aod  such-like 
means;  and  the  cunning  Fathers  in  this  way  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing  a  considerable  sway  over  the  new  monarch.  They  attained 
even  to  a  still  greater  influence,  when  the  Bishop  Melchior  Kiesel, 
the  confidant  of  Mathias  for  many  years,  and  whom,  shortly 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


253 


after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  made  his  Prime  Minister, 
came  over  to  their  side.     This  Kiesel,  the  son  of  a  Lutheran 
baker    in  Vienna,    had    been     converted   to     Catholicism  by 
Father  George  Scherer,  of  whom  I  have  already  made  men- 
tion.    As  a   convert  of  the  Jesuits,   he  clearly  could  not  be 
unfavourable  to  the  Order  of  Jesus.    As  the  pious  Fathers  now 
promised  this  baker's  son  that,  first  of  all,  he  would  be  advanced 
to  the  post  of  first  minister,  while,  if  he  supported  them  in  their 
plans  respecting  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  they  agreed  to  help 
him  to  obtain  the  long- wished- for  aim  of  his  highest  ambition, 
a   cardinal's  hat,— be  unreservedly  engaged  himself  to  do  so, 
and   became  henceforth  their  particular  friend   through   thick 
and  thin.      Both   parties  loyally  and   honestly  kept   to    their 
engagements,  that  is  to  say,  Kiesel  obtained  his  cardinal's  hat 
in  the  year  1616,  and  thereupon  the  views  of  Mathias  became 
altered  in   favour  of  the  Jesuits.     By  far  the  greatest  service 
in    this    matter   was   accomplished  by    two   members  of   the 
Order,  i.e.  Peter  Pazman  and  Christopher  Scheiner,  and  it  was, 
indeed,  they  who,  properly  speaking,  brought  it  about  that  Fer- 
dinand was  nominated  heir  to  Mathias.     Pazman,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  Kiesel,  was  the  son  of  Protestant  parents,  who  first  lived  at 
Grosswardein  and  then  in  Gratz.     In  1 587,  when  he  was  in  his 
seventeenth  year,  he  was  converted  to  Catholicism  by  the  Jesuits  ; 
he  then  studied  theology  in  Gratz,  and  being  promoted  very  early, 
by  his  distinguished  talents,  to  be  Professor  in  the  local  university, 
he  later  on  entered  the  service  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of 
Gran,  Francis  Forgats,  and  distinguished  himself  so  very  much, 
that  the  high  prelate  made  him  at  once  not  only  his  most  con- 
fidential counsellor,  but,  also,  in  the  year  1615,  on  feeling  himself 
to  be  on  the  point  of  death,  recommended  him  to  the  Hungarian 
magnates  to  be  his  successor.     The  latter  accordingly  solicited 
the  Emperor  Mathias  that  the  Archbishopric  should  be  conferred 
upon    him,    and    the    Sovereign,  being    very    well    disposed 
towards  him,  would  have  gladly  been  ready  to  comply  with  the 
request  had  the  laws  of  the  Order  not  prohibited  the  acceptance 
of  so  high  a  church  preferment  by  any  member  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.     Still  this   might   easiiy   be    got   over  by  Pazmans 
apparent   retirement   from   the   Order.     This,   indeed,    actually 
took  place,  and  as  Paul  V.,  the  Pope  at  the  time,  gave  his  con- 
sent to  the  arrangement,  there  remained  now  nothing  in  the 


f« 


254 


HIBTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS, 


way  of  his  nomination  as  Archbishop.    As  such  he  now  came 
into  so  close  and  intimate  relations  with  the  Emperor  Mathias, 
and  so  completely  won  his  confidence,  that  no  State  business 
could  be   carried   out   without   the  Jesuit's   approbation.     The 
question,  especially,  of  the  succession   to  his  Austrian   domi- 
nions as  well  as  to  the  dignity  of  Emperor  having  now  to  be 
determined,   because  his   two   brothers   still   living,  i.e.  Maxi- 
miliau,  Archduke  of  the  Tyrol  and  Outer  Austria,  and  Albert, 
Eegent    of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,   were   both    old,   sickly,' 
and    childless,  Pazman    naturally  suggested    to    the   Emperor 
that  the  Archduke   of  Styria  should  be  nominated   his   heir. 
He  not  only  gave  this  advice,  but  supported  it  so  eloquently, 
and   with  such    arguments,    that  Mathias  at   length   gave  his 
consent,   although  unwillingly,  at    the  beginning  of   the  year 
1617,  that  the  succession  should  pass  to  his  cousin  Ferdinand, 
even  during  his  own  lifetime,  and  that  he  should  be  his  universal 
heir.     Still,  the  cunning  Jesuit  would  hardly  have  attained  his 
object  so  easily  and  so  quickly,  had  it  not  been  for  his  brother 
and  fellow-worker,  Scheiner,  who  loyally  aided  him.     The  latter, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  17th  century,  working  as  Professor 
of  Mathematics  at  the  University  of  Ingoldstadt,  was  frequently 
summoned  by  the  Archduke  Maximilian,  the  ruler  of  the  country 
who,  a  great  lover  of  mathematics,  invited  him  to  proceed  to 
the  Tyrol;  and  he  so  ingratiated  himself  in  the  good  graces 
of  the  latter,  in  the  year  1615,  by  repairing  completely  for  him 
a  valuable  telescope  which  had  met  with  an  accident,  that  Maxi- 
milian  could  now  no  longer  rest  until  Scheiner  gave  up  his 
Professorship  and  came  to  settle  at  Innsbruck,  as  his  Father 
Confessor.     In  this  capacity  he  obtained  such  an  influence  over 
his  old  confessant,  that  at  length  the  latter  had  no  other  will 
but  that  of  the  Jesuit  Father.     It   consequently  came   about 
that,  in  the  same  year,  1615,  the  Archduke,  having  before  him 
the    highly    important   question    of   the   Imperial    succession, 
which  lay  so  much  at  heart  with  the  Jesuits,  made  a  step  forward 
of  his   own   accord,    and   not   only   renounced  for  himself  the 
succession,  but  also  engaged  to  persuade  his  brother  Albert  in 
the  Netherlands    to  do    likewise.     The  Archduke,  in    fact,   at 
once  consented  to  take  this  course,  and,  travelling  to  Brussels, 
accompanied   by   Scheiner,    succeeded  in    getting   his   brother 
to  take  the  desired  step,  as  well  also  as  Philip  III.,  King  of 


THE  POWEBFTO  INFLUENCE   OF  THE  JESUITS.       255 


Spain,  who,  as  grandson  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  had  like- 
wise a  claim  to  the  Austrian  succession.*  But  after  all  this  had 
been  committed  to  writing,  and  sealed,  the  ruler  of  the  Tyrol 
now  directed  his  steps  towards  Prague,  in  the  autumn  of  1616, 
with  the  purpose  of  there  meeting  his  brother  Mathias,  the 
reigning  Emperor,  in  order  to  render  an  account  to  him  of  his 
proceedings.  The  latter,  indeed,  had  now  no  alternative  but  to 
give  his  acquiescence  to  the  persuasive  words  of  Archbishop 
Pazman. 

In  this  manner  was  the  Emperor  Mathias  influenced  to 
nominate  as  his  successor  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  while  the 
election  was  recognised  by  the  German  people — the  majority 
of  the  Electors  being,  then.  Catholics — as  also  by  Bohemia  and 
Hungary,  &c. ;  naturally,  however,  only  after  the  same  had 
given  his  solemn  promise  sacredly  to  maintain  the  privileges  and 
rights  of  his  future  subjects,  as,  before  his  coronation  in  Bohemia 
could  take  place,  he  was  obliged  to  take  his  oath  never  to  alter 
or  evade  a  single  letter  in  the  so-called  "  Rudolphian  Majesty 
Brief,"  in  which  the  religious  liberty  of  the  country  was  guaran- 
teed. But  what  did  an  oath  signify  to  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits  ? 
Therefore,  the  pious  Fathers  now  rejoiced,  and  with  no  uncertain 
voice  proclaimed  loudly  throughout  the  whole  world,  *'  Novus 
Rex  nova  lex"  that  is  to  say,  "  With  a  new  king  there  will-  be 
a  new  law,"  or  in  other  words,  "  A  new  prince  having  come  to 
the  throne,  is  not  bound  to  observe  the  guaranteed  rights  of  the 
people."  It  was  thus  that  one  of  them.  Father  Andreas 
Neubauer,  held  forth  from  the  pulpit  in  Prague :  **  His 
Bohemian  Majesty's  Brief  might  as  well  sanction  the  coercive 
permission  of  improper  houses  in  the  large  towns;"  while  other 
metobers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  even 
of  the  necessity  of  the  excommunication  and  confiscation,  or 
even  of  the  execution,  of  Evangelicals  throughout  all  German 
countries. 

It,  therefore,  became  clear  to  all  thinking  men  that  now,  with 
the  election  of  Ferdinand,  must  begin  the  fearful  war  to  ensure 
the  complete  annihilation  of  the  Protestants  of  Inner  Austria, 

*  Without  renunciation,  moreover,  on  the  part  of  Philip  III.,  but  Ferdi- 
nand promised,  according  to  a  secreftreaty,  to  give  over  to  him,  after  his 
enthronement  as  Emperor,  the  Tyrol,  Outer  Austria,  Alsace,  and  the 
Breisgau  This  promise,  however,  was  never  carried  out,  and,  from  the 
ürst,  Ferdinand  had  no  intention  of  fulfilling  it. 


266 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


for  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  all  along  been  working  ;  and 
he,  in  fact,  began  this  great  struggle,  as  everyone  knows,  in 
May  1618.  He  commenced  his  operations  in  Bohemia,  and  it 
was  in  consequence  of  the  continued  and  systematical  persecu- 
tion of  the  Evangelicals  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  also  by  the 
treatment  to  which  the  Government  subjected  the  rebels,  that 
they  banished  the  Jesuits  out  of  Bohemia  for  all  time. 

He  began,  then,  this  business  during  the  regime  of  the  Emperor 
Mathias,  who,  as  is  known,  did  not  die  till  the  year  1619.  The 
latter,  however,  was  by  this  time  so  sick  and  decrepit  that  he 
could  only  be  looked  upon  as  a  poor  tool  in  the  hands  of  his 
successor,  Ferdinand  ;  and  the  whole  frightful  responsibility  for 
this  terrible  thirty  years'  war  must  rest  upon  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand  IL,  and  his  teachers,  rulers,  and  bosom  friends,  the 
sons  of  Loyola. 

Is  it  now  necessary  for  me  to  cause  all  the  horrible  scenes 
of  this  ferocious  war  to  pass  in  review  before  the  eyes  of  the 
reader  ?     To  adopt  such  a  course  would  be  a  departure  from  the 
original  intention  of  this  work.     It  will,  therefore,  be  suflBcient 
merely  to  direct   attention  to  the   influence  exercised  by   the 
Jesuits  upon  the  course  of  this  war.     It  must  be  stated  at  the 
outset  that  Ferdinand  IL,  in  the  first  year  of  the  struggle,  was 
on  the  point  of  putting'an  end  to  the  tumult  he  had  created ;  for 
almost  all  of  his   heritable  states,   especially  Moravia,  Silesia, 
Hungary,  as  well  as  Lower  and  Upper  Austria,  took  part  in  the 
rebellion,  on  which  account,  behind  the  backs  of  the  Jesuits, 
he   made    an    application    to    the   Pope,    through    an    extra- 
ordinary  ambassador.    Count   Maximilian   von  Trautmansdorf, 
despatched  in   1619,  to  be  allowed  to  conclude  peace  on   the 
condition  of  granting   religious  liberty.      When,   however,   the 
sons  of  Loyola  came  to  be  made  aware  of  the  secret,  they  imme- 
diately sent  a  messenger  to  their  General,  Mucins  Vittelleschi, 
with  the  object  of  working  upon  the  Pope,  in  order  that  the 
latter  should  give  a  negative  reply  to  the  Emperor's  petition ; 
and  this  actually   in  the  end  occurred,  while,  in  addition,  the 
Imperial  Father  Confessor,    Johann  Weingartner,   was    led   to 
make  the  infernal  regions  so  hot  to  his  high   and  mighty  con- 
fessant,  on  account  of  the  wicked   deed  he  had  in  contempla- 
tion,  that   Ferdinand  at  length    abstained  from  his  intention. 
Their  aim  and  object  was  that  the  war  should  not  be  again 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OF   THE  JESUITS.      257 

smothered  at  its  inception,  but  that  it  should,  in  truth,  become  a 
war  of  annihilation.  Besides,  was  it  possible  for  them  to  allow 
peace  to  be  concludeä  with  countries  whose  rebellious  Govern- 
ments had  issued  a  law  ruling  that  no  Jesuit  should  ever 
again  dare  to  show  his  face,  under  pain  of  death,  within 
their  boundaries  ?  This,  indeed,  had  Bohemia  done,  as  also 
Hungary,  Moravia,  Silesia,  with  Upper  and  Lower  Austria; 
and  not  only  had  they  acted  thus,  but,  at  the  same  time,  had 
publicly  disclosed  to  the  world,  all  the  nefarious  peculiarities 
and  deeds  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  em- 
bitter the  feelings  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  highest  degree.*  But 
when  Ferdinand  IL  had  formed  the  resolution  of  prosecuting  the 
war,  was  it  in  his  power  to  do  so  ?  All  his  treasure- chests  were 
well-nigh  exhausted,  and  his  armies  did  not,  at  the  most, 
number  more  than  about  J  2,000  men,  which  were  insuflöcient  to 
make  a  stand  against  four  times  the  number  of  enemies ;  the 
support  from  abroad,  too,  wliich  Philif)  HI.  of  Spain  had  prof- 
fered, was  but  scanty,  and  did  not  much  signify. 

The  sons  of  Loyola,  however,  knew  a  way  how  to  get  out  of 
the  difficulty,  and  it  consisted  in  this,  that  they  gained  the  help 
of  Maximilian  I.  of  Bavaria  for  their  protege.  The  House  of 
Wittelsbach,  it  is  true,  stood  in  no  very  friendly  relationship  to 
Austria,  as  through  it  much  injustice  had  been  done  to  the 
Hapsburgers  since  the  time  that  the  latter  obtained  possession  of 
the  German  Imperial  throne ;  and  the  Dukes  of  Bavaria  had, 
more  especially,  to  complain  of  the  enormous  robbery,  perpetrated 
in  1505,  of  the  rich  territory  of  Landshut,  the  inheritance  of  Duke 
George.  Ferdinand  IL,  moreover,  had  not,  for  a  long  time  past, 
given  evidence  of  having  acted  the  part  of  a  very  dear  friend 
towards  the  companion  of  his  youth,  Maximilian,  or  the  part, 
indeed,  of  an  honest  man;  for  he  had  even  been  intriguing 
against  him  in  every  way,  out  of  a  feeling  of  jealousy,  in  order  to 

*  In  the  legal  document  to  which  this  refers  it  is  stated,  among  other  things, 
"  We  have  discovered  that  the  authors  of  all  this  premeditated  mischief  were 
the  Jesuits,  who  alone  applied  themselves  thereto,  as  they  rendered  secure 
the  Roman  Chair,  and  were  desirous  of  bringing  all  kingdoms  and  countries 
under  their  control  and  power.  Towards  accomplishing  this  end,  however, 
they  permitted  themselves  to  make  use  of  the  most  inadmissible  means ; 
they  urged  the  magistracy  against  the  subjects,  and  the  subjects  against 
the  magistracy  ;  they  caused  friends  to  take  up  arms  against  friends,  and 
■  everywhere  stirred  up  strife,  uproar,  and  insurrection ;  they  arrogated  to 
themselves  on  all  occasions  the  political  government,  and  promulgated  the 
doctrine  that  whoever  did  not  adhere  to  the  Catholic  rehgion  sinned  against 
truth  and  faith,"  &c. 


258 


HISTORY  0^  THE   JfiSÜlTÖ. 


cause  him  to  give  up  the  leadership  of  the  League ;  and  hesides, 
several  other  things  had  occurred  that  had  naturally  vexed  the 
Bavarian  princes.     Might   it   not,  then,  have  heen   considered 
likely  that  Maximilian  would  have  heen  inclined  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  great  straits    in    which  the  ruler  of  Austria  then 
was,   to   procure   satisfaction   for  all  the   former   offences   and 
injustice  that  had  heen  sustained  by  him  ?     One  might  certainly 
have  thought  so,  indeed,  and  even  supposed  that  the  policy  of 
the  State  would  have  called  for  such  action ;  but  it  was  the  desire 
of  the  Jesuits  that  it  should  be  otherwise,  and  these  were,  as  I 
have  already  shown,  all-powerful  at  the  Court  of  Munich.   Thus, 
for  instance,  the  Duke  was  unceasingly  importuned  by  his  Father 
Confessor,  and  other  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  war,  for  the  honour  of  God,  the  glory 
which  would  accrue  to  heroes  of  the  true  faith  being  depicted 
to  him  in  glowing  terms.     Therefore,  when,  in  the  beginning  of 
October  1619,  the  friend  of  his  youth  came  to  him  in  Munich, 
begging  for  aid,  Maximilian  not  only  did  not  refuse  to  give  it  to 
him,  but,  on  the  contrary,  promised  him  his  full  support.     And, 
indeed,  a  very  disinterested  treaty,  as  it  proved,  was  concluded 
between  them  on  the  8th  October  1619. 

We  shall  now  see,  from  the  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  war, 
what  effect  this  union  between  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian  pro- 
duced, entirely  brought  about  as  it  was  by  the  art  and  cunning 
of  the  Jesuits,  who  were  in  this  way  successful  in  securing  the 
victory  of  the  former,  instead  of  his  downfall,  in  proof  of  which 
I  must  refer  my  readers  to  the  history  of  that  war. 

Such  was  the  first  indication  of  the  extraordinary  influence 
which  the  Jesuits  exercised  on  the  course  of  the  great  religious 
war,  and  I  must  now  pass  over  to  the  consideration  of  the  part 
they  played  in  securing  the  Catholicizing  and  pacification  of 
Bohemia. 

Alter  the  decisive  battle  of  the  White  Hill  at  Prague,  in 
November  1620,  Duke  Maximilian,  overtaken  by  a  temporary 
paroxysm  of  humanity,  promised  the  Bohemians,  in  return  for 
their  unconditional  submission,  security  of  person  as  well  as  a 
complete  amnesty,  and  the  Bohemians  naturally  enough  put  con- 
fidence in  bis  princely  word.  Now,  such  a  promise  was  extremely 
hateful  to  the  Jesuits,  as  they  unceasingly  continued  to  thirst 
after  the  blood  of  the  heretical  leaders  by  whom,  two  years 


tHE   POWEBFUL   INFLUENCE   Of"   THE   JESUITS.      ^9 

previously,  they  had  been  driven   out   of  Bohemia,    and   con- 
sequently they  perpetually  beset  the  ears  of  the  Emperor  Ferdi* 
nand  with   the   argument  that   he  need   not   give  himself  any 
trouble  about  the  plighted  word  of  Maximilian.     Ferdinand  for 
a  long  time  withstood  their  importunities,  not  wishing  to  rudely 
insult   the   man  who   had  reconquered  Bohemia   for  him,  and 
who  had   crushed  the  insurrection  in  the  other  Austrian  pro- 
vinces; at   last,  however,  beginning  to  waver,  he  convoked  a 
secret  Clerical  Council,  in  the  beginning  of  June  1621,  in  order 
to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  determination.     The  chief  speakers  in 
this  assembly    were  the   two  Imperial  Father  Confessors,    the 
Jesuit  Fathers  Johann  Weingartner  and  Martin  Becanus,*  as  also 
four  other  members  of  the  Order,  among  whom  was  the  Eector 
of  the  College  at    Vienna,    the   greatly  distinguished  William 
Lamormain,t  and  the  latter,  with  whom  rested  the  casting  vote, 
exclaimed  with  a  firm  voice  that  he  would  take  upon  himself  and 
upon  his  conscience  all  the  bloodshed  which  might  occur.     The 
Emperor  now  declared  himself  prepared  to  sign  the  sentence 
of  death  which  had  been  long  prepared  by  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
tragedy  commenced  on  the  21st  of  June  1621,  by  the  murder  of 
seven-and-twenty  of   the  richest,    most  conspicuous,  and  most 
noble  of  the  Bohemian  nation.      In  the  self-same  hour,  however, 
Ferdinand  lay  on  his  knees  before  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mother 
of  God    at    xMariazell,    to    which  he  had  made   a  pilgrimage, 
earnestly  praying,  as  a  true  disciple  of  the  Jesuits,  for  the  souls 
of  his   victims.      The  affair,    naturally,    did  not  end   with  this 
*•  first  '*  bloody  sentence,  but  there  now  began  a  regular  system 

*  "^IS-^i^^®'  P^<^P®^ly  speaking,  caUed  Van  der  Beek,  was  born  about  the 
year  1561,  in  the  vülage  of  Wölveren  in  Belgium.  He  entered  into  the  Order 
ot  Jesuits  m  the  year  1583,  and  five  years  afterwards  took  upon  himself,  the 
duties  of  Professor  of  Theology  in  Cologne.  In  the  same  capacity  he  came 
10  Vienna  m  the  year  1613,  and,  seven  years  later  on,  the  Emperor  Eerdi- 
nand  promoted  him  to  the  office  of  Second  Confessor,  as  the  Father  Wein- 
gartner had  now  become  very  old.  He  did  not,  however,"  retain  this 
important  office  long,  as  he  died  in  January  1624. 

t  Wühelm  Lamormain,  or  more  properly  called  "Lämmermann,"  first 
saw  the  light  at  Ardenne,  in  the  Luxemburg  territory,  about  the  year 
1Ö/U,  and  joined  the  Order  when  very  young.  In  the  main  his  career  was 
m^ch  the  same  as  that  of  Becanus,  only  he  advanced  from  Professor  of 
J-heology  to  be  Rector  of  the  College  in  Grätz,  and  was,  at  the  request  of 
^erdinaud  II  transferred  to  Vienna  and  placed  in  a  similar  capacity  there. 
J?erdinand  felt  himself  uncommonly  strongly  drawn  towards  Lamormain, 
so  that  the  latter  exercised  the  greatest  influence  upon  the  Sovereign's 
determinations,  and  on  that  account,  after  the  death  of  Becanus  in 
T?!.^®*^^^  /'  ^®  ^*^  immediately  raised  to  the  dignity  of  the  Emperor's 
d^lthi^mr^''''*  ^"^^  *°*®*^  ^  *^^  capacity  up  to  the  time  of  his  own 

17  * 


260 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


of  Protestant  persecution— more  mean,  cruel,  and  horribly  bloody 
things  happened,  indeed,  than  can  well  be  conceived— and,  ac- 
cording to  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  Jesuits  themselves,  the 
originator  of  all  this  was  their  distinguished  brother,  William 
Lamormain.     I  will  not  further  depict  the  horrors  which  were 
practised  during  the  next  lour  years  under  the  cloak  of  conversion 
from  heresy.     I  will  not  speak  thereof,  or  as  to  how  and  in  what 
manner  the  whole  of  the  non-Catholic  community  was  robbed,  not 
only  of  all  civil,  but  of  all  human  rights ;  I  will  not  relate  anything 
further  regarding  their  actions— the  deeds,  1  mean,  of  the  so- 
called  Reformation  Commission  of  Ferdinand,  which  was  nothing 
else  than  an  imitation  of  the  Spanish  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition, 
having,  as  its  characteristic,  the  same  harsh  barbarity,  the  same 
unlimited  power  of  branding,  cutting  off  noses  and  ears,  as  well 
as  of  hanging,  beheading,  and  breaking  on  wheels.     I  will  even 
pass  over  in  silence  the  horrible  military  hatred  aroused,  which 
consisted  in  this,  that  the  Croats,  Cuirassiers,  or  Lichtensteiners, 
were  employed,  with  drawn  swords,  in  hunting  down  the  people, 
forcing  them  to  the  Mass  with  dogs  and  whips,  and  throwing  the 
refractory  ones  into  cages  in  which  they  could  neither  sit,  lie 
down,  nor  even  stand,  while  they  were  compelled  to  witness,  at  the 
same  time,  the  most  horrible  violence  applied  to  their  poor  wives 
and  daughters,  until  the  husbands  and  fathers  swore  upon  their 
knees  to  renounce  heresy.     All  this,  and  much  more,  will  I  pass 
over.     It  is  my  duty,  however,  to  mention  the  names  of  those 
who   were   leading    spirits  and  instigators,  for  the  most  part, 
of  those  devilish  persecutions,  and  they  were  no  other  than  the 
Jesuit  Fathers    Adam   Krawarsky,   Andreas  Metsch,   Leonard 
Oppel,  Kaspar  Hillebrand,  George  Ferus,  Ferdinand  Kollowrat, 
Friedrich  Bridel,  and  Mathias  Vierius.      What  were  the  ter- 
rible results  of  this  reign  of  terror,   more   especially  to  the 
unfortunate  Bohemians,    are   related    by   the  Jesuit  historian 
Balbin,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  horrors  he  depicts;  he  says, 
indeed :  "  It  is  truly  astounding  that,  after  all  that  has  taken 
place,  there  were  any  remaining  inhabitants  to  be  found;"  but  he 
adds,  it  is  an  established  fact,  on  the  other  hand,  that  **  the 
existing  population  of  these  desolated  lands  completely  recognise 
Catholicism,  and  Evangelical  faith  was  entirely  exterminated.'^ 

As  a  third  proof  of  the  extraordinary  influence  exercised  by 
the  Jesuits  in  the  course  of  the  great  religious  war  in  Germany, 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF  THE   JESUITS.      26 1 


I  must  bring  to  notice  the  extinction  of  Protestantism  in  Silesia ; 
and,  as  a  fourth,  the  murder  of  the  great  Frieslander,  the  Imperial 
Generalissimo. 

The  Silesian  insurgents  had,  in  the  year  1621,  submitted  to  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand;  not,  however,*  by  force  of  arms,  but  in 
consequence  of  a  solemn  treaty  entered  into  between  the  parties, 
which  ensured  a  general  amnesty  to  the  inhabitants  for  their 
participation    in    the   Bohemian   insurrection,    and   granted   a 
confirmation  of  all  their  rights  and  privileges,  more  especially 
that  of  religious  liberty.     This  treaty  was  promulgated  through- 
out the  whole  of  Silesia,  by  the  Emperor  himself,  on  the  17th 
of  July  1621,  by  means  of  public  Patents,  and  no  one  living  in 
the  country  could  have  thought  there  was  any  possibility  that 
any  Prince  or  Emperor  could  have  been  so  dishonourable  and 
devoid  of  all  shame  as  to  break  such  a  solemn  oath  and  engage- 
ment.    But  Ferdinand  II.  showed  himself  to  be  a  worthy  pupil 
of  the*  Jesuits,  and  the  Fathers  Martin  Becanus  and  William 
Lamormain  knew  how  to  quiet  his  conscience.     There  conse- 
quently began  a  systematic  persecution  of  the  Silesian  Protes- 
tants in  the  year  following,  and,  as  they  did  not  at  once  burst 
out  into  rebellion,  the  same  means  were  used  to  obtain  this  end 
as  had  been  resorted  to  in  Bohemia.   "Extermination  of  heresy," 
was  the  watchword  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  preached  from 
morning  to  night,  and  the  Lichtensteiner,  together  with  other 
inhuman  warriors,  served  on  this  occasion  as  *'  Saviour.'*    With 
what  unmeasured  cruelty  they,  however,  conducted  themselves, 
may  best  be  understood   by  this,  that  a  Jesuit  even.  Father 
Nerlich  of  Glogan,  was  unable  any  longer  to  witness  it,  and  on 
that  account  demanded  his  withdrawal  from  Father  Lamormain 
in  Vienna.     But  enough  has  been  said  on  this  subject.     Silesia 
was,  in  this  way,  regained  by  the  Jesuits,  but  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  country  lost  half  of  its  inhabitants,  and  sank  into  the 
greatest  state  of  misery  ! 

I  come  now  to  speak  more  particularly  of  the  fourth  proof 
of  Jesuit  influence;  of  the  murder,  mamely,  of  Albert  Wenzel 
of  Wallenstein,  Duke  of  Friesland,  Mecklenburg,  and  Sagan, 
beyond  doubt  the  greatest  General  of  all  those  who  com- 
manded the  Catholic  armies  in  this  war.  The  Jesuits  had 
selected  him  as  leader,  on  account  of  his  having  made  the  House 
of  Hapsburg  the  all-ruling  Power  in  Europe,  and  Ferdinand  II. 


262 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  absolute  ruler  of  the  German  Empire,  for  the  sons  of  Loyola 
never  for  one  single  instant  left  out  of  sight  their  great  aim  and 
object,  that,  namely,  of  a  universal   monarchy.     He,  then,  the 
Frieslander,  was  the  man  for  the  business  in  hand  ;  not  merely 
on  account  of  his  great  talents  as  a  commander,  but,  still  more, 
because  he  had  been  educated  at  the  College  of  Olmutz,  and 
consequently  his  views  were  completely  in  accord  with  theirs. 
For  a  long  time  both  of  these  parties  had  agreed  well  together, 
for  at   least  the  Frieslander  had  to  thank  the  intercession  of 
Father   Lamormain,  the  most  influential  man  at  the  Imperial 
Court,    and    in    reality    the  Prime   Minister,  for  the   bestowal 
on  him  of  the  Dukedom  of  Sagan  and  Mecklenburg.     Thus 
Wallenstein,  his  palm  having  been  well  greased,  that  is  to  say, 
having  rich  presents  bestowed  upon  him,  set  himself  zealously  to 
work  along  with  his  coadjutors,  to  obtain  for  the  Order  of  Jesus 
a  firm  footing  in  this  hitherto  Protestant  country  belonging  to  the 
Empire.     As,  however,  later  on,  Wallenstein,  on  account  •of  the 
great  straits  to  which  the  country  was  at  that  time  reduced,  had 
been  appointed  to  be  Generalissimo,  with  full  dictatorial  powers, 
and  had  taken  such  unlimited  advantage  of  his  dictatorship  that 
not  only  the  army,  but  the  Court  also,  came  to  be  completely 
under  his  control  and  guidance,  a  frightful  feeling  of  resentment 
was  aroused  towards  him  in  the  mind  of  the  Father  Confessor 
of  the  Emperor,  who  had  hitherto  alone  managed  him,  and  con- 
ducted the  ship  of  the  State.     This  feeling  of  resentment  on  the 
part  of  the   Jesuits   became   exchanged  for  perfect  fury    when 
they  considered  that  the  Frieslander  had  been  raised  to  the  giddy 
height  on  which  he  now  stood,  properly  speaking,  on  their  own 
shoulders;  and  they,  therefore,  at  once  resolved  upon  his  down- 
fall, as  soon  as  they  became  convinced  that  they  could  no  longer 
make  use  of  him  as  their  tool. 

Of  this  state  of  matters,  too,  the  Frieslander  was  not,  indeed, 
in  ignorance,  and  he  frequently  expressed  himself  to  his  most 
intimate  confidants  as  hating  the  Jesuits  from  the  bottom  of  his 
heart,  so  that,  as  soon  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do  so,  he 
would  be  prepared  to  hunt  them  out  of  the  Empire.  The  sons 
of  Loyola,  however,  were  beforehand  with  him,  and  in  com- 
bination with  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  and  his  othor  enemies, 
succeeded,  av  the  beginning  of  the  year  1634,  in  persuading  the 
Kmperor  Fe/dinand  that  now  the  time  had  arrived  when  this 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS,      263 


troublesome  dictator  was  no  longer  required.  The  mere  deposi- 
tion or  removal  of  the  hated  man  was  not  sufficient  for  them, 
as  they  had  been  taught  to  fear  him ;  what  they  desired  was  his 
death  and  complete  disappearance  from  this  world's  stage,  and, 
therefore,  through  the  medium  of  Father  Lamormain,  they  talked 
over  the  Emperor  without  much  trouble,  and  got  him  to  attach 
his  signature  to  a  death-warrant,  which  was  carried  into  effect  at 
Eger  on  the  24th  of  February  1634.  It  was  they,  besides,  who 
made  use  of  messengers  and  riders,  in  order  to  communicate 
with  the  treacherous  captains  under  the  Frieslander's  command, 
and  more  especially  with  Gallas,  Butler,  and  Piccolomini,  and  it 
v;as  in  their  college  at  Prague  where,  according  to  the  evidence 
of  contemporaries,  the  decisive  consultations  took  place  as  to 
the  carrying  out  of  the  death-warrant. 

The  fifth  proof  of  the  extraordinary  influence  of  the  Jesuits 
upon  the  course  of  the  great  religious  war  in  Germany  lay  in 
the  nefarious  Restitution  Edict,  of  which  they  were  the  framers, 
and  which  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  IL,  instigated  solely  by  their 
advice  and  suggestions,  issued,  on  the  6th  of  March  1 629,  just 
as  the  fortunate  turn  of  the  war  had  placed  him  at  the  zenith 
of  his  power.  According  to  this  proclamation,  the  Protestants 
were  required  to  give  up  all  the  cloisters,  foundations,  bishoprics, 
and  church  property  which  had  been  acquired  by  them  since 
the  Treaty  of  Passau  in  15Ö2,  in  order  that  the  same  should 
be  restored  to  their  rightful,  and  formerly  Catholic,  owners. 
This,  at  first,  immensely  rejoiced  the  hearts  of  the  whole  Catholic 
priesthood,  the  bishops  and  archbishops  of  Germany,  as  well  as 
of  the  Pope  of  Rome  himself;  but  it  was  only  at  first,  as  it  became 
apparent,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  what  was  the  real 
meaning  of  the  edict  in  question.  It  came  out  that  the  Em- 
peror Ferdinand,  who  retained  expressly  for  himself  the  free 
disposition  over  those  church  properties,  was  by  no  means  dis- 
posed to  restore  them  to  their  former  owners,  but  wished,  on 
the  contrary,  to  keep  them  for  his  own  use  and  for  the  extension 
of  his  power,  and,  in  fact,  did  so  retain  them  for  the  most  part.* 

*  Pope  Urban  VIII.,  on  that  account,  also  complained  in  the  strongest 
manner  possible,  in  the  year  1632,  and  replied  quite  ludicrously  to  the 
Jesuit  Cardinal,  Peter  Pazman,  whom  Ferdinand  had  sent  to  him  : — *'  The 
great  advantages  which  Sweden  had  at  that  time  gained,  were,  undoubtedly, 
only  a  divine  punishment  for  the  non-restoration  to  the  Church  of  the 
Church  properties  taken  from  the  Protestants,  and  for  the  retention  of  the 
same  for  State  purposes/' 


264 


HISTOKY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


His  edict  set  forth  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  framed  the 
proclamation  in  order  that  they  should  be  able  to  expel  by 
force  those  persons  adhering  to  the  Evangelical  faith  in  all  the 
territories  evacuated  by  the  Protestants,  with  the  view  of  taking 
possession  of  all  the  churches,  and  everything  pertaining  to 
them ;  in  this  way,  they  acquired  them  for  their  Order.  With 
this  object  in  view,  also,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  never,  on 
any  occasion,  missing  whenever  an  Imperial  army  entered  a 
conquered  city,  the  plea  being  that  they  must  needs  be  required 
to  incite  the  inhuman  warriors  to  a  still  greater  degree  of  fervour 
"to  couch  their  lances  for  God's  honour  "  against  the  Protestants, 
inflaming  them  to  perpetrate,  that  is  to  say,  even  still  more  hor- 
rible deeds  of  cruelty.  They  must  needs  make  their  appearance 
wherever  the  Imperial  or  Leaguist  banners  penetrated,  in  order, 
with  the  aid  of  the  soldiery,  to  see  that  such  scenes  of  butchery 
were  fully  carried  out,  quite  unrestrained,  and  to  the  same 
extent  as  were  witnessed  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  Bohemia 
and  Silesia!  It  is  mentioned,  for  example,  that  Father  Lorenz 
Forer,  Professor  at  the  Jesuit  school  of  Dillingen,  admonished 
the  commander  of  the  Imperial  army  with  such  words  as  these : 
*'  Estote  ferventes,"  that  is  lo  say,  '*  Do  not  slacken  in  your 
zeal,  but  seize  and  commit  to  the  flames  in  such  a  manner  that 
it  will  be  necessary  for  the  angels  to  draw  up  their  feet,  and 
the  stars  begin  to  melt.*'  It  is  also  recorded  that  Father  La 
Mornay,  at  the  storming  of  the  city  of  Olmutz  by  the  Im- 
perial troops,  murdered,  with  his  own  hand,  three  Protestant 
clergymen,  and,  as  a  reward,  granted  free  absolution  from  all  his 
sins  for  such  a  deed  of  horror  to  a  brute  who  had  dashed, against 
a  wall  the  head  of  a  child  who  was  clinging  to  his  feet.  Then, 
again,  the  Fathers  Jeremias  Drexel,  Franz  Dübuisson,  and 
Ignatius  Plachy,  together  with  many  others  of  their  brethren, 
often  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  battalions,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Breitenfeld,  in  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  completely 
defeated  Tilly,  a  number  of  Loyolites  were  found  among  the 
dead.  In  this  way,  too,  they  entered  Raufbeuren,  and  many 
other  Suabian  Imperial  towns,  along  with  the  Imperial  garrison 
troops,  nine  men  in  number,  and,  in  the  year  1630,  compelled 
all  the  Protestant  inhabitants  either  to  migrate  or  else  become 
Catholic ;  between  such  alternatives  they  allowed  of  no  excep- 
tion, not  even  in  the  case  of  the  dying,  the  sick,  the  old,^  as,  for 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      265 

instance,  in  that  of  the  Burgomaster  Lauber,  who  was  seventy- 
six  years  old.  It  was  thus,  also,  that  Father  Lamormain  came 
in  person  to  Augsburg,  with  the  view  of  carrying  out  the  Edict 
of  Restitution,  in  conjunction  with  Konrad  Reising,  the  rector 
of  the  college  there,  when,  with  the  help  of  the  soldiers  which 
they  brought  along  with  them,  all  the  Protestant  schools  and 
churches  were  either  closed  or  pulled  down;  those  of  the  in- 
habitants, too,  who  still  adhered  to  Protestantism  were  driven 
to  Muss  with  whips,  and  even  migration,  in  this  instance, 
was  not  allowed,  unless  they  left  their  property  behind  them. 
"  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Empire,"  writes  a  chronicler  of  these  times;  "whatever  the 
Jesuits  wished  for  was,  by  the  Emperor's  orders,  forcibly 
carried  out  by  the  Spaniards  against  the  Bavarians — what  the 
commissaries  insinuated,  that  the  soldiers  executed — and  is  it 
not  sufficient  to  make  mention  of  the  miserable  and  frightful 
murders,  robberies,  and  incendiarisms  which  were  perpetrated  ?  " 
As  the  sixth,  and  last,  proof  of  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits 
over  the  course  of  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  I  may  adduce  the  extra- 
ordinary efforts  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  producing  and  main- 
taining a  preconceived  understanding  to  prevent,  at  any  price, 
the  conclusion  of  peace  as  long  as  a  single  Protestant  existed. 
In  the  year  1632,  Cardinal  Richelieu  endeavoured  to  put 
an  end  to  the  war,  and  in  a  manner  which  truly  does  great 
honour  to  this  distinguished  statesman.  At  that  time  Fer- 
dinand IL  was,  through  the  victorious  career  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  hurled  from  his  proud  and  giddy 
height  into  the  dust,  and,  being  in  the  direst  need,  it  appeared, 
without  doubt,  that  the  House  of  Hapsburg  would  be  compelled, 
after  a  short  war,  to  conclude  a  very  humiliating  peace  with  the 
brave  Swedish  King  and  his  Protestant  allies,  in  the  event  of 
Maximilian  L  determining  to  maintain  a  neutral  attitude  with 
his  League.  In  this  wise,  Bavaria  might  have  been  able  to 
remain  completely  exempt  from  the  war,  and  to  raise  itself  up  to 
be  an  intermediate  power,  so  considerable,  indeed,  as  to  give 
the  tone  to  Germany,  thereby  conferring  such  an  advantage 
as  any  wise  ruler  might  well  have  seized  with  both  hands. 
The  French  Ambassador,  Charnac,  made  use  of  all  his  eloquence 
in  order  to  induce  the  Wittelsbaoher  to  take  this  view,  and 
was  supported  by  all  the  weight  of  the  Committee  of  Country 


(i 


.*i 


266 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.      267 


11 
11 

I 


Delegates  then  assembled  at  Munich.  But  what  would  have 
become  of  a  Hapsburg  universal  monarchy,  according  to  the  plan 
and  design  of  the  Jesuits,  if  Maximilian  had  been  induced  to 
take  this  course  ?  The  latter  fraternity,  therefore,  bestirred  them- 
selves to  the  uttermost  on  the  occasion,  and  Adam  Contzen,* 
the  Father  Confessor  of  Maximilian,  moved  heaven  and  earth  to 
dissuade  him  from  according  his  consent  to  such  a  pernicious 
plan  of  action.  He — and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  all  the  other 
Jesuits  about  the  Court  of  Munich  blew  quite  the  same  little 
horn — was  of  opinion,  with  others,  that  should  the  Electoral 
Prince  refrain  from  taking  a  part  in  this  war  for  the  faith,  he 
would  not  only  forfeit  all  his  preceding  renown,  but  stigmatise 
himself  with  an  indelible  mark  of  shame.  He,  moreover,  asked 
the  Prince  Elector  how  he  could  reconcile  it  to  his  conscience  to 
favour  the  victory  of  the  heretics  by  entering  into  a  treaty  of 
neutrality  with  the  Swedish  King,  and  whether,  in  that  case,  he 
had  taken  into  consideration  that  he  would  be  necessitated 
to  grant  toleration  to  the  Protestants  in  Bavaria.  In  short,  he 
contrived  to  establish  in  the  mind  of  his  high  confessant  such  a 
panic  that  Maximilian  determined  to  prosecute  the  war  still 
further,  and  to  allow  himself  to  be  used  as  an  advanced  rampart 
against  the  Swedish  King,  to  the  unspeakable  misery  of  Germany 
in  general,  and  of  Bavaria  in  particular. 

In  this  way  it  came  about,  entirely  through  the  Jesuits,  that 
peace  was  not  concluded  in  the  year  1632,  and  in  the  same 
manner  in  the  years  1635  and  1638  their  efforts  in  this 
direction  were  equally  successful.  In  the  year  1635,  the 
Austrian  Court,  by  the  so-called  Peace  of  Prague,  succeeded  in 
dissolving  the  alliance  of  Saxony  and  Sweden ;  and  this  said 
peace  was  of  incalculable  value  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  as 
his  resources  at  that  time  were  completely  exhausted,  so  much 
80  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  for  him  to  carry  on  the  war 
any  longer  with  all  of  his  former  enemies.  Nevertlicless,  the 
Jesuits,  with  Father  Lamormain  at  their  head,  continued  to  hurl 

♦  Father  Contzen,  bom  in  the  year  1575  at  Montjoye,  in  the  Dukedom  of 
Ziilich,  entered  into  the  Jesuit  Order  in  the  year  1595,  and  beep  me  in  the 
year  1617,  from  being  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  College  at  Itla>ence,  Con- 
fessor of  the  Bishop  Johann  Gottfried  of  Würzburg.  He  was  ad^fr.ced,  how- 
ever, after  the  death  of  Johann  Buslidius,  in  the  year  1623,  to  be  Confessor 
to  the  Electoral  Prince  Maximilian  I.,  and  remained  in  this  influential 
position  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  the  year  1635.  I  may  observe,  by 
the  way,  that  Buslidiua  had  been  for  twenty-eight  years  the  keeper  o| 
Maximilian's  conscience. 


fire  and  flames  over  this  peace,  and  sought  with  all  their 
eloquence  to  prevent  the  Catholic  Electors  from  giving  their 
consent  to  it,  while  they  daily  continued  to  urge  the  Emperor  to 
break  it.  With  this  said  instrument  of  peace,  religious  liberty 
would,  of  course,  have  been  granted  to  the  Lutherans,  and  the 
enforcement  of  the  Jesuit  Edict  of  Kestitution  have  ceased. 

The  Hapsburger  was  now  driven  to  such  shifts  that  he  was 
unable  to  do  anything  else  but  render  obedience  to  his  Father 
Confessor,  and  he  consequently,  compelled  by  necessity,  had 
only  to  await  a  more  favourable  opportunity.  Ferdinand  II.  at 
this  time  died,  having  drawn  down  upon  himself  the  curses  of 
Germany,  as  the  people,  through  him,  had  fallen  into  a  most 
miserable  condition.  They  at  once  implored  Amelia  Elizabeth 
of  Hesse,  the  guardian  of  the  new  Emperor,  Ferdinand  III., 
then  a  boy  of  eight  years  of  age  (1637-57),  to  hold  out  the 
hand  of  peace  under  the  same  conditions  as  Saxony  had  done. 
The  new  Emperor,  being  strenuously  urged  by  Bernhard  of 
Weinlar,  now  empowered  the  Electoral  Prince,  Anselm  Kasimir, 
Archbishop  of  Mayence,  with  the  conduct  of  this  highly  im- 
portant business,  and  he  succeeded  in  bringing  it  to  a  conclusion 
in  August  1038,  under  very  favourable  conditions  to  Austria. 
All  the  secular  counsellors  of  Ferdinand  exult:'^  much  over  this 
treaty,  and,  for  the  most  part,  the  majority  of  the  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries  were  also  delighted.  It  was  only  the  Jesuits  who 
resisted  it  with  hands  and  feet,  and  uttered  such  a  wail  of 
misery  over  it  that  even  the  reformer — Hesse  was  an  adherent 
of  Calvinism — was  obliged  ito  agree  to  promise  legal  toleration 
to  the  most  hated  of  all  hated  creeds. 

What  a  piece  of  good  fortune  was  it  for  them,  however,  that 
the  Emperor  had,  ns  Father  Confessor,  Johann  Gans,*  the  most 
skilled  of  all  their  body,  and  it  was  a  still  greater  stroke  of  good 
luck  that,  through  their  urgent  entreaties,  the  monarch  allowed 
himself  to  be  induced  not  to  ratify  the  treaty  !  The  Land- 
gravine, therefore,  renewed  an  alliance  with  Sweden,  and  her  brave 
army  henceforth  fought  on  the  Protestant  side  up  to  the 
termination  of  the  war. 

*  Johann  Gans,  born  in  Würzburg  territory,  and  a  Jesuit  from  1610, 
accompanied  Ferdinand  III.,  previous  to  his  accession  to  the  throne,  in  his 
campaign  as  camp  preacher,  and  became  afterwards  his  confessor  for  fully 
twenty-two  years.  He  survived  his  master,  moreover,  about  five  years,  as 
he  died  in  the  year  1662,  while  the  Emperor  died  in  the  year  1657. 


268 


HISTOEY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   1>ÖWERFUL   Il^FLÜENOE   OF   THE    JESUITS.      26-} 


II 


Thus  did  the  Jesuits  go  on  further  and  further,  and  it  was  in 
vain  that  the  deputies  who  were,  in  the  autumn  of  1640,  assem- 
hled  at  Ratishon,  urged  the  Emperor  to  grant  a  general  amnesty, 
for  the  present  at  least,  whereby  a  reconciliation  might  have 
been  eflfected  between  Austria  and  the  Protestants.  The  Emperor, 
however,  did  not  do  so,  not  being  able  to  get  the  consent  of  the 
Jesuits  thereto.  On  the  contrary,  they  opposed  the  idea  of  a 
general  amnesty  as  a  thing  thoroughly  sinful  and  objectionable, 
and  with  the  greatest  bitterness  continued  to  urge  the  further 
prosecution  of  the  war,  which  should  never  be  allowed  to  cease 
before  the  complete  extermination  of  the  Protestants  was  effected ; 
and  this  is  proved  by  a  public  document  published  at  that  time, 
in  the  name  of  the  Order,  by  Father  Lorenz  Forer,  of  whom  I 
have  already  made  mention. 

Ultimately,  however,  the  demand  for  an  amnesty  became  of 
necessity  altogether  too  urgent  for  the  Emperor  to  be  able  to 
adhere  to  these  principles  as  laid  down  by  the  Jesuits,  and  con- 
sequently peace  negotiations  were  commenced  in  1643,  at 
Osnabrück  and  Münster,  between  the  different  contending 
parties,  together  with  foreign  countries,  France  and  Sweden 
being  powerfully  represented.  All  Germany  now  breathed 
afresh,  as  it  was  clearly  to  be  perceived  that  the  work  of 
peace  was  taken  up  in  real  earnest,  and,  tired  to  death  with 
the  long  fearful  struggle,  it  was  hoped  by  both  Catholics  and 
Protestants  that  an  end  should  thus  be  put  to  the  war  as  soon 
as  possible ;  for  still,  during  the  time  the  negotiations  were 
proceeding,  combats  and  battles  went  on  as  before,  and  to  the 
blood*  thirsty  deeds  which  had  already  taken  place  new  ones  were 
constantly  being  added.  In  spite  of  everything,  it  was,  not- 
withstanding, fully  five  years  before  these  negotiations  were 
brought  to  a  conclusion  ;  and  who  was  it  that  was  to  blame  for 
all  this  delay,  during  which  the  poor  Fatherland  was  completely 
exhausted  almost  to  destruction  ?  It  was  no  one  else  than  the 
Order  of  Jesus  !  The  first  thing  that  was  demanded  and 
required  by  the  Protestants  was  unconditional  religious  liberty, 
as  well  as  rights  and  'privileges,  especially  as  regards  those 
appertaining  to  them  by  birth,  equal  with  those  enjoyed  by  the 
Catholics,  unless  these  essential  conditions  were  at  once  con- 
ceded no  consent  could  be  given  by  them  to  any  peace,  as 
otherwise  they  would  be  left  without  any  rights ;  but  even  these 


preliminary  conditions  were  rejected  by  the  Jesuits  as  an  abso* 
lute  religious  outrage,  while  they  urged  the  Emperor  rather 
to  hand  over  the  finest  districts  of  Germany  to  France  and 
Sweden  than  to  give  his  consent  to  such  terms.  And  not  only 
did  they  continue  to  urge  this  upon  the  Emperor,  but  they  also 
brought  all  their  influence  to  bear  upon  the  lesser  and  greater 
Catholic  powers  and  Imperial  Princes  which  were  represented  in 
the  Peace  Congress.  What,  however,  the  result  of  their  machi- 
nations must  have  been  can  be  best  measured  by  the  fact  that  at 
that  time  there  was  neither  a  single  prince  throughout  the  whole 
Catholic  world,  nor,  indeed,  a  minister  and  statesman,  whose  con- 
science was  not  in  the  keeping  of  some  member  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus.  They  so  contrived  to  manage,  above  everything,  that  the 
peace  negotiations  should  be  carried  on  entirely  at  Münster  and 
Osnabrück,  as  in  both  of  these  towns  they  possessed  colleges, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Osnabrück,  the  leader  of  the  Imperial  Catholic 
Princes,  happened  to  be  their  particular  friend.  This  said 
ecclesiastical  dignitary,  by  name  Francis  William,  an  illegitimate 
son  of  Duke  Ferdinand  of  Bavaria,  was  educated  by  the  sons  of 
Loyola  at  their  college  in  Ingoldstadt,  from  the  time  of  his 
being  nine  years  old,  and  he  consequently  imbibed  similar  prin- 
ciples to  those  of  his  cousin  Maximilian,  and  could  not,  there- 
fore, be  less  Jesuitically  inclined.  Whatever  influence  he  then 
exercised  by  his  great  eloquence  and  his  high  connection,  at  the 
Congress,  whither  he  had  been  sent  as  representative  of  seven- 
teen Catholic  votes,  was  in  the  spirit  of  his  teachers,  and  even 
the  two  Generals  of  the  Order,  Vitelleschi  and  Caraffa,  who  held 
that  high  office  at  the  time  of  the  Congress,  and  were  personally 
present  at  it,  could  not  have  watched  over  the  interests  of  the 
Order  better  than  he  did.  Equally  active  as  himself,  too,  were 
the  Jesuit  professors  who  conducted  the  instruction  given  at 
the  colleges  of  Münster  and  Osnabrück,  and  more  especially  the 
two  Fathers,  Johannes  Mühlman  and  Gottfried  Coeler,  together 
with  their  Rector,  Johannes]  Schüchling,  all  of  whom  could  not 
be  excelled  in  Jesuitical  cunning,  and  who,  in  fact,  were  perfect 
specimens  of  their  Order.  There  was  no  ambassador  there  from 
any  of  the  Catholic  Princes  with  whom  they  had  not  daily 
intercourse,  and  there  was  no  chamber  where  they  had  not 
their  spies,  who  could  not  even  be  excluded  from  the  residences 
of  the  Protestant  plenipotentiaries.     The  garden-pavilion  of  the 


270 


filSTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   I>0WBEFÜL   influence   OF   THE   JESUITS.      271 


Münster  college,  however,  was  the  great  Catholic  rendezvous 
where  their  consultations  were  held,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  Spanish  ambassador,  their  resolutions  being  moulded,  as 
may  well  be  imagined,  in  true  Jesuit  style. 

By  such  means  they  succeeded  in  putting  off  the  work  of 
peace  during  a  period  of  fully  five  years,  and,  assuredly,  had 
not  Ferdinand  III.,  in  the  year  1648,  given  authority  to  his 
ambassador,  Count  Maximilian  von  Trautmannsdorf,  "the  Angel 
of  Peace,*'  as  he  was  rightly  called  by  many,  to  view  with  favour 
the  desired  concessions  demanded  by  the  Protestants,  in  the  ques- 
tion of  religious  liberty — had  it  also  not  been  that  at  this  time 
the  impetuous  Wrangel  had  succeeded  in  completely  shattering 
into  a  thousand  pieces  the  last  army  which  the  Emperor  had 
been  able  to  bring  to  the  front,  things  would  have  continued  as 
they  were.  Under  such  circumstances,  however,  as  those  stated, 
he  was  obliged  to  yield,  and  thus  it  came  about  that  the 
earnestly  desired  peace  was  at  length  concluded,  on  the  24th 
October  1648,  which  went  by  the  name  of  the  Treaty  of  West- 
phalia. 

But  how  did  matters  look  at  that  time  in  Germany  ?  Ah  ! 
indeed,  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  with  its  terrible  ills  produced  by 
fire  and  sword,  had  brought  about  such  a  condition  as  pen  could 
hardly  describe.  Thousands  of  towns  and  villages  were  in 
ruins;  the  most  luxuriant  plains,  whole  districts  of  country, 
before  pastured  by  flocks  and  herds,  were  now  converted  into 
wildernesses  where  only  wild  beasts  were  to  be  found.  There  still 
remained  in  existence,  it  is  true,  but  brutalised,  and  sunk  as  low 
often  as  mere  animals,  young  and  old,  buried,  alas !  in  such 
complete  ignorance,  that  many  could  not  tell  the  difference 
between  Christ  and  the  Devil.  In  short,  it  was  a  condition  of 
things  which  could  not  be  more  pitiable,  and  which  iiany  years 
of  peace  could  not  by  any  possibility  restore.  And  sL.il,  notwith- 
standing all  this  cruel  suffering,  the  Jesuits  had  strained  their 
very  utmost  in  order  that  a  union  might  not  be  brought  about; 
and  when  at  length  it  was  effected  in  spite  of  all  their  endeavours, 
they  refused  to  take  the  state  of  affairs  at  all  into  consideration, 
and  received  it  with  a  hearty  curse. 

It  was  not,  under  such  circumstances,  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
instead  of,  as  they  had  hoped,  extending  their  power  and 
influence  over  the  whole  of  Germany,  the)  had  now  to  be  con- 


tented with  only  two- thirds  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
could,  it  is  true,  boast  of  the  conquest  of  those  two-thirds  as 
being  a  victory  of  greater  importance  than  that  which  they  had 
attained  in  any  other  European  State,  as  at  the  conclusion  of 
peace  they  were  in  possession,  in  Austria,  Bavaria,  and  the  other 
different  ecclesiastical  principalities,  of  no  fewer  than  one  hundred 
and  eighteen  colleges  throughout  the  whole  Empire,  along  with 
a  corresponding  number  of  residences,  as  well  as  novitiates  and 
profess-houses ;  yet  still,  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  could 
not  be  a  greater  grief  for  them  than  to  see  as  a  certainty  that, 
through  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  so  large  a  field  for  their 
operations  had  been  snatched  from  them  by  a  stroke  of  the 
pen^.5a_to-speak . 

VI. — The  Sway  of  the  Jesuits  in  England  and  other 

Northern  Kingdoms. 

The  Jesuits  were  not  nearly  so  successful  in  establishing  them- 
selves in  any  of  the  northern  European  states,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Poland,  and  on  that  account  I  will  be  very  brief  in 
this  last  description  of  Jesuit  progress. 

By  the  tyrannical  conduct  of  Henry  VIII.,  England 
became  disunited  from  the  sway  of  Rome,  and  as  long  as 
this  monarch  lived  everything  having  the  name  of  Catholic 
was  banished  from  his  country.  The  founder  of  the  Jesuit 
Order  grieved  very  much  indeed  over  this  circumstance,  and  at 
once  despatched  his  two  disciples,  Pasquier-Brouet  and  Sal- 
meron,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  there  was  no  soil  to  be 
found  to  his  mind  for  the  construction  of  a  colony.  Brouet  and 
Salmeron  soon  became  convinced  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  there,  and  at  once  embarked  for  the  Emerald  Island,  as 
Ireland  is  commonly  called,  in  order  to  give  support  to  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  in  their  strenuous  resistance  to  Henry  VIII. 
and  his  reforming  efforts.  But  here,  also,  they  were  not  allowed 
to  remain  long,  as  Henry  very  soon  brought  his  rebellious 
subjects  into  subjection  by  means  of  blood  and  iron;  and  the 
Jesuit  emissaries  had  to  fly  for  their  lives.  Little  was  also 
effected  in  Scotland,  as  John  Knox,  the  great  reformer,  had 
the  whole  population  at  his  back  in  his  controversy  with  the 
Papacy. 

These  conditions,  so  inimical  to  the  Jesuits,  changed  for  their 


i 


272 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE    JESUITS.       273 


11 

«ml 


advantage  after  the  short  interregnum  of  Edward  VI ,  when  the 
daughter  of  Henry  VIIL,  by  his  marriage  with  Catherine   of 
Aragon,  Mary  I.,  commonly   called  Bloody  Mary,  and  in  Scot- 
land Mary  Stuart,  the  daughter  of  James  V.  and  of  Mary  of 
Loraine,  respectively  came  to  the  throne,  as  both  sovereigns  had 
been  strictly  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  faith.     Notwithstanding 
however,  that  such  gigantic  efforts  were  made  by  the  Romanists, 
with  the  powerful  co-operation  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  especially 
the  two  Fathers  Edmund  Hay  and  Thomas  Dasbi re,  to  eradicate 
the  remnants  of  Protestantism — notwithstanding  that  great  cruelty 
was  also  exercised,  and  so  much  Protestant  blood  was  shed,  still, 
for  all  this  tragical  state  of  things,  the  Jesuits  had  eventually 
to  evacuate  Great  Britain  completely,  as  soon  as  the  celebrated 
Elizabeth  in  England  (anno   1658),  and  the  Eari  of  Murray,  as 
Regent  for  the  under-aged  James  VI.,  in   Scotland,  seized  the 
reins  of  government  (anno  1568).    As  a  matter  of  course,  how- 
ever, the  sons  of  Loyola,  in  their  exertions  to  establish  their 
influence  in  the  British  Islands,  did  not  entirely  leave  off  their 
machinations,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  continued  them  still  more, 
as  well  in  Rome  itself  as  on  French  territory,  by  the  erection  of 
seminaries  in  Douay  and  Rheims,  and,  later  on,  in  St.  Omer, 
Liege,  and  elsewhere  on  the  continent,  with  the  view  of  educating 
young  Englishmen   according  to  Popish    and   Jesuitical  views 
and  doctrines ;  from  these  institutions  emissaries  proceeded  from 
time  to  time  to  England,  under  all  sorts  of  disguises,  in  order  to 
create  dissension  in  the  kingdom.*     Still  the  prime  and  original 
aim  and  object  thereof — namely,  to  found  permanent  settlements 
— the  Order  never  succeeded  in  effecting;  and  Great  Britain  may 
well  boast   of  hardly  ever   having  seen  the  banner  of  Loyola 
displayed    on  its  soil.      Equally  might  Denmark   and  Sweden 
participate    in  this   boast,  though    in   the   latter   country    this 
result  was  not  achieved  without  contention  and  strife. 

After  that  here — I  mean  in  Sweden — the  Reformation  had  been 
introduced  by  Gustavus  I.,  and  Catholicism  had  been  completely 
extinguished,  the  Jesuits  entertained  the  belief  that,  under  the 
second  son  and  successor  of  this  ruler  (1568-1592),  the  proper 

*  As  such  emissaries,  Edmund  Campian,  Rudolph  Serevin,  Alexander 
Briant,  and  Robert  Person,  were  especially  conspicuous  during  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  disguised  at  one  time  as  soldiers,  and  at  another  as  merchants. 
Person  was  also  the  author  of  various  lampoons  against  the  Queen,  and  the 
same  was  the  case  as  regards  Edmund  Campian. 


time  had  arrived  for  making  a  favourable  impression  for  them- 
selves in  Swedish  territories,  seeing  that  John  III.  had  married, 
in  the  person  of  Catherine,  a  sister  of  King  Sigismund-AugustUs 
of  Poland,  a  very  good  Catholic  princess,  who  contrived  to  indoc- 
trinate him  completely  after  her  own  wish.  They  did  not  dare, 
however,  to  go  about  the  matter  openly,  because  otherwise  the 
people,  being  zealous  for  their  Evangelical  faith,  would  have  cer- 
tainly risen  in  rebellion  ;  the  King  consequently  was  talked  over 
quite  quietly,  and  induced,  in  the  first  instance,  to  allow  of  some 
Jesuit  Fathers  coming  into  the  country  secretly.  The  Fathers 
then  made  their  appearance  with  Lorenzo  Nicolai  from  Louvaine, 
and  conducting  themselves  as  Protestant  theologians,  in  this 
manner,  through  the  peremptory  decree  of  John,  situations 
were  found  for  them  in  the  newly-erected  university  of  Upsala. 
Their  secret  operations,  however,  proceeded  in  much  too  slow 
a  manner  to  please  Eberhard  Mercurien,  the  General  of  the  Order 
in  Rome,  and  he  consequently  despatched  Anton  Possevin,  whose 
acquaintance  we  have  already  made  in  Savoy,  in  order  to  induce 
the  King  to  allow  the  worship  of  the  Catholic  religion  to  be 
exercised  openly.  Possevin,  who  came,  however,  in  the  capa- 
city of  an  Imperial  ambassador,  did  not  carry  the  matter  so  far 
as  that,  but  managed  at  the  same  time  that  John  came  over 
secretly  to  Catholicism,  and  after  that  he  had  taken  Father 
Stanislaus  Versovicius,  his  wife's  spiritual  adviser,  to  be  his  own 
Father  Confessor,  he  caused  a  chapel  to  be  erected  in  his  palace, 
in  which  he  permitted  Mass  to  be  read  daily,  according  to  the 
Catholic  rite.  Of  far  greater  consequence,  however,  was  it  that, 
in  order  to  make  it  possible  for  his  son  and  successor  to  be 
elected  King  of  Poland,  he  allowed  him  to  be  brought  up  in  the 
Catholic  religion;  and  in  this  manner  Sweden  was  prepared 
to  a  certain  degree,  so  that  the  true  faith  might,  on  the 
accession  of  Sigismund,  be  publicly  introduced.  Both  of  these 
circumstances  seemed,  in  fact,  to  be  on  the  eve  of  being  accom- 
plished, for  the  latter  was  properly  elected  King  by  the  Poles 
in  the  year  1587,  as  the  next  heir  of  Sigismund-Augustus  II.; 
and  as,  in  the  year  1592,  John  III.  died,  the  young  monarch 
thus  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Sweden.  What  could  now  be 
more  natural  than  that  he  who  had  been  educated  by  the  Jesuits, 
and  was  completely  in  their  hands,  should,  on  his  accession, 
being  urged  on  by  them  to  do  so,  seek  to  find  an  entrance  for 

18 


iii 


2T4 


HISTORY  OP   THE  JESUITS. 


Catholicism  into  the  kingdom  of  Sweden  also?  The  Swedish 
Deputies,  on  that  account,  assembled  on  the  9th  of  January  1593, 
at  üpsala,  aod  unanimously  passed  a  resolution  that  for  the 
future  the  Augshurg  Confession  of  Faith  should  alone  have  any 
effect  throughout  the  whole  of  their  Fatherland  ;  this  was  signed 
by  all  present,  viz.  by  the  senate  and  knighthood,  by  the  clergy, 
by  the  ministers  of  state,  by  the  governors  of  provinces,  and  by 
all  the  burgomasters. 

What,  then,  did  Sigismund  do  ?  To  commence  with,  he  tried 
to  get  possession  of  the  Swedish  throne  without  taking  the- 
required  oath ;  failing,  however,  to  succeed  in  this,  and  seeing 
that  an  insurrection  threatened  to  break  out,  he  acted  on  the 
advice  of  the  Jesuits,  and  swore  everything  that  was  demanded  of 
him,  but  with  the  Loyolite  inner  reservation  of  at  once  breaking 
his  oath  whenever  it  suited  him  so  to  do. 

He  thus  succeeded  in  getting  himsel*  crowned,  and  did  not 
trouble  himself  any  more  about  his  oath,  but  brought  his  beloved 
Jesuits  into  Stockholm,  and  gave  over  to  them  several  of  the 
churches  which  he  had  seized  and  taken  from  the  Protestants. 
Besides  which  he  appointed  Catholic  councillors,  and  permitted 
processions  to  be  formed  ;  he  required,  too,  that  Jesuit  villages 
should  be  allowed  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  revoked  the 
Kesolution  of  Upsala  on  the  ground  of  its  being  illegal.  This 
proceeding,  of  course,  exceedingly  displeased  the  Swedish  De- 
puties, who  at  once  energetically  protested  against  it ;  but  finding 
their  efforts  of  no  avail,  they  raised  an  army  and  defeated  the  troops 
bh)ught  from  Poland  by  Sigismund,  and,  declaring  the  Swedish 
throne  to  be  now  vacant,  they  at  length  placed  Duke  Charles 
of  East  Gothland  upon  the  throne  on  the  18th  of  March  1607. 

The  short  triumph,  then,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  now 
come  to  an  end,  and  its  disciples  were  at  once  sent  to  the 
rightabout,  and  never  again  returned  to  Sweden.  But  no,  I  am 
wrong  in  saying  so,  as  they  did  return  once  more  under 
Queen  Christine,  the  daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  "  the  lion 
of  midnight,"  who  accomplished  such  great  things  for  the 
Protestants  during  the  thirty  years'  war.  They  did  not,  however, 
come  openly  as  Jesuits,  but  secretly  in  the  disguise  of  savants,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  physician  Bourdetol,  and  the  two  mathematicians, 
Paul  Cassati  and  Francis  Malines  ;  or  as  the  innocent  chaplams 
of  foreign  ambassadors,  as,  for  instance,  the  Fathers  Mannerschid 


THE   POWERFUL  INFLUENCE   OP   THE   JESUITS.      276 

and  Anton  Macedo,  the  former  of  whom  accompanied  the 
Spanish,  and  the  latter  the  Portuguese  ambassadors.  They  did 
not  even  obtain  anything  of  advantage  for  their  Order,  or  for  the 
Catholic  religion,  from  the  Queen,  when  the  said  monarch  laid 
down  her  crown  previously  to  abjuring  her  faith,  which  she  did 
on  the  24th  December  1664,  at  Brussels,  at  the  hands  of  Father 
Guemes;  this  change  of  religion,  indeed,  did  not  produce  in 
Sweden  the  smallest  results.  It  is  affirmed,  indeed,  that  when 
she  came  back  on  a  solitary  occasion  to  Stockholm,  she  did  not 
even  once  exercise  her  newly-assumed  religion. 

Quite  a  different  result  was  obtained,  indeed,  by  the  sons  of 
Loyola  in  Poland,  in  which  country  the  Catholic  religion  still  pre- 
vailed, even  after  the  Reformation,  although  not  a  few  of  the  in- 
habitants, to  the  extent  of  something  like  a  fourth  part,  recognised 
the  Protestant  faith.    The  first  person  in  that  country  who  brought 
the  Black  Fathers  into  it  was  the  Bishop  of  Wilna,  under  whose 
protection  Father  Magius  founded  a  college  there,  which  was 
afterwards  regarded  as  a  nursery  for  all  the  later  Jesuit  colonies 
in  Poland  and  Lithuania.     The  Jesuits  had  chiefly  to  thank  for 
their  prosperity  Stephan  Bathori,  who,  in  the  year   1576,   was 
elected  by  the  Poles  to  be  their  King,  for  the  cunning  Fathers  so 
contrived  to  ingratiate  themselves,  during  the  ten  years  in  which  he 
held  the  reins  of  government,  that  he  almost  overwhelmed  them 
with  riches.     In  this  way  there  were  established  in  the  territory 
of  Cracow,  in  addition  to  a  profess-houee  and  novitiate,  not  less 
than  seventeen  colleges  and  seminaries,  besides  eight  residences, 
the  number  of  members  of  the  Order  amounting  to  about  six 
hundred ;  while  in  the  territories  of  Warsaw  and  Livonia  there 
were   two   profess-houses,  one  novitiate,   fifteen   colleges,   and 
four    residences,    with    about    five   hundred    members   of    the 
Order.     They,  indeed,  even  pushed  their  advanced  posts  as  far 
as    Riga    and   Smolensk,   obtaining   a   settlement    in  the  dis- 
tant town  of  Novgorod.     Whatever  advantages,  however,  they 
in   this   way   obtained    for   themselves,    they  caused   infinitely 
greater  injury  to  the  Polish  nation;  for  as  soon  as  the  sons  of 
Loyola  got  a  really  firm  footing  in  any  locality,  they  began, 
partly  with  closed  and  partly  also  with  open  vizor,  to  take  the 
field  against  the  Protestant  and  non-Catholic  party,  which  had, 
up  to  this  time,  according  to  established  law,  enjoyed  complete 
religious  liberty,  and  there  arose  then,  in  consequence  of  this 

18  * 


'!■■ 


276 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


State  of  things,  those  internal    disturbances    in  the    kingdom 
which  eventually,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  terminated   in 
the  downfall  of  Polish  independence.     I  need  hardlv  here  enter 
into  any  particulars  descriptive    of  Jesuit   proceedings,  as   the 
manner  in  which  the  Loyolites  went  to  work  was  precisely  the 
same  as  that  pursued  by  them  during  the  great  religious  war  in 
Germany.     I  must  content  myself  by  remarking  how  the  en- 
lightened among  the  Poles  saw  clearly,  by  the  end  of  the  16th 
century,  from  what  source  arose  the  disorganisation  in  the  State, 
and  to  what  it  must  eventually  lead.     It  is  stated  in  a  memo- 
randum communicated  to  the  nobility  of  Prossnowitz,  among 
other  things,  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Jesuits  have  no  idea  of  taking  the  trouble  to  persuade 
those  of  a  different  belief  from  themselves,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
just  busy  themselves  in  persecuting  and  harassing  them,  con- 
tinually keeping  up  a  state  of  religious  rancour.     They  make 
use  of  their  most  experienced   and  sharp-witted  members  more 
in  flattering  the  ruling  passions  of  those  about  the  Court  than 
in  restricting  themselves  to  the  education  of  the  youth,  whereby 
influence  might  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  election  of  kings,   as 
well  as  the  issue  of  decrees  made  on  royal  authority.     It  was 
they  who  initiated  the  disturbances  io  Livonia,  Riga,  Lithuania, 
and  Volynia,  and  it  was  they  who  were  the  means  of  expelling 
the  Protestant  clergymen   from  Cracow,  without  any  respect  to 
sickness  or  old  age,  in  order  to  take  possession  of  their  churches, 
and,  indeed,  under  these  circumstances  several  temples  of  God 
were  even  set  on  fire.     The  colleges,  seminaries,  and  profess- 
houses  which  they  build  resemble  palaces  and  fortified  citadels, 
and  seem  exactly  adapted  to  enable  traitors  to  hold  out  against 
the  Fatherland.     It  is  their  design  and  chief  object  to  create 
disturbances,  and  to  resist  all  who  are  known  as  honest  and 
good  patriots.     On  this  account  there  is  nothing  else  for  it,  in 
order  to  save  the  State,  but  to  drive  them  out  of  it,  and  from 
the  whole  country,  as  the  celebrated  Dr.  Pir  and  the  Imperial 
Chancellor,  Zamoyski,  have  already  expressed  themselves." 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  well-minded  among  the  Poles 
thought  as  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  at  the  end  of  the  16th 
century ;  but  the  latter  had  at  that  time  gained  such  a  firm 
footing,  as  well  at  Court  as  among  the  nobility,  giving  the  tone 
to  Polish  society,  that  their  opinions  were  also  acceptable  to  the 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   JESUITS,      277 

Parliament,  and  consequently,  in  1717,  the  sons  of  Loyola  at 
length  attained  the  object  they  had  in  view,  namely,  the  com- 
plete suppression  of  all  that  was  anti- Catholic,  as  well  as  the 
deprivation  of  the  political  rights  appertaining  to  the  dissenters. 
On  account,  however,  of  this  fanatical  line  of  conduct  a  civil 
war  broke  out,  whereon  the  latter  class  were  taken  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Russia ;  matters,  indeed,  reached  such  a  pitch  that  the 
atfair  at  last  ended  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Polish  kingdom,  and 
its  partition. 

It  still  remains  for  us  to  speak  of  the  öway  of  Jesuitism  in 
Russia,  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  northern  kingdoms;  but 
this  may  be  done  in  but  few  words,  as  the  Order  never  obtained 
much  power  in  that  country.  It  is  true,  certainly,  that  the 
above-mentioned  Father  Possevin  made  an  attempt  to  esta- 
blish for  himself  a  position  in  this  very  extensive  dominion, 
and  in  various  disguises  endeavoured  to  effect  something  in  the 
provinces  bordering  upon  Sweden.  Wherever  he  knocked,  how- 
ever, no  one  opened  the  door  to  him,  as  the  people,  both  high 
and  low,  continued  to  adhere  to  the  long-established  Greek  faith, 
and  would  have  nothing  to  say  whatever  to  the  combatants  for 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  more  especially  as  regards  Papacy. 
The  consequence  was  that  Possevin  left  Russia,  with  the  few 
companions  who  accompanied  him  on  his  several  erratic  crusades, 
without  having  accomplished  anything  whatever;  at  length, 
however,  at  the  beginning  of  the  1 7th  century,  a  way  suddenly 
presented  itself  for  penetrating  into  the  great  northern  empire,  and 
although  the  path  was  indeed  but  a  very  crooked  one — almost,  it 
may  be  said,  a  very  criminal  one — the  Jesuits  still  did  not  for  a 
a  moment  hesitate  in  forcing  a  passage  for  themselves.  It  so 
occurred  that  after  the  death  of  the  Czar  Iwan  II.  Wasiljewitch, 
surnamed  **  the  Terrible,"  there  came  to  the  throne  the  under-aged 
grandson,  Feodor  I.  Iwanowitch,  in  the  year  1584,  and  for  him 
Prince  Boris  Feodorowitch  Godonow,  the  husband  of  his  sister 
Irina,  wielded  the  sceptre.  As  regards  this  Boris,  however,  a 
tyrannical  and  anjbitious  man,  it  was  whispered  about  that  he 
had  caused  the  only  brother  of  Feodor,  the  Grand  Duke 
Dmitri  or  Demetrius,  to  be  murdered,  in  order  that  he  might 
the  more  easily  seize  the  reins  of  government  after  the  death  of 
the  sickly  Feodor.  The  course  of  things,  also,  seemed  to  con- 
firm this  suspicion,  as  Feodor,  and  together  with  him  the  last  of 


I 


278 


mSTÖBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the:  Stock  of  Rorik,  actually  died  in  the  year  1698,  when  Boris 
at  once  possessed   himself  of  the  throne,  and   the  majority  of 
the  people,  even  including  the  nobility,  recognised  him  as  Gzar. 
'She  extreme  severity,  however,  with  which  he  sought  to  carry 
out,   among  the   Russian  people,  his  detested  innovations,   as 
^ell  as  the  circumstance  of  his  conferring  favours  upon  foreigners 
resident  at  his  Court,  raised  against  him  a  number  of  enemies, 
so  that  a  spark  was  only  required  to  cause  flames  to  burst  out 
from  below  the  smouldering  ashes.     During  this  time  of  fer- 
imentation  a  man  presented  himself  on  the  frontiers  of  Poland 
claiming  to  be  the  murdered  Dmitri,  but  who,  in  fact,  was  no 
other  than  a  young  monk   escaped  from  the  Greek  cloister  of 
Ischudow,  having  the  name  of  Grischka  Otrepiew,  and  this  man 
fell   into    the    hands   of    the   Polish    Jesuit   Father,   Nicolaus 
Knermkowsky.     This  false  Dmitri,  brought  into  a  Jesuit  college 
in  Livonia,  was  there  educated  in  the  Catholic  religion,  and  no 
doubt  at  the  same  time  instructed  as  to  the  part  he  was  required 
to  play,  as  testified,  at  least,  the  impartial  Thuan  in  the  history 
of  his  times.     After  this  individual  had  been  properly  schooled, 
the  Jesuits  then  presented  him  to  their  true  friend  and  patron, 
the  Wojewode  of  Sandomir,  Mniszeck,  and  contrived  to  allure 
the   latter   completely   by   a   promise   of  marriage  between  his 
daughter  Marina  and  the  new  comer.    In  this  way  the  Wojewode 
was  at  once  induced  to  recognise  the  impostor  as  the  veritable 
Dmitri,  and  by  reason  of  his  powerful  influence,  as  well  as  by 
the  still  greater  interest  of  the  Jesuits,  they  succeeded  in  gaining 
over   to    the  side    of  the  pretender  not   only  the   King  Sigis- 
mund  III.,  but  also  most  of  the  Polish  nobilit)  ;  so  much  so, 
that  Mniszeck  was  enabled,  in  the  autumn  of  1603,  to  collect 
together  a  large  army  with  the  view  of  fighting,  in  the  interest 
of  his  son  in-law,  against  the  Czar  Boris.     The  war  began  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  and  out  of  hatred  to  the  stern  Boris,  not  a 
few  of  the  Russians  came  over  to  the  invading  pretender. 

In  the  course  of  twelve  months,  then,  matters  advanced  so 
far  that  the  possessor  of  the  Russian  throne  might  well  see  in 
prospect  his  decisive  discomfiture,  and  in  order  to  secure  the 
1  succession  for  his  only  son  Feodor,  who  was  beloved  by  the 
Russians,  he  ended  his  life  by  taking  poison.  Feodor  was,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  made  Czar,  but  about  two  months  afterwards, 
during   an    unfortunate  battle,  he  was  taken .  prisoner  by  the 


THE   POWERFUL   INFLUENCE   OF   THE   JESUITS.    *  2T9 

victorious  Dmitri  and  forthwith  strangled.  ^The  latter  then  ma^e 
his  entry  into  Moscow  in  great  triumph,  and  with  the  utmost 
pomp  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  Emperor. 

Who  could  now  exult  more  than  the  Jesuits  ?  Their  great 
voup  had  proved  successful,  and  the  false  Demetrius,  who  had 
given  his  promise  that  they  should  be  domiciled  throughout 
the  whole  of  Russia  in  the  event  of'  his  pretendership  proving 
successful,  now  sat  upon  the  golden  throne  of  the  Kremlin. 
Dmitri  v.,  as  he  called  himself,  in  fact,  now  proceeded  to 
take  steps  to  fulfil  his  promise,  and  built  for  his  advisers 
and  protectors  a  magnificent  college  in  Moscow.  ^  He  also 
replied  to  Pope  Paul  V.,  with  whom  he  now  entered  into 
correspondence,  that  his  intention  was  to  make  the  Catholic 
religion   supreme  throughout  Russia,  if  he  were  only  allowed 

I  the  time  requisite  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of' his  subjects. 
Circumstances  were  now,  in  short,  highly  favourable  to  them, 
and  the  Order  of  Jesus  began  to  dream  that' they  were  already 
masters  of  the  whole  of  Russia.  The  goddess  of  fortune, 
coming  so  suddenly,  was,  however,  succeeded  as  unexpectedly 
by  misfortune.  Dmitri  had  scarcely  established  himself  on  the 
throne  a  year  and  a  half  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 

» 1607,  just  on  the  very  day  that  he  was  solemnizing  his  marriage 
with  Marina  daughter  of  the  Wojewode  of  Sandomir,  an  insur- 
rection broke  out,  and  the  people,  led  on  by  Prince  Wasili 
Schuiski,  proceeded  to  storm  the  Kremlin.  Dmitri  and  his 
Poles,  indeed,  fought  valiantly,  but  numbers  soon  prevailed, 
and  Dmitri  himself  fell  under  the  blows  of  Wasili  Schuiski. 

Thus  did  his  government  come  to  a  quick  termination,  and 
at  the  same  time,  as  may  be  well  understood,  there  was  also  an 
end  of  the  existence  of  the  Jesuits  in  Russia,  as  Wasili  hunted 
them  as  well  as  the  Poles  out  of  the  country,  and  henceforth 
the  Greek  religion  remained  for  centuries  predominant  through- 
out this  great  Empire. 

I  have  now  brought  to  a  close  the  prolonged  chapters  upon 
the  sway  of  the  Jesuits  in  Asia,  Africa,  Amerioa,  and 'Europe, 
and  it  only  remains  to  express  a  hope  that  the  reader  has  not 
become  weary  in  following  my  statements.  Small,  indeed 
almost  imperceptible,  was  the  beginning  ;  but  immeasurably  great, 
almost  overpowering,  in  fact,  was  the  ultimate  result.    A  hundred 


280 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


years  after  the  foundation  of  the  Order,  its  General  ruled  as 
absolute  monarch  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  the  different 
kingdoms  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  lay  at  his  feet 
divided  into  provinces.  Over  each  province  was  placed  a  pro- 
vincial, as  lieutenant  of  the  General,  and  every  month  it  was 
the  duty  of  this  provincial  to  send  in  his  report  to  his  General. 
The  rectors  of  colleges  as  well  as  the  superiors  of  residences, 
and  the  professors  and  heads  of  seminaries  and  novitiates,  along 
with  the  leaders  of  missions,  had  to  do  so  likewise ;  and  from 
these  thousands  of  reports  the  General  was  in  possession  of  the 
most  accurate  information  regarding  all  that  was  going  on  in 
the  world.  Moreover,  by  means  of  the  Father  Confessors  at 
the  various  Courts,  he  was  initiated  into  all  the  secrets  of  these 
latter,  and  he  was,  indeed,  better  informed  respecting  them 
than  evfen  the  respective  ministers  themselves.  One  chief  thing 
to  be  guarded  against,  however,  was  that  none  of  these  tale- 
bearers should  prove  false  to  him,  and  on  that  account  each 
one  of  them  was  provided  with  an  assistant  who  was  also  in 
direct  communication  with  the  General ;  and  this  control  was  so 
precise,  that  each  of  the  above-mentioned  provincials,  rectors, 
superiors,  or  whatever  other  office  might  happen  to  be  held  by  ' 
those  in  high  positions  among  the  sons  of  Loyola,  had  to  be 
careful  to  report  nothing  but  the  exact  truth.  The  con- 
sequence was,  that  the  Society  of  Jesus,  at  the  height  of  its 
prosperity,  could  be  likened  to  nothing  better  than  to  a  huge 
net,  which  extended  itself  all  over  the  world,  the  cords  whereof 
were  all  collected  into  the  hands  of  the  General;  in  this  net 
the  greater  part  of  mankind  tumbled  about,  just  as  fish  when 
the  fisherman  draws  the  meshes  together  closer  and  closer. 
However  great,  then,  any  king  or  monarch  might  consider  him- 
self, he  was  but  a  weak  vessel  compared  to  the  General  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus ;  it  was  'therefore  said  of  Claudio  Aquaviva, 
who  governed  the  Order  between  the  years  1581  and  J  615,  that 
he  once  exclaimed,  ''Why  are  there  not  regions  beyond  the 
stars,  that  one  might  be  able  to  conquer  other  worlds  than  that 
pertaining  to  earth  ?  " 


■f 


BOOK    III. 


THE    MOKALITY    OF    THE     JESUITS; 


OR, 


THE  VOW  OF  CHASTITY. 


I, 


1 


I. 


MOTTO: 


Kommt  die  Treu  vor  der  Jesuiten  Haus, 
So  sagt  mann  ihr ;  der  Wirth  sei  aus ; 
Kommt  die  Weisheit  gezogen  dafür, 
Find't  sie  zugeschlossen  die  Thür; 
Kommt  Zucht  und  Ehr  dieselbe  Strass', 
Sie  müssen  alsbald  fürbass; 
Kommt  Christenlieb'  und  war'  gern  ein 
So  will  Niemand  ihr  Thorwart  sein ; 
Kommt  Wahrheit  und  klopft  an, 
So  müss  sie  aussen  bleiben  stahn ; 
Kommt  Gerechtigkeit  vor  das  Thor, 
So  findet  sie  Ketten  und  Riegel  vor; 
Kommt  aber  das  Weibs volk  hergeloffen, 
So  stehen  ihm  alle  Thüren  offen. 


Drum  Jeder  komm'  und  schau'  euch  an, 

Hier  ist  die  Deck'  euch  abgezogen; 
Die  Wahrheit  hat  nun  dargethan. 

Wie  ihr  bis  jezt  die  Welt  betrogen. 
Man  kennt  die  Sodomiterei, 

Die  ihr  verübt  in  euren  Schulen ; 
Doch  wer  mag  melden  ohne  Scheu 

Eur  fündhaf    unnatürlich  Buhlen. 
O  Schlangenzucht  I  O  Natterbrut  1 

Die  Wittwen,  die  euch  sind  zu  Willen, 
Genügen  nicht?    Auch  nicht  die  Gluth, 

Die  ihr  mit  Honnen  pflegt  zu  stillen? 

Aus  dem  ^^  JesuitenspiegelJ" 


I     Hl 


283 


CHAPTEB   I. 


THE   OLD   ADAM   ÜNDEB  THE   MASK  OP  HOLINESS. 


II 


[This  book  has  been  somewhat  modified  to  render  it  presentable  to  English 
readers.  One  chapter  has,  indeed,  been  omitted  in  extenso  ;  even  with  these 
alterations  there  is  much  which  would  have  been  better  omitted,  were  it  not 
that  it  has  not  been  deemed  right  to  sacrifice  entirely  historical  accuracv 
at  the  shrme  of  morality  and  propriety.] 


I  WOULD  willingly  have  shrouded  this  chapter,  or,  indeed,  the 
entire  book,  iu  the  mantle  of  night,  as  the  theme  of  which  it 
treats  is  not  such  as  to  enable  anyone  to  dilate  on  it  with 
any  degree  of  pleasure;  but,  before  everything,  truth  must 
have  precedence,  and,  moreover,  how  can  one  form  a  proper 
judgment  of  the  real  character  .of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  if  this 
side  of  their  ways  and  doings  be  not  brought  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  public  opinion  ?  I  mean  that  side  of  the  question 
relating  to  matters  connected  with  morality.  But,  further  it 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  case  that  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
as  in  the  first  period  of  their  existence,  would  have  been  looked 
upon  in  quite  a  different  light,  had  it  not  been  possible  to  break 
down  quickly  the  gigantic  tower  of  Jesuit  power  and  influence, 
of  the  immensity  of  which  I  have  given  a  description  in  the 
former  book,  and  had  revelations  as  to  the  true  state  of  the 
foundations  upon  which  the  fabric  rested  been  excluded  from 
consideration.  On  this  account  my  historical  description  of  the 
Jesuits  would  have  been  very  incomplete  had  I,  from  a  feeling  of 
delioacy,  omitted  the  book  concerning  the    "  Morality  of  the 


284 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Society  of  Jesus/'  and  spared  the  reader  from  becoming 
acquainted  with  facts  which  must  fill  him  with  disgust  as  well 
as  abhorrence.  On  the  other  hand,  I  shall  proceed  to  make 
mention  of  even  the  most  reprehensible  matters,  in  such  a  way 
as  not  to  soil  my  hands,  and,  moreover,  it  must  be  permitted  to 
me  to  make  my  descriptions  with  as  much  brevity  as  possible. 

"It  were  much  to  be  desired,"  said  the  holy  Basilius,  the 
great  founder  of  Eastern  monkdom,  "  that  rill   those  who  take 
upon  themselves  the  *  vow  of  chastity,'  should  completely  renounce 
all  worldly  pleasures,    and  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  senses,  but  be  entirely  released  from  them  altogether ;  but, 
unfortunately,  let  such  persons  do  what  they  will,  they  still  find 
that,  after  all,  they  are  but  men,  and  cannot  completely  banish 
from    themselves   at    all    times   the    feelings    incident  to   frail 
mortality."   The  truth  of  this  proposition  is  acknowledged  by  all 
celebates,  whether  they  be  monks,  nuns,  or  ordinary  ecclesiastics, 
and  priests  have  to  undergo  frequent  severe  battles  with  them- 
selves in  this  respect      Many,  feeling  themselves  valiant,  have 
subdued  their   passions   by   starving,    and  ether    means  ;    but 
bv  far  the  greater  majority  have  found  themselves    unable  to 
conquer  their  natural  inclinations,  and  have  thus  sinned  just 
as  other  children  of  Adam  and  Eve.     So,  by  degrees,  vice  got 
the  upper  hand  in  the  cloisters  as  well  as  among  the  ordinary 
priesthood,  and,  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  whole  of  the 
Catholic  clergy,  and  all  appertaining  thereto,  were  sunk  in  the 
deepest  mire  of  iniquity.     They  were  regarded  on  all  sides  with 
reprobation ;  and  in  this  consisted  the  reason,  as  I  have  already 
above  observed,  why  the  Reformation  made  such  gigantic  strides. 
The  sons  of  Loyola  were  only  too  well  aware  of  this,  and,  on 
that  account,  strove  to  place  themselves  in  marked  contrast  with 
the  monks  and  ordinary  clergy.    Their  own  good  sense  told  them 
that  it  would  be  an  impossibility  for  them  to  obtain  the  smallest 
influence  among  Christian  humanity  as  long  as  they  gave  way  to 
such  vices  as  prevailed  among  the  other  tonsured  classes ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  might,  indeed,  feel  it  to  be  certain  that  it 
would  astonish  the  world,  and  be  a  marvellous  example  to  the 
priests,  if  they  succeeded  in  establishing  for  themselves  a  reputation 
for  such  purity  of  morals  as  could  be  boasted  of  by  an  Anthony, 
Pachonius,  or  Basilius.     It  must,  therefore,  at  all  times,  be  the 
great  aim  and  endeavour  of  the  Order  to  gain  such  a  reputation. 


i:^i 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.   285 


and,  from  the  days  of  Ignatius  onwards,  all  Generals  issued  the 
strictest  orders  in  reference  thereto.     For  this  reason  appeared 
the  orders  *'  that  in  passing  through  the  streets,  the  sons  of 
Loyola  should  walk  along  casting  on  the  ground  downcast  looks, 
and  especially  turning  their  eyes  away  from  any  daughter  of  Eve 
they  might  happen  to  meet."  Further,  should  a  woman  knock  at 
their  door,  they  were  enjoined  "  not  to  open  it,  but  the  door-keeper 
should  send  her  away  with  as  few  words  as  possible."     Should  a 
woman  desire  the  services  of  a  Father  Confessor,  "  she  must  be 
directed  to  go  into  a  church,  and  there  must  he  proceed.     The 
Father  must,  on  the  other  hand,  hold  his  conversation  with  her 
through  a  grating,  as  well  as  with  his  face  turned  away  from  her ; 
moreover,  another  brother  should  always  be  standing  at  some 
little  distance  off,  in  order  to  observe  what  went  on,  but  not  so 
near  as  to  overhear,  so  that  nothing  else  than  the  confession 
should  be  allowed  to  take  place.     Should  a  case  at  any  time 
occur,  where   a  sinful  daughter  of   Eve  entered  a  college  or 
profess-house,  with  the  object  of  visiting  any  Father,  in  spite 'of 
all  precautions  to  the  contrary,  then  a  lay-brother  should  imme- 
diately lead  her  out  by  the  hand,  while  the  door-keeper  collected 
the  dust  upon  which  she  had  trodden  and  threw  it  out  at  the 
door,   in    order   that   none   of    the  other   members    might   be 
contaminated  with  its  contact."      Such  were  the  strict  directions 
given  by  the  Generals  for  the  guidance  of  members  in  relation  to 
the  conduct  which  ought  to  be  pursued  by  them  in  reference  to 
the  weaker  sex ;  and,  as  blind  obedience  was  their  first  rule, 
these   directions   were    imperatively   to   be    observed.     It   was 
delightful,  indeed,  to  notice  how  chastely  the  Fathers  conducted 
themselves  with  their  eyes,  ears,  tongue,  and  hands,  just  as  if 
they  had  not  been  born  of  woman ;  and  they  behaved  themselves, 
even  to  the  most  beautiful  and  youngest  creatures,  as  if  they  had 
been  blind  and  dumb.     It  seemed,  indeed,  as  if  they  had  sworn 
the  deepest  hatred  to  the  whole  class,  and,  when  compelled  to 
speak  to  a  woman  in  public,  they  did  so  with  such  a  disdainful 
air,  as  to  make  it  appear  that  they  looked  upon  the  whole  of  the 
daughters  of  Eve  as  lost  creatures  in  God's  sight,  and  sure  of 
eternal  damnation.     Was  there  any  wonder,  then,  under  such 
circumstances,  that  Christendom  should  become  full  of  the  fame 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  even  that  they  should  be  reverenced  by  many 
as  almost  saints  ?     Gr^at  care  was  also  zealously  taken  by  them 


286 


HISTOBT   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


to  promulgate  everywhere  this  repute,  aud  to  cause  the  common 
people  completely  to  be  carried  away  by  reading  the  tales  de- 
scribing the  strict  innocence  of  the  pious  Fathers.  Their  virtue 
being  thus  so  great,  and  the  praises  which  they  gave  themselves 
so  highly  sung,  they,  of  course,  stood  in  most  extraordinary 
favour  with  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  testified  this  by  manifestations 
given  by  her  to  certain  members  among  them  There  thus 
appeared  to  Father  Beraldus  in  broad  daylight,  in  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  Rome,  an  angel  from  heaven,  bringing,  together  with 
many  salutations  from  the  Mother  of  God,  a  girdle  which 
possessed  the  property  of  immediately  removing  all  impure 
thoughts  from  the  minds  of  those  who  simply  touched  it. 
For  this  reason  Beraldus  was  obliged,  by  order  of  the  General, 
to  cut  up  the  wonderful  ornament  into  small  pieces,  in  order  that 
these  fragments  might  be  distributed  among  the  Jesuit  Colleges 
as  far  as  they  could  go ;  and,  wherever  such  fragment  was  to  be 
found,  no  transgression,  as  regards  morality,  could  ever  occur, 
but  perfect  paradisiacal  innocence  reigned ! 

To  another  member  of  the  Order,  Father  Julius,  who  in  the 
year  1585  was  Professor  in  the  Collegium  Romanum,  there 
appeared  every  night  a  wonderfully  beautiful  maiden  who  played 
very  delightfully  on  the  lute,  and  solicited  him  to  make  love  to 
her.  The  Father,  in  his  distress,  complained  to  the  Rector,  who 
advised  him  to  get  up  and  flog  himself  as  soon  as  the  maiden 
made  her  appearance,  until  she  had  vanished.  The  Father,  of 
course,  followed  this  advice  at  once,  and  the  next  night 
flogged  himself  so  unmercifully  that  his  blood  ran  in 
streams.  Upon  this  the  maiden  ceased  to  play,  and  said  to 
him  in  a  sweet  voice,  **  Oh,  pious  Father,  I  come  from  the 
Virgin  Mary,  who  has  sent  me  to  put  you  to  the  proof.  As, 
however,  you  have  gallantly  fought  and  gallantly  conquered, 
behold,  therefore,  take  this  garland  of  purity,  which  the  Holy 
Mother  of  God  sends  to  you  to  enable  you  to  remain  as  constant 
as  you  have  hitherto  been,  in  order  that  you  may  receive  the 
unwitherable  crown  of  everlasting  life  at  a  future  time,  amid 
the  choir  of  chaste  and  pure  virgins."  With  these  words,  she 
vanished,  and  was  no  more  seen.  She,  however,  left  behind' 
her  the  garland,  which  consisted  of  different  kinds  of  wonder- 
fully beautiful  flowers,  possessing  precisely  the  same  pro- 
perties  as   the   girdle  of  Father  Beraldus.     Out  of  reverence, 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.      287 

however,  for  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  as  the  flowers  were  so  very 
beautiful,  it  was  not  divided  in  pieces,  but  was  placed  among 
other  holy  relics,  of  which  the  Order  of  Jesus,  later  on,  had  to 
boast,  and  there  it  always  remained  in  its  ever-enduring  pristine 
freshness.  Very  many  similar  stories  now  became  current,  in 
each  of  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  represented  as  truly 
supernatural  beings,  only  to  be  compared  to  the  Archangels 
Michael,  Gabriel,  and  Raphael.  Indeed,  one  of  these  little 
books  of  self-praise  "^  aflBrms  that  the  Order  of  Jesus  had  over- 
come all  improper  tendencies,  and,  on  that  account,  whenever 
a  member  of  the  same  lay  on  his  death  bed,  Jesus  Christ  in 
person  came  to  his  bed-side  in  order  to  take  the  soul  of  the 
dying  one  into  His  keeping.  Yet,  the  more  the  Jesuits  londed 
themselves  with  praises,  the  more  general  became  the  opinion 
which,  even  in  the  first  century  of  their  existence,  was  held 
here  and  there,  that  all  this  was  deceptive  and  merely  out- 
ward— in  fact,  only  a  pretence  of  holiness.  "  Their  downcast 
looks,"  it  was  said,  "  when  they  happened  to  pass  the  weaker 
sex,  their  contemptuous  style  of  conversation  when  in  the 
company  of  females,  in  fiine,  their  whole  behaviour,  as  if  they 
were  never  touched  by  the  failings  of  mankind — all  this  was 
merely  put  on  in  order  to  deceive  the  world,  while  secretly  and 
in  private  they  were  no  better  than  their  fellow-creatures ;  and 
this,  indeed,  without  the  smallest  qualms,  of  conscience,  as 
they  have  their  own  peculiar  principles  of  morality,  and  laugh 
in  their  sleeve,  holding  the  idea  that  God  has  favours  for  those 
who  castigate  their  flesh  "  Such  opinions  became  prevalent 
very  soon,  not  with  the  many,  indeed,  but  only  among  a  few ; 
those  few,  however,  gave  themselves  the  trouble  to  watch  very 
particularly  the  mode  of  life  among  the  Jesuits,  and  the  con 
sequence  of  this  was  that  many  things  came  to  light,  through 
which  their  worst  surmises  became  confirmed. 

Let  us  hear,  for  instance,  what  took  place  among  them  in 
1560  at  Monte  Pulciano,  a  small  town  in  Tuscany.  They  had 
there  founded  a  college  derived  from  charitable  contributions, 
which  they  readily  obtained;  and  hardly  had  the  building,  together 
with  its  adjoining  church,  been  erected,  than  all  flocked  to  their 
confessionals.      The  Fathers   especially  knew  how  to  get    the 

*  This  document  bears  the  title : — Imago  primo  Seculi  Societatis  Jesu, 
i.e.  a  picture  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  first  century  of  its  existence. 


288 


HISTOBY   OP   THE    JESUITS. 


li 


female  inhabitants  of  Monte  Pulciano  into  their  power,  and 
maidens,  as  well  as  married  women,  confessed  to  them  with  the 
most  amiable  candour.  In  this  manner,  several  tender  relation- 
ships sprung  up  between  the  Father  Confessors  and  their  fair 
confessauts ;  but  both  parties  so  contrived  to  conceal  this  that, 
although  it  was  here  and  there  whispered  that  something  was 
going  wrong,  still,  for  a  long  time  everything  remained  con- 
cealed, until  at  last  the  jealousy  of  one  old  maid  let  out  the 
secret.  The  Kector  of  the  College,  called  John  Gombard,  re- 
ceived visits  at  the  same  time  from  two  sisters,  an  elder  and  a 
younger  one,  and  first  lavished  his  attentions  pretty  equally 
between  them.  •  Latterly,  however,  he  more  especially  favoured 
the  younger  of  them  ;  thereupon  the  elder  became  so  enraged 
that  she  revealed  the  whole  proceedings  to  their  brother. 
He  at  once  forbade  his  two  sisters  to  have  any  dealings 
with  the  Rector,  either  in  the  confessional  or  out  of  it,  and 
at  the  same  time  made  a  complaint  to  the  Bishop ;  the  latter, 
moreover,  unexpectedly  caused  a  domiciliary  search  to  be  made 
in  the  College,  when  a  quantity  of  gallant  love-letters  were  dis- 
covered which  had  been  exchanged  between  the  Jesuits  and 
their  female  confessants.  It  was  at  the  same  time  noised  abroad 
that  one  of  the  pious  Fathers  had  been  more  than  usually  in- 
discreet, while  the  misdeeds  of  some  others  amongst  their  number 
became  the  theme  of  general  conversation. 

This,  of  course,  had  the  effect  of  setting  all  Monte  Pulciano 
in  such  an  uproar  that  the  Jesuit  College  was  very  nearly  taken 
by  storm.  The  people,  however,  thought  better  of  it,  and  left 
the  punishment  of  the  guilty  to  the  Episcopal  See,  which  at 
once  instituted  a  searching  inquiry.  Rector  Gombard,  however, 
did  not  wait  for  this,  but  took  flight  under  cover  of  night,  and 
the  General  Laynez  at  once  expelled  him  from  the  Order. 
Nothing,  however,  was  done  to  the  rest  of  the  Fathers,  unless 
their  transfer  to  other  colleges  be  looked  upon  as  a  punish- 
ment, that  of  Monte  Pulciano  being  closed,  because  the  inhabi- 
tants withdrew  all  their  support  and  ceased  to  have  any  relations 
with  the  occupants  thereof. 

This  was,  indeed,  an  ugly  circumstance,  but  still  worse  and 
more  vile  stories  followed,  and  obtained  currency,  like  wildfire, 
over  the  whole  civilised  world,  so  that  the  Society  had  much 
difficulty  in  defending  itself  against  the  evil  reports  which  over- 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OP  HOLINESS.   289 

whelmed  it.    Thus,  the  tale  of  Father  Majotius  and  his  fair  con- 
fessant,    the   female   miller   of  Azenay,  near  Bourges,  was  in 
everybody's  mouth,  and,  indeed,  a  particular  brochure  about  this 
scandal  made  its  appearance  in  the  year  1576.     Still  greater 
indignation  was  aroused  when  the  Jesuits  endeavoured  to  repre- 
sent that  the  relation  of  their  brother  with  the  miller  maid  was 
only  that  of  a  father  towards  his  child.     Satirical  squibs  now 
appeared  on  the  subject,  the  most  cutting  of  which  was  that 
published  in  the  year  1610,  under  the  title  of  "Address  of  thanks 
from  the  butter- dealers  of  Paris  to  Monsieur  Courbouson,  the 
panegyrist  of  the  Society  of  Jesus."      It  then  became   public 
that  the  Father  Peter  Galess,  Rector  of  the  College  of  Bordeaux, 
kept  a  private  journal,  wherein  he  preserved  a  list  of  his  fair 
confessants,  and  noted  at  the  same  time  the  happy  hours  he 
had  passed  in  their  company.     In  a  similar  way  it  came  to  light 
that  Father  Fronton  Gadauta,  Rector  of  the  College  at  Fontan, 
and  his  successor  in  office,  Peter,  passed  every  day  in  the  week 
in  the  company  of  ladies,  selected  out  of  the  most  distinguished 
in   the   town,   being  in    the  habit   of  shutting  themselves    up 
with  them  for  four  or  five  hours  together  during  the  day. 

The  following  cases  may  be  also  noticed: — A  woman  of 
Poitiers,  living  a  life  of  luxury,  represented  herself,  during  fully 
ten  years,  as  sick,  and  sent  alternately  every  day  for  Fathers 
Bonnet  and  Danceron,  while  she  smilingly  declared  that  those 
two  pious  Fathers  were  the  best  solacers  she  had  ever  met 
with  for  her  ailment. 

Father  Galozin,  Professor  of  the  College  of  Metz,  suc- 
ceeded at  length,  partly  by  persuasion  and  partly  by  force,  in 
triumphing  over  the  scruples  of  the  daughter  of  the  royal 
Governor,  but  as  he  was  not  sufficiently  careful,  the  pair  of 
lovers  were  surprised  on  one  occasion,  the  consequence  being 
that  the  Governor,  in  his  fury,  caused  the  ears  of  the  seducer  to 
be  cut  off. 

Father  Gilbert  Russow,  who  had  been  sent  as  secret  agent  of 
the  Order  to  the  town  of  Narack,  conceived  such  an  attachment 
for  a  washerwoman  that,  taking  him  for  nothing  more  than  a 
Catholic  priest,  she  found  herself  compelled,  with  the  view  of 
saving  her  reputation,  to  demand  that  he  should  marry  her. 
The  Father,  of  course,  was  unable  to  gratify  her  in  this  respect, 
and  the  affair  at  once  came  before  the  law  courts;   but  the 

19 


290 


HISTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OP  HOLINESS.   291 


It 


cunning  Jesuit — ^money  and  persuasive  words  effect  much- 
brought  to  the  front  a  woodcutter,  who  took  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  which  should  have  devolved  upon  the  pious  Father. 
The  scandal  to  which  he  had  given  rise  did  not  injure  the  good 
Father  in  the  eyes  of  his  superiors,  and  the  General  in  Rome 
rather  approved  of  his  sagacity,  and  afterwards  advanced  him  to 
the  post  of  Provincial  of  the  Upper  Rhine  provinces. 

Father  Johann  Delvoss,  who  had  for  twentv  years  excited 
religious  fervour  in  the  town  of  Luneville  by  his  pathetic 
preaching,  allowed  himself  to  be  surprised  with  a  notoriously 
profligate  person,  in  a  bath  at  the  mineral  spring  of  Sundgau, 
to  which  he  had  betaken  himself  for  an  ailment  of  the  breast, 
and  on  that  account  had  to  implore  pardon  on  his  knees  from 
the  Provincial  Boer. 

Father  Oliva,  Professor  at  the  College  of  Valencia,  repre- 
sented a  peasant  girl,  whose  full  bosom  had  inspired  in  him  a 
violent  passion,  to  be  his  nearest  relative,  and  hired  a  room  for 
her  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  college ;  he  visited  her  there, 
giving  out  that  he  had  family  business  with  her  connected  with 
an  inheritance,  and  not  infrequently  passed  many  hours  with 
her,  in  order,  as  he  expressed  it,  to  exercise  discipline  over  her, 
as  she  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  in  piety ! 

Stephan  Petiot,  the  Provincial  of  Guienne,  obtained  for  him- 
self the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  holy  of  men,  and 
when  he  preached  in  the  principal  church  belonging  to  the 
Order,  the  space  was  found  to  be  far  too  small  to  contain  all  the 
worshippers  who  thronged  to  listen  to  him.  This,  however,  did 
not  prevent  him  from  becoming  violently  enamoured  of  a  nut- 
brown  maid,  and  persuading  her  to  assume  the  disguise  of  a 
peasant  boy  in  order  to  enable  her  to  gain  access  into  the 
college.  In  this  disguise  the  girl  now  paid  the  Father  frequent 
visits,  and  as  often  as  she  came  he  shut  himself  up  with  her  for 
hours  together;  this,  latterly,  however,  did  not  satisfy  him,  but 
he  got  her  placed  as  his  servant,  and  had  her  to  wait  upon  him 
day  and  night  This  went  on  during  several  months,  and  pro- 
bably the  matter  might  have  continued  for  some  time  longer 
undiscovered,  had  not  the  woman  possessed  a  tongue.  But, 
being  induced  by  sickness  to  speak,  the  girl  revealed  the 
whole  affair  to  her  former  Father  Confessor,  Nathaniel  Sichard, 
and  he,  of  course,  took  care  that  an  end  should  be  put  to  the 


1  ii 


matter  before  it  should  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world. 
Nothing,  however,  happened  to  Stephan  Petiot,  except  that  he 
was  warned  to  be  more  circumspect  for  the  future,  as,  had  such 
a  scandal  become  public,  the  whole  Society  of  Jesus  might  have 
sustained  the  deepest  injury. 

We  learn  that  Father  Coprevitius,  Professor  at  the  College  of 
Grätz,  occasioned  an  unmarried  young  lady  belonging  to  the 
Court  of  the  Archduke  Charles  to  get  into  disgrace,  and  that 
concerning  this   a   terrible   disturbance   took   place  among  the 
cavaliers  and  ladies  of  this  pious  Hapsburger.     Bq,t  the  fellow 
brethren  of  Coprevitius  neither  lost  their  senses  nor  presence  of 
mind,  for  the  Rector  of  the  university  merely  sent  the  erring 
sheep  with  a  commission   to  an  old  friend  of  the  Order,  the 
occupant  of  the  Lubian  Bishopric  in  Spain,    of  the  name  of 
Thomas  Cremius,  who  retained  the  fallen  brother  on  the  occa- 
sion entirely  for  himself.     The  lady,   however,  was  under  the 
necessity  of  making  a  four  years'  journey,  travelling  about  the 
different  baths,  after  which  she  returned  again  to  the  Court,  as 
fresh  and  brisk  as  ever,  just  as  if  nothing  whatever  had  taken 
place.     And  as  for  the  erring  professor's  offspring,  one  of  the 
Fathers  took  charge  of  it  immediately  after  its  birth,  and  nothing 
was  heard  afterwards  as  to  what  had  become  of  it. 

I  could  still  continue  to   give  hundreds  of  such  instances 
on    the    part  of  the  Jesuits,  or  rather  thousands;*  it  must, 
however,  be    observed,    that  only  a  very  few  of  such  crimes 
among  members  of  the  Order  ever  became  known,  as  the  first 
care  among  the  Jesuits  was  to  conceal  all  that  occurred,  which 
was  done  with  such  skill  that  it  should  not  reach  the  ears  of 
the  people.     A  sin  perpetrated  was  a  purely  accidental  affair. 
The  principal  thing  was  the  publication  of  the  scandal,  the  blame 
cast  thereby  on  the  Order,  which,  by  the  notoriety  of  every  such 
crime,  must  have  the  mantle  of  holiness  in  which  it  enveloped 
itself  damaged  considerably.     On  this  account  care  was  taken 
not  to  awaken  public  attention  by  the  punishment  of  such  fail- 
ings.    They  contented  themselves  with  the  private  censure  of 
the  party,  or  his  removal  to  another  sphere  of  action,  in  order  to 

*  I  recommend  to  anyone  wishing  to  inform  himself  on  this  subject  the 
hook  entitled,  Histoire  du  P.  La  Chaise,  Jesuitical  Confesseut  du  Roi Louis  XlV.f 
contenant  les  particularitis  les  plus  secretu  de  sa  vie,  »es  amours  avec  plutieun 
dames  de  la  premiere  qualite,  et  les  agriables  aventurgs  qui  lui  sont  arriv^es  dans 
le  CQW8  de  us  galanUries,'*    2  vols. 

19  * 


292 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


put  a  stop  to  any  talk  about  the  matter.  Should,  perchance, 
the  affair  come  under  judicial  cognizance,  they  never  rested 
until  the  accused  member  was  cleared,  as  the  world  must  on  no 
account  be  allowed  to  feast  its  eyes  on  the  humiliation  of  a 
brother  of  the  Order !  The  best  proof  that  the  Jesuits  were  in 
the  habit  of  acting  in  this  way,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  couple  of  stories,  the  first  of  which  occurred  at  Sala- 
manca at  the  beginning  of  the  l7th  century  : — 

Father  Mena  was  held  there  in  great  estimation,  as  well  owing 
to  his  mode  of  life,  which  resembled  that  of  the  holy  martyrs,  as 
by  the  surpassing  gift  of  eloquence  with  which  he  was  endowed. 
In  appearance  he  was  pale  and  haggard,  with  eyes  deeply  sunk 
in  his  head.     His  gait  indicated  the  deepest  humility,  and  his 
simple  aspect  displayed  a  modesty  which  was  the  admiration  of 
all.     But  when  he  stood  in  the  pulpit  and  thundered  against  the 
depravity  of  the  world  sunk  in  iniquity,  such  fire  proceeded  out 
of  his  mouth  that  all  his  listeners  shook  with   emotion,  and  a 
visible  quaking  of  despair  seized  upon  the  hearts  of  even  the 
most  obdurate.     Under   such  remarkable  circumstances,  it  was 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Salamanca 
chose  Father   Mena  to   be    their  Father   Confessor,  and  more 
especially   the  female  sex   thronged  to  him   from    the  highest 
classes  to  the  lowest.     Now,  among  the  fair  confessants  there  also 
happened  to  be  a  very  beautiful  maiden  of  striking  appearance, 
whose  understanding,  however,   did  not  at  all  correspond  with 
her  bodily  attractions,  and,  as  she  was  generally  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  simpleton.  Father  Mena,  whose  heart  was  inspired  with  a 
glowing  desire  of  obtaining  possession  of  this  charming  being, 
hoped   to   be   able   to   turn    this   circumstance    to   his  advan- 
tage.     After,  then,  he  had  properly  prepared   the  maid,  who 
came  to  him  every  week  for  confession,  he  at  length  proceeded 
further  with  his  project,  and   explained  to  her  that  God  had 
ordered  him  in  a  revelation,  with  a  view  to  the  completion  of 
his  sanctity,  to  take  upon  himself  the  sacrament   of  marriage 
with  her.     Whatever  good  reasons  the  Father  might  have  given, 
however,  in  support  of  his  proposal,  and  notwithstanding  the 
credence  the  lady  gave  to  almost  every  word  he  uttered,  she 
was  so  terrified    by  such  a  proposition  that  she  was  at  once 
seized  with   a  desire  to  make  her  way  out  of  th&  confessional. 
He,  however,  succeeded  by  honeyed  words  in  preventing   her 


THE  OLD  ADAM  ÜNDEB  THE  MASK  OP  HOLINESS.   293 

from  doing  so,  and  represented  to  her  that  her  reputation 
would  in  no  way  suffer  any  injury  from  this  projected  marriage 
ordered  by  God,  as  he,  under  another  name,  possessed  a  small 
settlement,  in  which  they  might  meet  undisturbed,  and  that  not 
less  care  would  be  taken  to  preserve  secrecy  in  the  event  of  her 
confinement.  If  she  still  cherished  'any  doubts  in  her  mind, 
proceeded  he,  with  calculated  slyness,  regarding  the  necessity  of 
complying  with  this  command  of  God,  she  always  had  it  in  her 
power  to  consult  one  or  other  of  the  learned  divines  belonging 
to  the  university  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  necessary 
for  her  to  preserve  the  most  profound  silence  towards  the  laity 
and  secular  community,  as  she  would  otherwise  draw  down  the 
anger  of  heaven  upon  her.  With  these  representations  the 
first  fears  of  the  chaste  maiden  were,  up  to  this  point,  overcome, 
and  after  the  Confessor  had  mentioned  to  her  a  couple  of 
Fathers  of  his  acquaintance  with  whom  she  might  take  counsel, 
she  left  the  church,  partially  convinced  that  she  was  destined  by 
God  to  be  rendered  holy  in  the  world  by  a  secret  marriage  with 
Father  Mena. 

What  now,  then,  took  place?  As  soon  as  the  beauty 
had  left,  the  Father  hastened  to  the  two  theologians  with 
whom  she  might  take  advice,  and  represented  to  them  that  he 
had  a  very  conscientious  confessant  to  deal  with,  who  would 
only  follow  his  instructions  after  other  learned  men  should 
express  themselves  as  favourable  to  the  necessity  of  her  doing 
so.  He  then  asked  his  colleagues  whether  they  had  any  reason 
to  distrust  him,  or  whether  he  had  not  given  proof  of  his  ability 
for  instruction  in  matters  of  conscience,  derived  from  the  practice 
of  many  years.  Seeing  this  to  be  the  case,  and  as  he  had  proved 
it  to  be  so  by  the  mode  of  life  which  he  had  hitherto  followed, 
he  hinted  that  his  colleagues  need  not,  therefore,  go  into  any 
details,  but  merely  counsel  the  maiden  to  follow  implicitly 
everything  recommended  by  Father  Mena.  This  the  two 
theologians  most  willingly  agreed  to  do,  as  they  knew  their 
companion  to  be  a  very  straightforward  man,  besides  being 
regarded  as  the  best  preacher  of  morahty  in  Salamanca. 
When,  then,  she  came  to  them  for  advice,  and  from  a  sense  of 
shame  did  not  know  what  words  to  make  use  of  in  expressing 
herself,  they  declared  to  her  that  whatever  was  proposed  by 
Father  Mena  was  certain  to  be  right  and  good,  and  on  that 


£d4 


HI8T0BY   OJ*   THE   JESUITS. 


account  she  ought  without  hesitation  to  follow  implicitly 
any  advice  given  by  him.  There  was  thus  no  longer 
any  doubt  remaining  in  the  mind  of  the  poor  deluded  fool, 
BO  on  the  next  occasion  when  she  came  to  him  for  con- 
fession he  learned,  to  his  inmost  joy  and  satisfaction,  that  she 
was  now  fully  prepared  to  follow  the  will  of  God.  He  then 
uttered  a  benediction  on  himself  together  with  her,  by  the  most 
truly  blasphemous  ceremonies,  and  they  both  at  once  withdrew 
to  the  above-mentioned  retreat,  where  they  lived  together  for  a 
very  lengthened  period. 

During  all  this  time  Father  Mena  continued  to  attend  to  his 
spiritual  duties,  and  busied  himself  especially  in  preaching  with 
such  zeal  and  fervour  that  his  great  reputation  went  on  increasing 
year  by  year.     At  last,  by  some  unlucky  accident,  the  profound 
secret  of  this  disgraceful  relationship  came  to  light,  and  then 
the  Holy  Inquisition  got  hold  of  the  errant  couple,  who  were 
at  once  conveyed  to  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  in  Valladolid. 
The  woman  now,  on  the  very  first  examination,  made  a  full  con- 
fession, and  as  thus  the  base  conduct  of  Father  Mena  was  brought 
to  light,  in  all  its  enormity,  everyone  believed  that  the  Society 
of  Jesus  would  at  once  expel  the  mangy  sheep  out  of  the  Order 
as  a  reprobate,  for  the  ^protection  of  its  purity.     Such,  how- 
ever, was  not  at  all  the  case,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  Society 
©spoused  the  cause  of  their  member  with  such  zeal  as  to  pro- 
duce  the   greatest   astonishment   regarding    the   matter.      The 
Jesuits,  however,   well  knew  the   reason   why.   and   the   result 
showed  that  they  had  rightly  calculated.     As  this  scandalous 
story   now  caused   such   a  commotion    all    over   Spain,   and, 
indeed,  elsewhere,  the  idea  might  take  hold  of  men's  minds  that 
all   the   members  of  the  Order  were  more   or  less  profligate, 
and   saints  merely  in  appearance,  and,  therefore,  cost  what  it 
might,  Father  Mena  must  be  cleared  from  all  imputations.     A 
physician,  therefore,  was  bribed   by  a  large  sum  of  money  to 
declare  that  the  simple  woman  was  a  complete  fool,  and  this 
worthy   doctor   administered   to  the   poor  creature   a  sleeping 
draught  of  such  potency  that  she  never  awoke  again.     At  the 
same   time  the  Provincial  obtained   from   another  physician  a 
certificate  that  Father  Mena  was  so  dangerously  ill  that  a  further 
detention  in  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  must  bring  about 
bis  certain  death.     Provided  with  this  certificate,  the  Society, 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OP  HOLINESS.   295 

which  was  at  that  time  almost  all-powerful  at  the  Court  of 
Spain,  proposed  that  Mena  should  be  brought  into  the  Jesuit 
College  in  order  that  he  should  be  better  attended  to,  but,  of 
course,  only  until  such  time  as  his  health  should  be  re-esta- 
blished. In  this  respect,  however,  the  Inquisition  took  such 
precautions  that  several  of  its  officials  were  appointed  to 
accompany  him,  who  were  instructed  never  to  lose  sight  of  the 
patient.  To  all  appearance  Mena  now  became  daily  weaker,  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  the  officials  fully  expected  his  decease. 
They  were  consequently  not  at  all  surprised  one  day,  when 
engaged  at  their  dinner — and  the  Jesuits  took  care  to  feed  them 
right  well — to  find  that  all  the  bells  of  the  college  commenced 
to  ring,  thereby  announcing  the  death  of  the  poor  patient,  and, 
as  may  be  well  imagined,  they  did  not  hasten  to  make  any 
inspection  of  the  corpse,  except  for  form's  sake,  some  hours 
later,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  make  a  report  to  their  chief; 
and  as  they  then  found  the  Father  lying  in  his  coffin  in  Jesuit 
attire,  they  took  their  departure  from  the  college  to  convey  the 
news  of  his  death  to  their  General.  The  Father,  however,  was 
by  no  means  dead  ;  quite  the  reverse,  indeed,  for  as  soon  as  the 
officials  had  left  he  got  out  of  his  coffin,  and  after  the  death 
colour  with  which  he  had  been  painted  was  washed  off*,  they  put 
him,  well  disguised,  on  a  quick-going  mule,  which  soon  conveyed 
him  out  of  the  country  to  Genoa.  In  the  coffin  they  laid  a 
wax  figure,  made  to  resemble  him  as  much  as  possible,  which 
was  also  dressed  in  Jesuit  costume,  and  the  burial  then  took 
place  with  much  pomp.  In  this  manner  the  Society  contrived 
to  put  a  speedy  termination  to  the  trial  that  had  been  instituted ; 
and,  of  course,  it  was  everywhere  given  out  that  the  whole  com- 
plaint had  arisen  merely  from  the  diseased  imagination  of  a 
demented  person,  as  there  never  had  existed  a  more  holy  man 
than  the  much-maligned  Father  Mena. 

The  second  afiair  which  I  wish  to  relate  occurred  in  the  town 
of  Granada,  also  in  Spain,  in  which  the  Jesuits  possessed  a  very 
beautiful  college,  with  large  properties  and  endowments  attached 
thereto.  Among  the  latter  there  happened  to  be  a  pretty  landed 
estate  in  the  village  of  Caparazena,  the  management  of  which 
was  entrusted  to  Father  Balthasar  des  Rois.  This  latter,  how- 
ever, fell  in  love,  it  seems,  with  the  wife  of  a  peasant  of 
the  place,  a  very  robust  woman  of  well-developed  figure  and 


ii 


f20& 


HlSTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


warm  temperament.  It  was  not  very  difficult,  therefore,  for  the 
Father  to  overcome  her  scruples,  and,  in  order  to  carry  his 
wishes  into  eflfect  undisturbed,  he  appointed  the  peasant  to  be 
steward,  with  a  considerable  salary.  Thereupon  the  peasant 
was,  of  course,  greatly  delighted,  and  several  months  elapsed 
before  he  discovered  the  reason  why  the  Father  had  favoured 
him  so  highly.  The  other  people  in  the  village  had  better  eyes, 
however,  and  at  length  made  the  peasant  aware  of  the  state  of 
the  case.  He,  therefore,  at  once  spoke  about  it  to  the  Father, 
who  denied  all  this  as  a  pure  calumny,  and  the  woman,  who 
was  much  flattered  with  the  attentions  of  th'e  holy  man, 
confirmed  all  that  he  said.  The  peasant  was  pacified,  but 
only  for  the  moment,  as  the  thorn  of  jealousy  had  sunk 
deeply  into  his  heart,  and  he  was  therefore  resolved  to  make 
certain  of  the  matter.  One  day,  therefore,  when  the  Father 
was  expected  from  Granada,  he  went  out  very  early  into  the 
fields,  telling  his  wife  at  the  same  time  to  give  him  something 
cold  to  take  with  him  to  eat,  as  his  occupation  would  not  admit 
of  his  return  home  until  late  in  the  evening.  The  woman 
joyfully  did  what  he  told  her,  and  then  placed  herself  at  the 
window  in  order  to  look  out  for  the  beloved  Father,  whom  she 
expected  to  make  his  appearance  within  a  few  hours.  The 
peasant,  on  the  other  hand,  sauntered  about,  not,  however,  to  go 
to  the  fields,  as  he  had  said,  but  to  return  home  again  after  a 
short  time  by  a  bye-path,  when  he  slipped  quietly  into  the  house 
by  a  back-door,  and  equally  quietly  he  went  inside  and  hid 
himself,  waiting  to  see  what  happened.  Shortly  afterwards  the 
holy  man  arrived,  whereupon  the  infuriated  husband  sprang  out 
and  stabbed  the  pair  with  a  knife  with  which  he  had  previously 
provided  himself  for  the  purpose.  The  Father  was  killed  on 
the  spot,  and  the  woman  also  died  shortly  afterwards;  she 
lived,  however,  long  enough  to  make  a  full  confession  to  a 
neighbour  who  had  been  quickly  called  in.  The  situation  in 
which  she  was  found  with  the  Father  completely  justified  the 
peasant,  according  to  Spanish  law,  in  vindicating  his  sullied 
honour  with  the  dagger.  He  thought  so,  at  least,  and  so  did 
the  secular  court  before  which  the  afiair  was  first  brought,  and 
which,  after  hearing  the  evidence  of  the  neighbour,  found  the 
peasant  not  guilty.  The  Jesuit  College  in  Granada,  however, 
was  anything  but  satisfied  with  this  judgment,  being  unable  to 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.   297 


endure   the   ignominy   attaching  to   them,   in  that  one   of  its 
members  had  thus  rightfully  met  with  his  death  by  the  dagger; 
and  the   Rector  urgently   petitioned    at   once,  therefore,  for   a 
new  inquiry,  on  the  ground  that  the  first  had  been  conducted 
with   partiality.      He   also   personally    betook   himself  to   the 
spot,  accompanied  by  a  notary  from  Granada,  and  even,  after  all 
that  had  already  taken  place,  endeavoured,  by  means  of  presents, 
promises,   and  threats,  to  bring  over  to  their  side  the  people 
who  had  in  the  first  instance  given  evidence  against  the  deceased 
Father.     They,  in  this  way,  succeeded  with  not  a  few,  the  final 
result   being  that  those   persons  at  once  contradicted  all    the 
evidence  they  had  previously  given.     Those,  however,  who  were 
opposed   to    them,   in    the   face   of  this   strong   contradiction, 
admitted  that   they,  at  least,  could    no   longer    recollect  with 
certainty,  and,  consequently  the  offence  was  made  out  to  be  at 
least  doubtful.    In  addition  to  this,  the  Rector,  by  his  generosity, 
obtained  new  witnesses,  who  at  onf5e  swore  that  Father  Balthasar 
was  a  most  holy  man,  whom  no  one  ever  saw  engaged  in  any 
other  way  than  praying,  with  his  rosary  in  his  hands,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  story  of  his  proceedings  with  the  deceased  must 
be  rejected  as  perfect  nonsense,  as  she  had  long   passed  her 
first  youth — she  was  not  quite  twenty-eight — and  consequently 
must  be  looked  upon   as   an  old  woman.     These  and  similar 
declarations  were  collected  by  the  Rector  with  much  zeal,   and 
the   notary   carefully  committed  them   to  paper,  and  thus  the 
matter  advanced  so  far  that  this  evidence  was  laid  before  a  new 
court  of  investigation,  and  the  severe  punishment  of  the  murderer 
demanded.      It   still,   however,    remained    a   matter   of    doubt 
whether  the  bribed  witnesses  would  have  stood  their  ground,  as 
the  sorely-pressed  peasant  requested  that  he  might  be  confronted 
with  them  face  to  face ;  in  consequence  of  this,  it  was  suggested 
to  the  poor  man,  by  some   one  professing  friendship,  that  the 
best  thing  he  could  do  would  be  for  him   quickly  to  make  him- 
self scarce,  as  he  would  doubtless  be  hanged  as  a  convicted 
murderer.     The  man,  from  fear,  followed  this  advice,  and  as  his 
disappearance  was  silently  facilitated,  he  made  his  escape  quite 
undetected,  while,  as  he  had  thus  gone  away  under  suspicious  cir- 
cumstances, the  Jesuits  triumphantly  exclaimed  that  the  guilt  of 
the  man  was  as  clear  as  daylight,  as  consciousness  of  this  had 
induced  him  to  take  to  flight.     This  cry  they  repeated  so  often 


29S 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.      299 


that  they  at  length  succeeded  in  hringing  over  even  the  judges 
to  their  views ;  in  short,  they  carried  the  matter  so  far  that, 
supported  by  their  false  witnesses,  the  poor  peasant,  betrayed  by 
such  villainy,  was  presumed  to  be  proved  guilty,  and  condemned 
"  in  contumaciam,"  to  the  halter.  Then  upon,  on  this  sentence 
being  given,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  by  way  of  putting  a  crown  upon 
this  tragic  comedy,  caused  the  whole  of  the  law  proceedings  to  be 
printed,  along  with  the  judgment  thereon,  and  distributed  them 
through  the  whole  town  exactly  as  if  they  had  gained  a  great  . 
victory.  Indeed,  this  Balthasar  des  Rois  was,  indeed,  little  short 
of  being  canonised  as  a  martyr  of  purity;  at  all  events,  the 
Jesuits  believed  that  they  had  proved  this  much,  at  least,  that 
among  their  Society  there  was  not  one  who  could  be  afflicted 
with  weaknesses  as  other  children  of  men. 

A  third  story  of  a  similar  kind  relates  to  an  escapade  which 
took  place  in  the  town  of  Poitiers  on  the  part  of  Father  Mania, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  Jesuit  preachers  of  St.  Didier, 
and  a  widow  of  position  ;  but  I  shall  refrain  from  entering  into 
particulars,  as  the  scenes  enacted  were,  if  possible,  of  an  even 
more  scandalous  description  than  those  already  related. 

Of  a  fourth  story  of  this  kind  I  must  at  least  say  a  few  words, 
as  it  will  afford  not  a  little  amusement  to  the  reader.  In  the 
middle  of  the  1 6th  century  there  lived,  in  the  city  of  Bordeaux, 
a  seamstress,  who  essayed  to  increase  her  resources,  to  a  certain 
extent,  by  her  charms,  and,  on  account  of  this  kind  of  life,  had 
become  notorious  throughout  the  whole  city.  On  one  occasion 
this  seamstress,  after  carrying  on  this  double  trade  from  her 
sixteenth  to  her  thirty -second  year,  became  seriously  ill,  and,  in 
her  terrible  fear  ot  death,  caused  Father  Gaska  to  be  called  to 
her,  in  order  that  she  might  receive  absolution  from  him  for  her 
long-continued  sins  of  many  years*  standing.  The  same,  how- 
ever, a  Jesuit  highly  esteemed  above  all  for  his  piety  and 
advanced  age,  made  the  Divine  wrath  so  hot  for  the  woman 
that  she  promised  that,  as  soon  as  she  became  again  con- 
valescent, she  would  enter  into  a  certain  reformatory  which 
had  been  founded  ia  Bordeaux  for  the  reclamation  of  sinners, 
and  never  again,  for  the  remainder  of  her  life,  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  such  matters.  The  woman  in  due  course 
recovered,  and,  as  the  good  Father.Gaska  was  entrusted  with  the 
special  supervision  of  the  asylum,  his  wishes  could,  of  course, 


not  be  objected  to  by  anyone.  Nor  was  there  any  occasion  for 
regret  at  her  admission,  as  the  seamstress  at  first  conducted  her- 
self in  a  most  exemplary  manner,  and  fulfilled  well  her  duties 
in  every  respect;  as,  however,  her  health  became  more  and 
more  re-established,  and  her  bodily  charms  by  degrees  returned 
to  their  former  condition,  she  began  to  experience  again  at  night 
powerful  temptations,  of  which  she,  naturally  enough,  made 
mention  to  the  Father,  her  Confessor.  He,  however,  repre- 
sented to  her  that  all  such  came  from  Satan,  and  gradually 
brought  her  to  the  conviction  that  the  Devil  had  cast  his  eye 
particularly  upon  her.  It  came  to  pass  now,  that  at  the  end 
of  fourteen  months  this  individual  began  to  show  signs  by  no 
means  agreeable  to  herself  or  those  around  her.  A  fearful  com- 
motion now  took  place  in  the  establishment,  as  it  could  be 
proved  that  no  male  person  ever  entered  the  building,  with  the 
exception  of  Father  Gaska  alone,  and  he,  owing  to  his  great 
sanctity,  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  beyond  all  suspicion. 
Further,  it  could  be  also  proved  that  the  woman  had  never 
crossed  the  threshold  of  the  institution,  which  precluded  the 
possibility  of  the  only  remaining  means  of  accounting  for  her 
condition.  She  moreover  declared,  with  the  greatest  confi- 
dence, that  the  Devil  himself  could  alone  have  brought  about 
this  infernal  mischief,  and  that  she  was  prepared  to  take  the 
sacrament  on  it  that  this  was  so.  Confusion  now  became  worse 
confounded.  Physicians,  who  were  now  called  in,  declared  that 
the  woman  must  be  out  of  herj  mind,  as  improper  proceedings 
with  an  immortal  being  were  not  to  be  thought  of;  this  view  of 
the  case,  however,  savoured  so  much  of  heretical  reasoning  that 
Father  Gaska,  in  conjunction  with  several  of  his  other  colleagues, 
rejected  it  with  indignation.  The  physicians  now  became  silent, 
and  contented  themselves  with  merely  shrugging  their  shoulders, 
in  order  that  they  might  not  be  accused  of  heresy.  The  Jesuits, 
on  the  other  hand,  convoked  a  commission  of  learned  theo- 
logians to  consult  upon  the  matter.  Fathers  Aritonio  Palomo 
and  Martin  de  la  Conchille,  who  were  charged  with  drawing  up 
the  report,  showed  themselves  to  be  conspicuously  active  on  the 
occasion,  and  the  pious  Fathers  cited  so  many  instances  from 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  especially  from  Augustine,  that 
no  clearer  proof  could  be  adduced.  In  fact,  it  was  finally  con- 
cluded that  the  Devil  himself,  and  no  one  else,  could  have  had 


300 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


any  dealings  with  the  seamstress.  It  may  be  well  imagined 
what  a  prodigious  sensation  this  case  caused  throughout 
Bordeaux ;  so  everyone  was,  of  course,  curious  to  learn  how 
this  offspring  of  the  Devil  would  look  when  it  came  into  the 
world.  Now,  the  poor  person  gave  «birth  presently  to  a  little 
boy,  having  neither  cloven  hoofs  nor  the  other  characteristics 
of  the  Devil,  but  just  resembling  any  of  the  other  children  of 
men.  Nevertheless,  the  whole  town  rushed  to  take  a  look  at  the 
son  of  the  Devil  Indeed,  the  house  of  the  penitent  barely 
escaped  being  tak^n  by  storm,  so  much  so  that  Father  Gaska 
and  his  associates  were  obliged  to  remove  the  mother  and  child 
out  of  the  town — the  mother,  in  order  to  convey  her  to  a  far 
distant  place  of  retreat;  the  little  boy,  however,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  brought  up  by  a  hermit  in  the  Pyrenees,  who  would 
soon  drive  the  Devil's  nature  out  of  him.  Moreover,  the  public 
had  to  be  pacified,  and  it  became  so,  although  for  a  con- 
siderable time  afterwards  people  spoke  about  the  Devil's  son, 
partly  with  horror,  and  partly  with  scorn  and  disdain,  according 
as  people  were  more  or  less  enlightened.  The  mysterious  veil 
in  which  this  affair  was  shrouded  was  at  last,  however,  very 
nearly  lifted,  and  an  eternal  disgrace  cast  upon  the  pious  Father 
Gaska.  About  ten  years  afterwards,  the  female  guardian  of  the 
seamstress  acknowledged  to  the  doctor  who  attended  her  as  she 
lay  on  her  death-bed,  that  during  several  months  she  had  been,  by 
order  of  Father  Gaska,  obliged  every  Saturday  night  to  bring  a 
tumbler  of  wine  to  the  seamstress,  after  she  had  mixed  in  it  a 
white  powder  given  her  by  the  Father,  which  had  the  effect  of 
regularly  throwing  the  seamstress  into  a  very  deep  sleep,  and 
that  then  the  Father  introduced  himself,  remaining  with  the 
sleeper  usually  for  one  or  two  hours.  At  the  same  time,  too, 
that  she  made  this  acknowledgment,  she  handed  over  to  the 
physician  a  small  quantity  of  the  powder  which  she  had  pre- 
served, and  which  on  examination  proved  to  be  a  strong  opiate. 
The  proceedings  of  Father  Gaska  now  came  to  light  in  all  their 
villainy,  and  the  physician  hastened  at  once  to  an  advocate  of 
his  acquaintance,  in  order  to  consult  with  him  as  to  what  course 
he  should  pursue  in  this  most  extraordinary  case,  and  as  to 
whether  he  should  not  lay  the  proofs  before  a  court  of  justice. 
The  advocate,  however,  advised  him  to  leave  the  matter  alone, 
as,  in  the  first  place.  Father  Gaska  had  died  in  the  meantime. 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.   301 

and  could  not  now  be  awarded  punishment ;  and,  secondly,  the 
Jesuits  woul  I  be  sure  to  know  how  to  induce  the  seamstress  to 
make  a  disavowal  of  the  circumstance,  so  that  the  physician 
would  be  looked  upon  as  a  liar ;  and,  thirdly  and  lastly,  it  was  well 
known  that  all  who  dared  to  attack  the  Order  of  Jesus  came 
very  badly  out  of  the  business,  and  therefore  it  would  be  wiser 
to  avoid  this  danger  and  not  run  any  risk  in  the  matter.  Against 
such  arguments  the  physician  had  nothing  to  advance,  and  on 
that  account  he  left  legal  proceedings  alone.  This,  nevertheless, 
did  not  prevent  him  from  inditing  in  a  special  treatise,  which 
was  found  among  his  papers  at  his  death,  a  description  of  the 
shameful  deeds  of  the  Jesuits. 

From  what  has  gone  before,  one  sees  sufficiently  how  uncom- 
monly active  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  in  allowing  nothing  to 
come  out  respecting  their  Order,  on  which  account  they  awarded 
no  punishment  for  many  of  the  sins  to  which  flesh  is  heir. 

I  will  not  continue  to  dilate  upon  this  subject,  but  prefer 
quoting  the  words  of  a  writer  of  the  l7th  century,  who  had 
been  for  several  years  among  the  Jesuits,  and  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  all  their  proceedings.  The  author  alluded  to 
relates  as  follows  : — * 

*'  As  the  people  belonging  to  the  Order  of  Jesus  conceived 
themselves  to  be  especially  ordained  to  take  the  nuns  under  their 
protection,  they  frequently  remained  six  whole  hours  before  the 
grating  (the  nuns,  as  is  well  known,  could  only  talk  with  those 
of  the  opposite  sex  through  the  grating  of  the  reception  room) 
and  conversed  with  those  whom  they  selected.  I  could,  however, 
take  my  oath  that  not  a  word  of  any  importance  passed  between 
them  as  regards  conversion  to  sanctity,  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, their  conversation  consisted  for  the  most  part  in  loose 
expressions  and  other  amatory  words. 

"  In  short,  a  lay  person  would  throw  up  his  hands  in  amaze- 
ment on  hearing  the  style  of  conversation  which  the  Jesuits 
were  wont  to  carry  on  with  the  nuns,  and,  moreover,  they  never 
addressed  them  otherwise  than  in  such  terms  as  *my  sweet- 
heart,* *  my  treasure,*  *  my  well-beloved,'  and  similar  expres- 
sions. 


•  This  is  the  well-known  Peter  Jarrigius,  otherwise  called  Peter  Jarrige, 
whose  work  on  the  Order  of  Jesus  came  out  for  the  first  time  in  the  year 
1682. 


302 


mSTOEY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


"But  you  must  pardon  me,  dear  reader,  if  I  refrain  from  very 
shame  from  portraying  the  subject  in  al]  its  vivid  colours ;  on 
the  other  hand,  you  may  take  my  word  for  it,  that  I  might 
easily  bring  forward  many  shocking  things  respecting  the 
shameful  deeds  of  the  Jesuits,  truly  surpassing,  in  this  respect, 
everything  that  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  world  " 

So  writes  my  authority,  and  I  might  here  conveniently  bring 
this  chapter  to   a   close,   were  it  not  that  I  must  make  some 
allusion  to  the  ill-famed  institution  of  the  "Female  Jesuits" 
of  which  in  our  day  almost  nothing  is  known.     The  year  in 
which   this  institution   came  into  existence  cannot  accurately 
be   determined  by  anyone,  as  the   sons   of  Loyola,  who  were 
alone   in  a  position    to   give   correct  information  on   the  sub- 
ject.   preserve   complete    silence    respecting   it,   no   doubt   on 
very   good    grounds.      The   fact   of    the    matter   is,   however, 
that   "Female  Jesuits"  not   only   existed  in    the  year  1600* 
throughout  the  whole  of  Italy,  but  were  also  widely  disseminated 
on  this  side  of   the  Alps,  in  Northern  Germany,  and  in  the 
south  of  France.     It  is,  further,  a  fact  that  they  enjoyed  the 
same  privileges  as  the  Jesuits  themselves,  that  is  to  say    they 
resembled  the  latter  to  a  hair-breadth,  both  in  name  and  attire 
that  they  possessed  colleges,  novitiates,  and  profess-houses  just 
as  the  sons  of  Loyola  did,  and  held  the  same  description  of 
government,  with  a  female  General  at  their  head.     It  is  also  a 
fact  that  they  stood  in  closest  relationship  with  the  male  Jesuits 
having  their  abodes  situated  near  to  them  in  all  towns. 

No  such  thing  of  the  kind  had  hitherto  occurred  in  Christen- 
dom.    There  were  monks  and  nuns  of  all  descriptions,  and  the 
most  different  names ;  there  were  also  those  who   had  assumed 
the  same  title,  as,  for  instance,  Dominicans  and  female  Domi- 
nicans, Franciscans  and  female  Franciscans,  &c  &c.  &c      But 
female  beings  like  the  female  Jesuits,  who  had  taken  on  them- 
selves the  three  vows  of  Poverty,  Chastity,  and  Obedience,  led  by 
no  means  a  life  of  contemplation,  in  devoting  themselves  to  the 
service  of  God,  and  denying  the  world ;  quite    the  contrary, 
they  wandered  about  here  and  there  withouL  any  fixed  place  of 
residence,  desirous  of  living  like  women  of  the  world ;  so  when- 
ever they  made  their  appearance,  they  assumed  the'  rights  of 
priests  accustomed  to  baptise,  confirm,  and  render  consolation 
just  as  the  ordinary  priesthood;  they  endeavoured  especially  tci 


THE  OLD  ADAM  UNDER  THE  MASK  OF  HOLINESS.      303 


figure  as  spiritual  advisers  to  men  of  certain  age  and  condition, 
and  under  the  name  or  seal  of  Female  Confessor,  to  be  to  them  as 
already  many  a  confessing  child  had  been  to  its  Father  Con- 
fessor; and,  lastly,  without  hesitation  and  without  the  least 
regard  to  shame,  they  went  about  publicly  declaring  themselves 
to  be  the  second  half  of  their  namesake  brethren,  the  Jesuits, 
and  boldly  alleging  that  it  was  only  in  the  first  instance, 
through  their  intimate  connection  with  them,  that  the  Order  of 
Jesus  had  been  made  perfect.  No  I  Indeed,  such  kind  of 
things  went  beyond  all  conception.  Moreover,  the  female  Jesuits 
did  all  this  without  being  authorised  so  to  act  by  the  Papal 
See ;  they  were  guided  by  merely  their  own  sovereign  will,  and 
did  not  even  consider  it  requisite  to  publish  their  statutes  or  to 
announce  their  existence  to  the  Roman  Curie.  On  that  account 
Pope  Urban  VIII.  was  induced  to  proceed  against  them  with 
all  the  available  means  of  his  apostolic  power,  and  he  issued 
a  fulminating  Bull,  in  which  he  decreed  their  institution  to 
be  not  only  abolished  for  ever,  but  also  cursed  as  a  vicious 
creation.  This  Bull,  dated  21st  May  1631,  which  was  posted  up 
in  all  the  churches  of  Rome,  is  well  known  throughout  the 
whole  of  Christendom,  and  of  course  still  exists  as  a  proof  of 
all  that  I  have  stated  respecting  the  Female  Jesuits  ;  it  contains 
the  perfect  truth,  though  too  mildly  expressed,  and  I  cannot 
therefore  refrain  from  reproducing  verbatim  certain  passages.  It 
thus  proceeds  immediately  after  the  introductory  sentences  : — 

"  We  have  heard,  not  without  the  greatest  mental  consterna- 
tion, that,  in  Italy  and  beyond  the  mountains,  certain  women  and 
maidens,  after  having  assumed  the  name  of  Female  Jesuits,  have 
for  several  years  assembled  themselves  together,  without  any 
approval  or  consent  of  the  Pope  ;  that,  under  the  pretext  of  lead- 
ing a  holy  life,  they  possess  certain  houses  of  the  description 
and  form  of  colleges,  as  well  as  profess-houses,  over  which  a 
mistress,  under  the  title  of  Female  General,  is  placed;  that,  with 
the  same  object,  they  have  taken  upon  themselves  the  vows  of 
Obedience,  Chastity,  and  Poverty,  and  followed  all  other  usages 
and  customs  of  the  Jesuits  ;  that  they  have,  however,  as  well 
adopted  many  things  very  unsuitable  for  the  female  sex,  and 
directly  contrary  to  the  decorum  and  modesty  appertaining  to 
the  same.  .  .  .  Considering,  therefore,  that  such  creatures  give 
occasion  for  much  indignation,  we  have  determined  to  eradicate 


804 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


these  unwholesome  weeds,  as  we  are  of  a  mind  not  to  tolerate 
such  wickedness.  On  this  account,  therefore,  after  consultation 
with  our  holy  Cardinals  and  Inquisitors,  we  now  command  that 
this  alleged  female  society  be  entirely  abolished,  annulled,  and 
done  away  with,  and  ordain  that  they,  the  Society  of  Female 
Jesuits,  be  inefifectual  from  the  beginning,  and  null  and  void, 
being  herewith  at  once  swept  away,  buried  in  oblivion,  and 
completely  eradicated  from  the  Church  of  God." 

Thus  speaks  Pope  Urban  VIII.     What  further  evidence  do 
we  require  ? 


CHAPTER  II.   IS  OMITTED, 


20 


306 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


THE   SPIRITUAL   EXERCISES. 


807 


CHAPTEK  m. 

THE   SPIRITUAL   EXERCISES,   OR  THE   REFINEMENT   OF 

ENJOYMENT. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  this  hook  T  have  treated  of  the  ordinary 
sins  of  the  flesh  among  the  Jesuits ;  those  most  excusable,  as 
arising  from  the  weakness  of  human  nature.  In  the  third 
chapter  I  come  to  speak  of  the  refined  sins  of  the  Jesuits ;  those, 
namely,  founded  on  religious  deceit,  beginning  with  heaven  and 
ending  with  hell. 

Self-inflicted  punishment  had  already,  from  great  antiquity 
and  among  the  most  varied  systems  of  belief,  been  looked  upon 
as  a  religious  duty,  and  even  had  become  prevalent  among  Chris- 
tians, who  thought  to  gain  heaven  thereby,  crawling  into  caves 
of  the  earth,  or  passing  their  lives  attached  to  pillars  and  loaded 
with  chains.  Later  on  there  arose  in  the  west  of  Christendom 
voluntary  flogging  conjoined  with  fasting,  praying,  pilgrimages, 
and  everything  of  a  like  nature,  and  the  more  a  man  lacerated 
the  body  by  means  of  rods  or  straps,  the  purer  were  the  tears  of 
joy  shed  above  by  the  angels  and  archangels;  so  was  it  taught  by 
the  priests.  Even  Ignatius  Loyola,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  the 
First  Book,  lent  himself  to  such  a  belief,  and,  at  the  commence-  * 
ment  of  his  religious  career  as  well  as  later,  brought  himself  into 
such  a  state  by  fasting,  flogging,  and  several  similar  asceticisms, 
that  he  was  often  nearly  at  the  point  of  death.  With  the 
view,  however,  of  habituating  his  Order  to  this  Christian  work 
of  self-inflicted   punishment,  he  wrote,   as  I   have  previously 


mentioned,  his  celebrated  book  on  Spiritual  Exercises,  and 
ordained  that  these  should  form  the  basis  of  education  among  all 
his  disciples.  "  In  order  to  enable  anyone  to  become  a  true 
warrior  of  Christ,"  taught  Ignatius,  "one  must  rigorously 
punish  the  members  of  the  body,  as  in  this  lies  the  secret  of 
taking  up  the  cross ;  for,  as  Jesus  Christ,  from  his  immeasurable 
love  for  mankind,  allowed  himself  to  be  crucified,  so  must  the 
soldiers  of  his  army  equally  make  themselves  lambs  for  sacrifice." 
Moreover,  continues  Ignatius  in  another  place,  **  we  Christian 
warriors  hold  these  punishments  to  be  necessary,  seeing  that 
everyone  who  wishes  to  gain  a  step  in  heaven  can  only  kill  vice 
and  control  animal  instincts  by  the  dagger  of  suflTering,  with 
which  alone  can  one  tame  the  earthly  man,  and  compel  him  to 
wander  completely  in  the  path  of  grace  and  virtue." 

What  was  taught,  then,  in  the  Spiritual  Exercises  ?  Of 
course,  together  with  many  other  mysticisms  and  extravagances, 
there  was  a  complete  state  of  ecstasy,  in  which  flogging  played 
the  principal  part.  There  was  also  conjoined  with  it,  a  great 
amount  of  verv  frequent  daily  prayers  and  spiritual  con- 
versations, as  also  various  fastings,  genuflexions,  and  other 
similar  things.  Under  the  circumstances  mentioned,  it  may 
readily  be  supposed  that  the  Jesuits  never  neglected  to  carry 
out  the  spiritual  exercises  thoroughly,  frequently,  as  regards 
their  confessants,  insisting  on  the  application  of  the  scourge 
as  the  most  efficacious  punishment  for  the  sinning  body.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  consideration  of  the  weakness  of  human 
nature,  thev  obliged  none  to  flog  their  own  persons,  but,  on 
the  contrarv,  undertook  the  task  themselves  most  willingly,  exer- 
cising it  verv  softly  with  fine  rods  and  straps  only,  or  even  with 
the  bare  hands- never  with  proper  scourges,  or  those  on  which 
thorns  were  fastened.  Such  scourging  and  flogging  with  rods, 
then,  was  termed  "  discipline,"  that  is  to  say,  the  flogger  was  the 
"  discipliner,"  and  the  flogged,  "  the  disciplined."  There  was 
also  a  twofold  kind  of  discipline,  namely,  disciplina  sursum,  or 
secundmn  supra,  and  disciplina  deorsum,  or  secundum  sub, 
which  mean  nothing  else  than  this,  that  in  the  former  case  the 
blows  were  applied  above,  upon  the  breasts,  shoulders,  and  neck, 
in  the  latter  upon  the  loins,  hips,  and  thighs.  This  last 
mentioned  was  also  called  the  "  Spanish  discipline,"  as  it  was 
very  much  used  in  Spain,  and  came  into  use  through  the  Spanish 

20 


308 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   SPIRITUAL   EXERCISES. 


309 


Jesuits ;  but  it  ought  more  properly  to  have  been  called  "female 
discipline,"   as,   for  the  most  part,   women   alone  were    thus 
disciplined.     The  Jesuits  maintained  that  the  weakly  frame  of 
women  and  maidens  was  too  severely  tried  by  the  upper  descrip- 
tion  of  discipline,  while    the  inferior   parts  of  the  body  were 
much  more  capable  of  sustaining  such-like  punishment ;  they  ad- 
ministered, therefore,  the  disciplina  deorsum  to  their  confessants 
with    the   greatest  vigour,    even  when  the  latter  remonstrated 
against  the  proceeding.    Other  children  of  men  were,  however,  of 
opinion  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  actuated  by  very  dijSerent 
motives;  be  that  as  it  may,   the  reader  may  be  assured  of  the 
correctness  of  what  I  state  when  I  assert  that  those  parts  of 
the  body  which  were  subjected   to  discipline  were  completely 
uncovered.     But  the  reader  will  doubtless  be  curious  to  know  if 
the   daughters   of   Eve    submitted    tamely   to   such   discipline 
as  that  I  have  described  ?     I  rejoin  that  they  did  so.     More- 
over, it  was  not  by  any  means  merely  a  few  women  and  maidens, 
who  might  be  regarded  as  an  exception  to  the  rule  ;  but  they 
came  in   shoals   to  throw    themselves  into  the  arms  of  Jesuit 
discipline,    the   main   attraction   being  that   fanatical  religious 
practice  which  found   expression  in  the    Spiritual  Exercises. 
The  Jesuits  instituted  such  arrangements  as  enabled  them   to 
satisfy  the  general  throng  by  means  of  the  so-called  affiliations 
and  congregations  -  also  termed  sodalities,  and  retreats;   that  is, 
in  plain   language,  brother  and   sisterhoods,   the   members   of 
which   came   together,  if  not  daily,  at  least  weeklv,   partly  in 
public  processions,  in  which  they  proceeded  through  the  streets 
dressed   in    the   most  wretched    attire,    often  half-naked    and 
barefoot,  allowing  themselves  to  be  flogged  until   they   bled, 
partly  praying    in   the   churches   and  large  saloons,   singing, 
confessing,   and  communicating,  as  well  as  carrying  on  other 
penitential  practices.     This,   however,  was  indeed  a  spectacle 
that  must  have  produced  a  most  extraordinary  impression  upon 
people  religiously  disposed,  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  were    so 
cunning  as  to  make  the  Mother  of  God  the  patroness  of  these 
sodalities,  expending,  as  well,  great  quantities  of  incense  upon 
such   occasions;    the   throng,    therefore,    always   continued    to 
increase  in  numbers.     We  read,  for  instance,  that,  in  the  year 
1552,    some   Fathers   of  the  Society  instituted    a   small   com- 
munity in  the  town  of  Louvaine,  in  Holland,  consisting  of  about 


ten  women,  in  order  to  study  religious  exercises  ;  in  the  course 
of  the  year,  however,  this  community  increased  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  forai  four  congregations,  amounting  to  nearly  a 
thousand  members.  One  of  these  bodies  consisted  entirely  of 
noble  ladies  and  of  those  in  high  position,  contrasting  with  the 
three  others,  in  which  the  industrial  and  civil  element  played 
the  chief  part ;  but  it  was  precisely  the  noble  sodality  which  was 
most  zealous  in  the  penitential  exercises,  and  no  single  partaker 
in  them  omitted  allowing  the  Spanish  discipline  from  being 
administered  to  her  by  the  Father  Confessor. 

This  despicable    conduct,   in   submitting    to    every  kind    of 
condition,    excited   the   greatest  indignation   among   the  men, 
and,  at  their  instigation,  the  whole  of  the  clergy,  together  with 
the   professors   of  the   university,  combined   in   order    to   put 
a   stop    to   the   scandal.      The   congregations   were,   therefore, 
prohibited   by  the  magisterial  authorities,  and  a   penalty  was 
attached  to  the   practice  of  the   spiritual   exercises.     But   the 
ladies,    being    accustomed    to    the   correction    of    the   worthy 
Fathers'  rods,  besought  their  spiritual  advisers  to  continue  the 
practice  in  spite  of  the    prohibition,  and   carried   the   matter 
so  far,  indeed,  that  eventually  the  magistracy  were  constrained 
to  withdraw  it.     One  knows  well  how  much  female  influence 
may  efi'ect  1     The  Jesuits  conducted  themselves  in  a  precisely 
similar  manner  in  the  town  of  Bruges,  and  the  three  Fathers, 
John  Ackerborn,  Peter  Wills,  and  Adrian  von  Wolf,  managed  to 
perform  there    the   most  marvellous   things.     But  the  worthy 
Father  Gersen  surpassed  all  in  supremely  foolish  behaviour  by 
raising  the  dress  of  a  peasant  girl,  whom  he  happened  to  meet 
in  the  flelds,  and  flogging  her  until  he  was  no  longer  capable  of 
moving  his  arm.     He   appeared  to  have  been  afflicted  with  a 
mania  for  flogging.     Some,  however,  are  of  opinion  that  very 
difl'erent  objects  actuated  his  proceedings.      In  Portugal,  espe- 
cially in    the   capital,   Lisbon,   there  likewise   existed   several 
congregations  during  the  reign  of  King  Alphonso,  partly  male 
and  partly  female,  and  lather  Nunnotz  was  at  the  head  of  them 
as   chief  leader.     Here,  too,  in  particular,   the  female  sodaliUes 
pursued  quite  an  extraordinary  career,  and,  as  at  Louvame,  the 
exercises  consisted  in  fasts,  confessions,  and  prayers,  but  the 
chief  thing  of  all  was  the  Spanish  discipline.     After  Nunnotz, 
Father  Malagrida  was  the  hero  of  the  day  in  respect  to  asceUo 


310 


filSTOBY   OF   THE  JESUITS. 


exercises,  and  he  conducted  a  penitential  sisterhood  among  the 
ladies  of  the  Court.     All  desired  to  be  flogged  by  him,  as  it 
appeared  he  knew  how  to  handle  the  rod  with  peculiar  effect, 
and  those  submitting  to  it  affirmed  that  they  experienced  far 
more  agreeable  "  discipline  "  than  when  it  was  administered  by 
any  of  the  other  Fathers.     Spiritual  exercises  made  also  gigantic 
strides  in  Spain  from  the  commencement ;  and  all,  especially  those 
belonging  to  the  female  world,  hastened  to  enlist  themselves  in 
one  or  other  of  the  numerous  sodalities.    The  bishops,  however, 
and  with  them  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  Don  Martinez  Siliceo, 
at  their  head,  took  great  umbrage  at  these  proceedings,  and,  at  the 
Synod  of  Salamanca,  demanded  that  the  Ignatian  exercise-book 
should  be  thoroughly  examined  previous  to  the  continuance  of 
the  exercises  being  permitted.     It  now  came  to  this,  in   spite  of 
the  great  influence  that  Father  Araoz  had  upon  Philip  II.,  that 
when  the  improprieties  of  the  Spanish  discipline  became  exposed 
to    the  light  of   day,  the  Inquisition  interfered  in  the   matter, 
and,  in  l.o70,  forbade  for  the  future  any  such  practices,  as  well 
especially  as  the  employment    of  rods  or  even  hands  in   the 
administration  of  the  discipline.    To  this  prohibition  the  Jesuits 
of  Marcia,  Toledo,  Seville,  Saragossa,  and  other  towns  in  which 
they  had  eolleges^or  other  houses,  replied  by  the  institution  of 
splendid  processions,  in  which    the   most   beautiful   women  in 
extraordinary  numbers  took  part,  all  being  barefoot  with  naked 
shoulders  and  legs,  some  being  in  such  a  coodition  of  primitive 
innocence  that  all  honest  matrons  who  still  retained  possession 
of  their  reason  scornfully  pointed  at  them  with  their  fingers. 
Moreover,  during  the  course  of  such  processions,  every  now  and 
then  a  halt  was  made,  and  then  the  ladies  uncovered  themselves 
still  more  in  order  to  allow  the  use  of  the  scourge.     In  short, 
indecency    now   attained  to   such    a  height,    and  the  Jesuits 
publicly  pushed  the  matter  so  far,  as  to  irritate  the  Inquisition  to 
the  uttennost. 

It  was  now  to  be  seen  who  would  prevail,  they  or  the 
Dominicans ;  and,  of  course,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  on  account  of 
the  extraordinary  influence  they  had  acquired  over  Philip  II., 
hoped  eventually  to  obtain  the  victory.  But,  behold,  in  a  short 
time  it  became  apparent  that  the  fearful  power  held  by  the 
Inquisition  was  incapable  by  any  means  of  being  overcome.  On 
the  contrary,  it  had  taken  such  deep  root  in  Spain   as  to  strike 


THE   SPIRITUAL  EXERCISES. 


311 


terror  into  the  heart  of  any  enemy  whatever ;  and,  consequently, 
the  sons  of  Loyola  came  to  the  opinion  that  it  was  better  to 
yield  at  once,  and  to  give  up  the  practices,  in  order  not,  in  the 
end,  to  lose  more  ground.     They,  therefore,  from  this  time  forth, 
renounced  the  flagellation  processions,  as  also  the  public  practice 
of  the  spiritual  exercises  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  received 
the  ladies  three  times  a  day  in  their  churches,  with  the  view  of 
administering    the   communion    to   them,    and   at   night   they 
secretly  opened  their  colleges  to  them,  in  order  that  the  consola- 
tion of  the  Spanish  discipline  might  still  not  be  wanting.     The 
whole  difference  then  consisted  in  this,  that  what  had  hitherto 
been  done  openly  and  publicly  was  now  practised  quietly  and 
secretly,  and  that  the  numbers  of  recipients  of  the  discipline 
became  somewhat  diminished,  because  the  intrusion  into  the 
Jesuit  colleges  at  the  hours  of  midnight  as  regarded  certain  un- 
married maidens  under  good  supervision,  and,  still  more,  married 
women,  was   attended  with  considerable  difficulties.     Notwith- 
standing this,  however,  very  many  still  came,  as  the  Jesuits  with 
much  pride  affirmed,*  and  thus,  considering  the  hour  at  which  the 
discipline  was  now  wont  to  be  administered,  the  scandal  became 
greatly  increased  instead  of  being  diminished.     In  France,  at 
that  time,  the  Jesuits  proceeded  in  the  wildest  manner  with  their 
flagellant  processions,   especially   during    the  period  that   the 
government  was  carried  on  by  Catherine  de  Medicis,  as  on  one 
occasion,  at  Avignon,  she  herself  headed  the  sodality  of  ladies, 
and   it   further   became   known   that   she   was   accustomed    to 
administer  the  discipline  to  the  younger  ladies  of  the  Court  with 
her  own  hands.     Her  son,  Henry  III.,  was  also  a  great  friend 
of  the  flagellant  processions,  and  regularly  made  his  appearance 
at  them  provided  with  his  rosary,  wax  candle,  crucifix,  rod,  and 
prayer-book.     Such  a  high  example  was,  of  course,  contagious, 
and  it  thus  became  easy  for  the  Jesuits  to  form  congregations 
and   sodalities  in  the  large  towns  where  they  possessed  esta- 
blishments    of    any   description.     In  this    respect  Lyons  and 
Toulons,   as  well   as  Avignon,   which   has   been  already  men- 
tioned, were  especially  distinguished,  but  Paris  itself  became 
still   more   zealous     than    all   of    them.      There  women    and 
maidens  were   almost  daily  to   be  seen  running  about  in  the 

•  Compare  with  the  Jesuit  work,  Imago  primi  Saculi  Soc.  Jesu,  Lib.  vi., 
cap.  i,  p.  739. 


312 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    SPIKITUAL   EXERCISES. 


313 


streets  with  nothing  on  them  hot  a  loose  garment,  and  with 
scourges  in  their  hands  ;  and  even  ladies  of  the  highest  rank,  as 
for  instance,  the  Duchesses  de  Guise,  de  Mercceur.  d'Aumale! 
d  Elbeuf,  and  others,  exhibited  themselves  in  a  state  o^  semi ' 
nudity,  in  order  to  show  the  example  to  the  other  women  of 
Pans.     On  the  other  hand,  nowhere  else  did  scorn  and  satire 
show  themselves  so  bitterly  as  in  Paris,  and  lampoons  made  their 
appearance  m  regular   showers,  in  which  the  Jesuit  exercises 
were  put  in  the  pillory.     For  this  reason  permission  was  very 
soon   granted   by   the  Jesuits   to  their  confessants,  especially 
among  those  of  high  rank,  to  have  their  faces  covered  during 
the  practice  of  the  spiritual  exercises,  and,  consequently,  masks 
were   alone  to  be  seen  in  the  later  processions ;    but  the  by- 
Standers,  of  whom  there  were  not  infrequently  some  hundreds  or 
thousands,  when  the  exercise  processions  appeared  in  the  streets 
guessed  who  the   different  persons  taking  part    in  them  were 
and  then  greeted  them  with  such  telling  and  stinging  wit  and 
ridicule,  that  the  penitents  might  well  have  wished  themselves 
anywhere  else.     On  this  account,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  cooling  down  in  respect  to  the  exercises  now 
set  m,  and  as  at  length,  under  Henry  IV.,  self-inflicted  punish- 
ment and  flogging,  and,  above  everything,  the  Spanish  discipline, 
with  all  Its  accompanying  improprieties,  came  to  be  strictly  for- 
bidden  by  the  Parliament,  under  a  severe  penalty,  this  fanatical 
bigotry  began  to  assume  narrower  dimensions,  and  eventually 
completely   vanished   from   sight  in   public.     But,    be   it   well 
understood,  in  public  merely ;  for  in  private,  within  four  walls, 
these  mystical  religious  exercises  continued  in  full  force,  and 
especially  in  the   south,    where  French  women  of  rank  would 
rather  have  given  up  everything  than  relinquish  the  stimulus  of 
the  rod  thus  applied. 

I  finally  come  now  to  speak  of  the  reception  which  the  book 
of  Spiritual  Exercises  met  with  in  Germany,  and  the  Chronique 
Bcandaleuse  of  Bavaria  reports  so  much  on  the  subject,  that 
one  might  easily  fill  more  than  one  chapter  about  it.  More- 
over,  the  women  of  Bavaria  and  Switzerland,  as  it  appears, 
acquired  such  a  peculiar  taste  for  allowing  themselves  to  be 
disciphned  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Spanish  manner,  that  it  was 
only  the  immense  confidence  which  married  men  and  fathers 
were  accustomed  to  place  in  the  piety  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 


which  makes  it  conceivable  how  the  practice  of  such  exercises 
did  not  completely  disturb  the  peace  of  families.  It  still,  never- 
theless, happened  here  and  there  that  a  Father  was  occasionally 
thrown  down  a  staircase  or  turned  out  of  the  house  in  some 
unpleasant  manner;  moreover,  the  popular  wit,  displayed  in 
certain  comic  songs  of  the  day,  showed  in  what  estimation  the 
secret  discipline  of  the  worthy  Fathers  was  held.  One  of  these 
songs,  indeed,  puts  the  following  words  in  the  mouth  of  one  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola  : — 

Komme  hinter  ihr  geschlichen 
Mit  dem  Monsieur  Birkenstrauas ; 

Kaach  das  Maüslein  abgestrichen, 
Werd'  auch,  was  da  woll'  daraus! 

Could  any  better  proof  be  required  as  to  the  way  in  which 
the  spiritual  exercises  were  brought  into  use  in  the  Fatherland, 
in  so  far  as  the  Jesuits  were  concerned  ?  And  what  was  the 
result  ?  One  instance  will  suffice  to  indicate  how  matters  fared 
amongst  the  fraternity  of  pious  Fathers. 

I  allude  to  the ''  Girard- Cadi  ere  "  affair,  or,  if  one  would  rather 
have  it,  the  scandalous  law-suit  between  the  Jesuit  doctor,  John 
Baptist  Girard,  and  the  maiden  Catherine  Cadiere,*  which 
caused  so  much  commotion  in  the  world  that  whole  folios  were 
written  concerning  it,  and  thousands  of  men  contended  with 
each  other  in  deadly  strife  regarding  its  issue.  And,  indeed,  it 
may  be  rightly  considered  that  never  was  there  a  case  which 
placed  the  despicable  proceedings  of  the  Jesuits  in  a  more 
glaring  light,  and  not  a  single  one  of  the  many  misdeeds  per- 
petrated by  the  sons  of  Loyola  has  administered  to  them  so 
severe  a  blow  as  this  very  Girard-Cadiöre  affair.  On  this 
account  the  reader  must  permit  me  to  narrate  the  story  some- 
what in  detail. 

Catherine  Cadi^re,  the  daughter  of  a  merchant  called  Joseph 
Cadiöre,  and  of  Elizabeth  his  wife,  me  Pomet,  was  bom  in 
Toulon  in  November  1710.  She  had  no  sisters,  but  only  three 
brothers,  one  of  whom  occupied  himself  with  mercantile  pursuits, 

♦  The  chief  work  regarding  this  trial  appeared  under  the  title  ÄecMetZ 
Q^niral  des  Pieces  concernant  le  Prods  entre  la  Demoiselle  Cadiere  et  fe  t'ere 
Girard,  comprising  not  less  than  eight  thick  octavo  volumes,  i^xtracts 
from  this  work,  moreover,  appeared  in  almost  all  the  languages  of  Europe 
and  engravings  were  made  by  amateurs  of  many  of  the  scenes,  and  these 
were  afterwards  collected  into  a  large  folio  volume. 


314 


HiSTOEt  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


XHS   SPIBITUAli   EXEBCISES. 


315 


a  second  joined  the  Order  of  Dominicans,  and  the  third  devoted 

forTh  V°.       T''  1-  ''"'"^y- '°  '''''  ^*'  ^«  fi"«d  h-atr 
lor  the  duties  of  an  ordinary  priest.     She  herself  remained  from 

fl  "^.  f  ^"""^^  "°*^"'  '^'  P"*^'"«'  ^°°*'  ""til  at  length  the 
lather  died  somewhat  prematurely,  leaving,  however,  behind  him 
a  considerable  amount  of  property,  and  consigning  her  to  the 
care  and  protecüon  of  Mother  Augapfel.  The  latter,  as  may  be 
supposed,  bestowed  every  possible  attention  on  the  education 
of  the  daughter,  and  the  beautiful  maiden,  rather  inclined  too 
much  to  devout  extravagance,  flourished  amazingly.  She  was 
simple  and  indolent,  full  of  excellent  qualities  both  of  heart  and 
mind,  being  distinguished  among  all  her  companions  for  gentle- 
ness and  maidenly  beauty. 

It  was  thus   with   Catherine   Cadiöre  when,  in  April  1728 
the  Jesuit  Father,  John  Baptist  Girard,  was  transferred  by  his 
superiors    to  Toulon,  in  order  to  conduct  there    the   Jesuit 
semmary  for  naval  preachers,  and  also  to  officiate  as  spiritual 
adviser  and  preacher  in  the  aforesaid  town.     After  a  short  üme 
a  change  now  came  over  the  beautiful  maid,  which  was  entirely 
indeed,  through  the  fault  of  the  said  Father  Girard.     Let  us 
now  «,nsider  this  man  a  little  more  in  detail.     Begarding  his 
early  youth  there  was  but  little  known,  and  the  same  may  be 
said  hkewise  as  to  his  parentage.      Still,  however,  it   appears 
hat  his  great-grandfather,  Balthasar  Girard  of  bad  reputefwas 
the  murderer  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.     He  entered  the  Order 
of  Jesuits  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and  ten  years  later,  in  the  year 
1/^1,  was  sent  to  the  island  of  Martinique  in  the  West  Indies 
m  order  to  contribute  his  assistance  to  the  missionary  work 
there.      He  appears,  however,  to  have  led  here  not  the  most 
correct  of  lives.     Before  the  world  he  particularly  put  on  all  the 
appearance  of  a  most  strictly  moral  man,  and  he  likewise  dis- 
tinguished  himself  by  his  great  eloquence,  and  was  also  con- 
p  cuous  otherwise  for  his  spiritual  endowments.     His  superiors, 
there  ore,  ,n  order  to  give  him  a  more  suitable  sphere  of  action 
transferred  h.m  to  the  town  of  Aix.  in  Provence!  and  there  h 

wise  judge   and  observer  of  human  nature;   consequently,  in 

the  year  1728,  he  was  advanced,  as  before  mentioned,  for  h^ 

ervices   to  be  ßector  of  the  seminary  in  Toulon.     Such  wl 

the    antecedents    of  Cadiere    and    Girard.      It    is   especially 


to  be  observed  regarding  Father  Girard,  that  from   the  first   ' 
day   of  his   residence   in  Toulon  not  a   syllable  was  breathed 
against  his  course  of   life,    and    to   all  appearance  he   seemed 
to   be   so   thoroughly   taken   up  with  his  religious   devotions, 
that  he  was   looked   upon   by   everyone   as   a  perfect  pattern 
of  respectability  and  virtue.     Besides  which,  he  displayed  such 
charming  eloquence,  and  at  the  same  time  presented  such  an 
agreeable  exterior,  that  all  flocked  to  listen  to  his  sermons  and 
attend  at  his  confessional.     He  especially  knew  how  to  make 
himself  beloved   by    the   ladies,   and  a  number  of  women  and 
maidens  selected  him  as  adviser  of  their  consciences.     This  con- 
fidence won  for  him  many  friends,  and  he  spoke  out  his  mind 
most  freely  to  every  beauty— strongly,  pathetically,  and  signifi- 
cantly.    He  thus  proceeded  cautiously  at  the  commencement. 
Moreover,    he    considered  it  to    be    more   prudent,  instead   of 
entering  the  house  openly  by  the  door,  to  make  his  advances 
with  subtlety,  until  he  had  duly  proved   the  ground  and  felt 
his  way.     After   proceeding  so  far,  however,  and,  discovering 
some  at  least  who  seemed  suited  to  answer  his  purposes,   he 
began   to  speak  of  the  spiritual  exercises,    and  now  his  little 
flock  became  desirous  of  atoning  for  their  past  sins,  and  he 
thus   apportioned  to   each    of    them   difierent   exercises  which 
might  prepare  them  for  the  crowning  act  of  all— to  wit,  the  dis- 
cipline.    All  went  on  now  beyond  expectation ;  as  he  proceeded, 
in  fact,  to  the  flogging  part  of  it  with  each  individual  penitent, 
all  submitted  to  the  operation  without  the  slightest  opposition. 
As  may  be  well  imagined,  on  the  first  few  occasions  he  permitted 
them  to  uncover  only  a  small  part  of  the  shoulders,  in  order 
that  his  victims  might  become  accustomed  to  the  kind  of  thing 
by  degrees,  and  only  after  about  a  month,  when  he  had  overcome 
with  much  trouble  the  inherent  sense  of  shame  in  them,  did  he 
require  them  to  submit  to  the  Spanish  discipline. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1729  Catherine  Oadi^re,  at- 
tracted by  his  great  reputation,  selected  father  Girard  as  her 
Confessor,  and  this  maiden,  distinguished  for  her  beauty  and 
corporeal  charms,  as  well  as  remarkable  for  her  simplicity  of 
heart  and  devotion,  and  almost  extravagant  piety,  came  into 
his  meshes.  One  day,  as  Cadiere  was  paying  him  a  visit  in 
the  refectory  of  his  seminary,  finding  her  m  a  peculiarly  yield- 
ing mood,  after  urgently  plying  her  with  soft  reproaches  for  not 


316 


HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    SPIRITUAL   EXERCISES. 


317 


having  visited  him  during  several  days,  he  bent  over  her,  and 
implanted  on  her  mouth  a  gentle  kiss.     He  then  besought  her 
to  follow  him  into  the  con  Sessional,  and  after  making  minute 
inquiry  thereinto  all  her  dispositions,  affections,  and  inclinations, 
he  directed    her   to  communicate   every   day   in    the   different 
churches  of  the  town,  and  prognosticated  for  her  that  she  would 
presently  be  favoured  by  heavenly  appearances  and  visions,  and 
after  stretching  her  imagination  to  the  utmost,  he  dismissed  her 
at  last  under  the  promise  that  she  would  daily   unreservedly 
communicate  to  him  a  most  accurate  report  concerning  herself. 
Cadiere  strictly  obeyed.     She  went  every  day  to  take  the  com- 
munion, conjoining   thereto   long   prayers,  as  well   as   almost 
excessive  fastings,  precisely  as  her  Father  Confessor  had  pre- 
scribed for  her.     The  nervous  system  consequently  soon  became 
over  excited ;  in  other  words,  she  fell  into  a  condition  of  hysteria, 
in  which  state  she  at  one  time  saw  heavenly,  and,  at  another, 
infernal  visions,  whereby  her  blood  became  more  heated,  her  fancy 
more  confused,  and  her  thoughts  more  elastic.     It  thus  came  so 
far  as  this,  that  she  complained  to  the  Father  that  her  whole  soul 
was  so  fired  with  holy  love  fur  him  that  she  could  no  longer  pray 
aloud,  and  that  she  suffered  from  such  very  frightful  torments, 
of  which  she  could  not  divine  the  cause.     Girard  quieted  her  in 
this  way  :  "  Prayer,*'  he  told  her,  "  is  only  a  means  of  attaining 
to  God ;  when  one  has  once  attained  to  Him,  and  has  become 
united  to  Him,  then  this  is  no  longer  necessary.      The  love, 
however,  which  you  bear  in  your  heart  to  me,  need  not  occasion 
you  any  trouble,  as  the  good  God  wills  it  that  we  should  be 
united  to  one  another ;  I  bear  you  in  my  lap  and  heart,  and  you 
are  nothing  else  than  a  soul  within  me,  indeed  the  soul  of  my 
soul."     With  these  words  he  fervently  kissed  her  on  the  mouth. 
In  the  meantime,  while  the  praying,  fasting,  and  communicating 
were  going  on  with  ever-increasing  zeal  and  fervour,  her  con- 
dition became  continually  still  more  and  more  disturbed,  and  she 
was  now  not  unfrequently  seized  with  cramps  and  fainting  fits, 
as  also,  moreover,    all  those  indications  set  in   which  usually 
accompany  somnambulism.     Her  visions  now  increased  in  fre- 
quency, and  she  often  conducted  herself  like  one  possessed,  and 
on  these  occasions  broke  out  into  fits  of  cursing  and  reviling, 
and  it  was  only  when  Girard  approached  her  couch  that  she 
became  pacified,  as  he  alone  possessed  the  requisite  influence 


over  her  spirit,   and  consequently  the   Confessor  had   always 
unimpeded  access  into  the  house  of  Cadiöre.     During  one  of  her 
attacks,   Cadiere    one   day   conceived  an  impression   that   she 
saw  before  her  the  soul  of  a  mortal  sinner,  and  at  the  same  time 
she  heard  these  words,  *'  When  thou  wilt  save  me  from  this 
state,  thou  must  allow  thyself  to  be  taken  possession  of  for  a 
whole  year  by  Satan."    Upon  this  the  maiden  became  immensely 
terrified,    and  at   once   made,  a   report   of    the   vision    to    her 
Confessor,  begging,  at  the  same  time,  his  assistance  against  such 
evident  Satanic  vexation.    But  what  did  he  now  do  ?     Instead  of 
pacifying  her,  he  distinctly  declared  to  her  that  it  was  her  duty 
to  save  this  soul,  and  that  she  must,  therefore,  give  herself  up  to 
Satan  for  a  year  ;  indeed,  he  urged  her  to  it  so  vehemently  that 
she  gave  her  consent  to  everything,  and  swore,  with  a  holy  oath, 
according  to  the  following  formulary :  "  I  submit  myself,  and 
am  ready  to  say,  do,  and  suffer  everything  that  may  be  required 
of  me."     From  this  time  forth— it  was  towards  the  end  of  the 
year  1729— the  poor  child  imagined  herself  completely  in  the 
power   of  Satan,    and   in   this  state  frequently  broke  out  into 
most  horrible  reviling  and   cursing,   so  that   her  mother   and 
brother  were  terrified  about  it.     But  another  far  more  important 
result   was   that   the   beautiful   maid,   in  consequence,   greatly 
suffered  in  health,  owing  to  these  attacks,  and  was  obliged  to 
keep   to   her  bed,    or  at   all  events  to    her   room,  during   the 
whole  time,  and  that  thereby  Father  Girard  had  the  opportunity 
of  remaining  alone  with  his  penitent,  not  for  a  quarter  or  half  an 
hour,  merely,  at  a  time,  but  for  the  whole  day,  from  eariy  in  the 
morning  until  late  at  night.     He  alone,  and  no  other,  had  any 
power  over  her   and  the  Devil ;  could,  then,  access  be  denied 
to  him  at  any  time  ?     Besides,  was  he  not  generally  considered 
to  be  a  demi-saint,  especially  by  the  mother  of  the  patient,  a  very 
piously  disposed  and  bigoted  woman  ?     It  would,  indeed,  verily 
be  looked  upon  as  a  deadly  sin  to  think  any  evil  of  him ;  and, 
consequently,  it  was  permitted  to  him  at  all  times  to  come  to  the 
poor  Cadiere  without  the   least   let  or  hindrance,  in  order   to 
enable  him  to  prevail  over  the  exorcisms  of  Satan.     When  he 
happened  to  be  with  her,  the  door  was  immediately  locked  upon 
them,  and  no  one,  not  even  the  nearest  relation,  was  allowed 
to  open  it  until  he  considered  it  proper  to  allow  it. 

We  draw  a  veil  over  the  remainder  of  the  story,  and  pass  on  to 


818 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


If 


the  penod  when  the  wretched  girl  was  taken  to  the  cloister  of 
St.   Clara  at  Ollioiiles,  on  the  6th  of  Julv  1730.     Who  could 
now  he  a  happier  man  than  Father  Girard  ?     His  joy  however 
soon   turned   out   to   he    of  hut   short   duration,  as 'we    shall 
presently   find.     Girard    allowed    the    first    fourteen    days    to 
pass   without   visiting   his  heloved   one;    he  personallv,  then 
appeared   at    the    cloister,    and    easily    contrived   to    persuade 
the   Ahhess    to    allow    him    to   see    Cadi^re,    and    enter    into 
correspondence   with   her.      Of    this   permission   he   took   the 
fullest  advantage,  and,  upon  the  pretext  of  hearing  her  con- 
fession,  remained  for  many  hours  with  her.     He  was  still    how- 
ever,  very  circumspect  at  first,  although  all  his  letters  ahounded  in 
extravagantly  loving  expressions,  containing  hits  of  moral  teach- 
mg  and  spiritual  advice  "  for  his  dear  child  favoured  hy  God  " 

So  matters  went   on  to  the  holy  Father's   taste  for  a  con- 
siderahle  period ;  hut   at   length,   the  continuance  of  the  love 
affair  hemg  now  no  longer  practicahle   in   Ollioules.  he   con- 
sequently  suddenly  declared    that   as  Cadi^re   had    now   suffi- 
cient ly    henefited   humanity   hy   her   holv   manner    of    life   in 
the  cloister  of  St.  Clara,  as  well  as  in  Toulon,  it  was  now  time 
she  should  be  transferred  to  another  cloister,  in  order  that  it 
also  might   enjoy   the   fruits  of  her  holiness.     He,    therefore, 
selected  a  cloister  of  the  Carthusian  nuns  at  Premola,  near  Lyons 
as  the  next  abode  of  the  novice,  and  made  arrangements  for 
her  transfer  there  within  the  next  few  days.     In  the  meantime 
however   the  Abbess,  having  ascertained  what  had  been  goin? 
on  speedily  informed  the  Bishop  of  Lyons  of  everything  that 
had   taken  place,  and  he    at  once  ordered  Cadiöre  to   remain 
where  she  was.     He,  furthermore,  forbade  her  from  emploving 
Father  Gerard  any  longer  as  her   Confessor,  and,  at  the  same 
time  prohibited  the  latter  from  ever  again  entering  the  cloister 
01  bt.   Clara.     He  also,  some  days  afterwards,  charged  Ahh6 
Camerle  to  convey  Cadiere,  for  her  greater  security,  in  a  carriage 
to  the  country  house  of  Monsieur  Panque,  not  far  from  Toulon 
he  being  a  near  relative  of  his.     Lastly,  he  appointed  Fathe^ 
Niclas.  Prior  of  the  Carmelite  cloister  of  Lyons,  to  discharge  the 
duty  of  Confessor  to  Cadi^re,  with  instructions  to  watch  her  as 
carefully  as  possible  for  the  future.     An  ungovernable  rage  now 
seized  upon  Father  Girard  when  he  got  tidings  of  the  Bishop's 
regulations;  still  greater,  however,  was  his  fright,  as  he  imagined 


THfi   SPIEITUAL   EXERCISES. 


819 


that  Cadiere  might  already  have  made  a  full  confession.     How- 
ever, he  soon    regained  his  .  usual  presence  of  mind,   and   at 
once  despatched  one  of  his  hitherto  trusted  friends,  Mademoiselle 
Gravier,  to  Cadiere  at  the  country  house  of  Panque,  partly  to 
find  out  exactly  what  had  taken  place,  and  partly  in  order  to  get 
away  the  many  letters  he  had  written  to  her.     This  latter  was 
for  him  a  matter  of  life  and  death,  as,  supposing  the  amorous 
correspondence  were  found,  the  disgraceful  relationship  between 
them  would  come  to  light,  and,  on  this  account,  he  had  selected 
Gravier  particularly  as  his  ambassadress,  as  Cadiöre  had  com- 
plete confidence  in  her.     The  mission,  in  fact,  succeeded  beyond 
all  expectation,  for  not  only  did  Gravier  obtain  possession  of  all 
the  desired  letters,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  which  still  re- 
mained in  a  box  at  Ollioules,  but  Cadiöre,  in  order  to  please  her 
beloved  Confessor,  delivered  to  her  also  the  whole  of  the  mysti- 
fied and  unmystified  writings,  by  the  reading  of  which  she  had 
formerly  been  attracted  by  him.   Girard  now  felt  as  if  he  had  been 
newly  born.    He  had  in  his  possession  the  chief  corpus  delicti,  and 
anything  which  might  be  verbally  said  against  him  he  could 
deny.     Who,  then,  could  do  him  any  serious  harm  ?     But  this 
time  it  happened  otherwise.     The  new  Father  Confessor  soon  had 
reason  to  surmise  what  had  been  the  true  relationship  which  had 
subsisted  between  the  Jesuit  and  his  confessant,  and  this  suspicion 
soon  found  confirmation  in  the  fact  that  Cadiere  several  times 
secretly  left  the  country  house  by  night,  in  order  to  visit,  in  the 
Jesuit  seminary  at  Toulon,   her  fondly-loved  former  Confessor. 
On  this  account,  he  pursued  an  investigation  of  the  matter  still 
further,  with  much  assiduity,  and,  by  his  strong  remonstrances, 
brought  it  to  this  point  at  last,  that  the  maid  at  length  revealed  to 
him  the  whole  secret  of  this  shameful  transaction.  He  was,  indeed, 
truly  horrified  at  such  wickedness  in  a  priest  of  the  Lord  ;  and  in 
one,'  moreover,  who  had  passed  for  being  so  holy,  he  would  have 
considered  it  to  bo  quite  impossible.     He,  of  course,  at  once 
laid  the  whole  matter  before  the  Bishop,  who  forthwith  himself 
hastened  to  the  country  house  in  person,  in  order  to   obtain 
confirmation  of  the  shameful  transaction  from  the  lips  of  the 
wrongdoer  herself.     What  a  horror !     The  Bishop,  of  course, 
swore  to  avenge  the  insulted  Church,  and  to  free  the  town  of 
Toulon   from  this  voracious  wolf.      But  Cadiere,  overwhelmed 
with  tears,  besought  him  on  her  knees,  for  the  honour  of  herself 


320 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


and  family,  to  throw  a  veil  of  silence  over  the  past,  and  her 
brother,  the  Dominican,  whom  she  had  brought  along  with  her 
as  a  witness,  also  entreated  the  Bishop  with  the  same  object. 
Added  to  all  this  were  the  representations  of  the  Abbe  Camerle, 
who  brought  the  Bishop  to  be  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  such 
a  terrible  scandal  to  the  whole  of  Christendom,  were  the  affair 
to  become  publicly  known,  that  it  would  be  wiser  not  to  allow 
justice,  for  this  time,  to  take  its  course.     The  Bishop,  in  short, 
was  soon  made  to  depart  from  his  original  intention,  and  at  last 
promised    to   consign  the  whole    hideous   story  to  everlasting 
oblivion.     He  could  not,  however,  bring  himself  to  allow  Father 
Girard  to  continue  to  act  any  longer  as  spiritual  guide,   and, 
consequently  commissioned  Father  Niclas,  the  prior  of  the  Car- 
melites, along  with  Father  Cadi^re,  the  Dominican,  to  undertake 
the  spiritual  supervision  of  the  whole  of  the  confessants  of  Father 
Girard.     It  seemed  now  that  the  whole  of  this  frightful  crimd 
was  to  be  buried  in  everlasting  oblivion,  and  it  would  most  cer- 
tainly have  so  happened  had  it  not  been   for  the    boundless 
spiritual  arrogance  of  the  Jesuits. 

They  could  not  at  all  brook  the  idea  that  their  Rector,  hitherto 
regarded  as  being  so  holy,  should  in  future  be  debarred  from 
hearing  confessions,  and  he  himself  hurled  fire  and  flames  at 
the  notion  of  a  separation  from  those  who  had,  up  to  this  time, 
been  his  confessing  daughters.     The  town  of  Toulon  was,  more- 
over, overrun  with  all  kinds  of  reports  as  to  what  had  taken 
place,  and  these  latter  did  not,  assuredly,  at  all  redound  to  the 
credit  of  the  sons  of  Loyola.     Lastly,  who  could  guarantee  that 
Cadiöre  herself  might  not,  sooner  or  later,  reveal  the  matter,  or 
come  forward  with  a  complaint  ?     Something,  therefore,  must  be 
publicly  done,  in  order  to  make  the    Society  of  Jesus  secure 
against  all  injury,  and  such  could  best  be  effected  bycausina:  the 
confessant  of  Girard  to  be  judicially,  but  in  a  very  partial   and 
summary  manner,  condemned  as  a  liar  and  calumniator. 

Thus  did  the  Jesuits  reason  with  themselves,  especinlly  so 
Fathers  Girard  and  Sabathir ;  indeed,  as  regards  the  former,  his 
very  existence  being  now  at  stake,  and  love  being  now  blown  to 
the  winds,  there  remained  nothing  else,  in  his  case,  but  Jesuitical 
arrogance,  more  especially  as  the  latter  was  to  play  the  principal 
part  in  the  trial.  The  black-cloaked  fraternity,  backed  as  they 
were  by  the  Bishop's  official,  who  was  his  vicar  in  all  secular 


THE    SPIKITÜAL   EXEECISES. 


321 


judicial   affairs,    hoped  that,   as    the   ordained   criminal  court 
in   ecclesiastical    matters   was   completely  favourable   to  them, 
they   might  with    facility    obtain    the   sentence  they    desired. 
Accordingly,    after  a   consultation    with   their    adherents,    they 
suddenly  declared  to  the  Bishop  that  they  felt  themselves  quite 
unable  to  reconcile  themselves  to  the  policy  of  silence  ordained 
by  him,  and  they,  at  the  same  time,  handed  over  to   the  Epi- 
scopal Ecclesiastical  Court  a  well  drawn-up  document  in  which 
they   strenuously   called    for   the   most    minute    investigation. 
"  Either,"  said  they,  in  this  memorial,  "  Father  Girard  has  com- 
mitted the  crime  of  which  he  has  been  accused,  in  which  case 
he  should  receive  the  severest  punishment,  or  he  has  not  done 
so,  when  his  accuser  must  be  put  down  as  a  thoroughly  depraved 
calumniator."     Urged  in  this  manner,   the  Bishop  ordered  his 
official  to  proceed,  as  in  duty  bound,  and  the  latter  at  once 
commenced  the  investigation  by  the  interrogation  of  Cadiöre, 
of  her    brother   the  Dominican,    and   of    her   then    Confessor 
the  prior  of  the  Carmelites.     In  this  respect  he  went  to  work 
with   great  partiality,   as    it   will   afterwards   be    proved    that, 
the  declarations  of  the  three  under  examination  were  either  not 
accepted  at  all,  or,  what  was  worse,  were  recorded  most  inaccu- 
rately, and,  moreover,  Cadiere,  from  a  feeling  of  shame,  became 
conlused  in  her  replies;     The  commencement  of  the  process  in 
this  way  proved  to  be  very  favourable  for  Girard,  as,   also,  did 
the   next   stage  in    the   proceeding.      After  .the    first  hearing 
by  the    official,  the   business   came    on   before    the    criminal 
court,  which   thereupon   made  itself  acquainted  with   the   so- 
called    "  S2)ecies  JacU;'    that    is    to    say,    the    documentary 
evidence  which  could  be  adduced  by  the  complainant.    None 
was  forthcoming,   however,   with  the  exception  of  five  letters, 
three  of  which  were  directed  to  the  Abbess  of  Ollioules,  and  two 
to  Cadiere  herself,  the  wily  Father  having  contrived,  as  before 
stated,  to  have  the  others  destroyed.  Upon  this^  the  hearing  of  the 
witnesses  was  now  proceeded  with,  and  here  also  was  but  little 
brought  to  light  very  damaging  to  the  pious  Father,  because 
the  judges  stood  in  the  most  intimate  relationship  to  the  Jesuits, 
and  the  declarations  inimical  to  Girard  were  consequently  gone 
into  very  superficially,  or  designedly  drawn  up  and  modified. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  statements  previously  obtained  by  the 
Jesuits,  through  bribery,  and  fabricated,  of  course,  in  favour  of 

21 


S22 


HISTOKY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


the  Father,  were     dwelt  upon  in  detail,  and,  more  especially, 
the  statements  of  the  Rector's  former  confessor,  which,    as   a 
•matter    of   course,    abounded     in    declarations    favourable   to 
Girard's  reputation  for  godliness  and  morality,  were  most  care- 
fully noted.     In  short,  the  court  of  justice  did  not  even  refrain 
from  illegal  acts,  and,  in  order  that  no  trick  or  artifice  might  be 
forgotten   or   omitted,   the  judges  assembled  every  evening  in 
the  seminary  of  the  Jesuits,  where,  together  with  Fathers  Girard 
•and  Sabathiere,  they  concocted  everything  that  should  be  pro- 
duced next  day.     At  length  they  carried  the  matter  so  far  as 
to  convey  Cadiere  herself  into  the  Ursuline  convent  in  Toulon, 
over  which  the  Jesuits  had  the  right  of  supervision,  and  they 
then,  in  order  to  make  her  life  as  miserable  as  possible,  con- 
fined her  in  a  room  where  a  lunatic  had  shortly  before  died,  and 
where  the  smell  and  foulness  of  the  air  was  quite  pestilential,  a 
bundle  of  foul  straw  being  all. that  she  had  for  a  bed.     In  order, 
indeed,  that  her  measure  might    be    fall,   the   Ursuline  nuns 
were  brought  forward  as  witnesses  against  her,  and  swore  that 
everything    that  she    had    hitherto    alleged  was  nothing  more 
than  falsehood  and  calumny,  and  that,  without  doubt,  she  had 
been  bribed  by  the  enemies  of  Loyola  in  order  to  do  them  an 
injury.     In  spite  of  all,  however,  the  matter  did  not  come  so 
speedily   to   a   termination   as   the   Jesuits  imagined.     On  the 
contrary,   it   attracted   such    an   immense    interest    throughout 
the  whole    of    France,  that    the  King,  at  the  request  of    his 
Council  of  State,  ordered  the  strictest  investigation  to  be  made 
into  it,  and  entrusted  the  conduct  thereof  to  the  Supreme  Court 
ofAix.     The  aff'air   now  entered  upon  a  new  phase,   and  the 
whole   civilised  world  watched  its   progress   with  the   greatest 
anxiety.     The  Jesuits,  however,  now  seeing  that  it  was  to  them 
a  matter  of  life  and  death,  called  up  the  whole  influence  that  the 
Society  could  muster  in  order  to  obtain  a  favourable  result  for 
themselves,  and  were  so  unsparing  in  their  expenditure  of  money 
in  bribes  to  the  judges  and  witnesses,  that  it  amounted  to  more 
than  a  million  of  francs.     Whatever  intelligence,  cunning,  and 
wickedness  could  efibct  was  devised,  and  the  perjuries  perpetrated 
were  to  be  counted   by  hundreds.*     Father  Girard  ostensibly 

*  Whoever  is  interested  as  to  the  details  of  this  trial,  and  especially  as  to 
the  web  of  Jesuit  deceit,  let  him  read  the  first  volume  of  the  work,  Process 
zwischen  dem  Pater  Girard^  S.J.t  Rectoris  des  iSeminarii  de  la  Marine  du  Toulon 
^nd  dsr  Jungfer  Cadilrt.    Coin,  1732. 


THE   SPIEITUAL   EXEECISES. 


823 


produced  before  the  court  all  the  letters  which  he  had  for- 
merly written  to  Cadidre  but  they  were  not  the  identical  ones, 
being  specially  fabricated  and  antedated,  and  accordingly 
breathing  nothing  but  solicitude  for  the  well-being  of  his 
confessant.  Witnesses  came  forward  who  accused  the  Prior  of 
the  Carmelites  and  the  Dominican  Father  Cadiäre  of  having 
formed  a  conspiracy  against  Father  Girard,  and  of  having 
pledged  themselves  to  ruin  him,  as  well  as  the  Order  of 
Jesus,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  by  the  trumped-up  false- 
hoods of  Catherine  Cadiere.  The  nuns  of  OUioules  were  so 
worked  upon  that  they  retracted  all  that  they  had  laid  at 
the  door  of  Father  Girard,  and,  on  the  contrary,  made  out 
Cadiere  to  be  a  person  unworthy  and  abandoned,  who  had  tried 
to  seduce  the  worthy  Father.  Cadiere  herself  was  particularly 
tortured  and  tormented,  both  physically  and  morally,  in  a  most 
barbarous  way,  and  threatened  with  eternal  ruin  and  deprivation 
of  all  spiritual  consolation  if  she  did  not  at  once  sign  a  declara- 
tion that  the  accusation  which  she  had  made  against  Father 
Girard  was  a  falsehood  and  a  calumny.  She  was,  indeed,  formally 
exorcised  before  a  number  of  ecclesiastical  and  other  witnesses, 
and  so  depressed  by  maltreatment  and  attempts  at  casting  out 
of  the  devil,  that  she  fell  into  a  faint  of  several  hours  duration. 
She  was,  lastly,  subjected  for  three  days,  viz.  the  25th,  26th, 
and  27th  of  February  1731,  to  an  uninterrupted  course  of 
interrogation  from  morning  till  night,  and  it  was  hoped  thus 
to  coniuse  her  by  putting  cross  and  crooked  questions,  while 
by  the  exceptionable  means  of  suggestion  she  might  be 
brought  to  contradict  herself  or  be  shown  to  be  mentally 
incapable.  On  the  first  day  she  remained  stedfast  to  her 
former  declarations,  and  distinctly  recapitulated,  in  clear  un- 
doubtful words,  all  the  shameful  proceedings  that  had  taken 
place  between  herself  and  Father  Girard.  She  did  so  as  well 
on  the  second  day,  without  losing  her  presence  of  mind. 
On  the  third  day,  however,  according  to  a  statement  made 
by  a  daughter  of  a  widow,  by  name  Guiol,  who  had  a  hand  in 
the  affair,  a  narcotic  drug  was  given  to  her  in  her  breakfast 
by  her  attendant,  the  action  of  which  was  so  potent  that  she 
was- for  some  time  unable  even  to  recognise  her  own  mother. 
On  this  account  an  application  was  at  once  made  to  the  court 
for  an  investigation  into   the  treatment  she  had  experienced  i 

21  • 


324 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


but  this  petition  met  with  no  attention,  and  the  inquiry  pro- 
ceeded further  without  interruption,  after  the  poor  creature  had 
in  some  measure  regained  her  senses.     The  result  was  that  she, 
whose  mind  had  been  already  unhinged  by  constant  ill-treatment, 
threats,  reproaches,  and  intimidation,  as  also  by  the  stupilying 
effects  of  the  drug  before  mentioned,  became  still  more  confused, 
so  much  so,  I  affirm,  that,  after  long  and  strenuous  remonstrance, 
she  recanted  not  only  all  that  she  had  previously  advanced  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  Jesuit  Girard,  but   also  on  the  question 
being  put  to  her  as  to  who  had  instigated  her  to  invent  such  a 
tissue  of  untruths,  replied  that  ''Father  Niclas,"  the  Prior  of  the 
Carmelites,  was  the  originator  of  the  whole  scandal,  and  that 
it  was  he  alone  who  had  persuaded  her  to  proceed  legally  against 
her  former  Father  Confessor.     What  rejoicing  now  arose  among 
the  Jesuits  when  this  confession  came  from  the  lips  of  Cadi^re  ! 
At  last,  after  they  had  striven   for  months  past,  with  such  an 
infinity  of  trouble,  and  such  an  immense  expenditure  of  money, 
the  innocence  of  Girard  and  the  saving  of  the  honour  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  might  be  published  to  the  world  !     Still,  how- 
ever, the  matter  did  not  by  any  means  proceed  so  quickly.     The 
court    of   justice,    indeed,  ordered    the  immediate    transfer   of 
Cadiere  into  the  cloister  of  the  Visitation  in  Aix,  in  order  that 
she  might  be  kept  there  in  strict  seclusion  until  the  sentence 
was  promulgated.     So  far  well ;  and  it  might,  too,   be  foreseen 
very  well,  as  a  certainty,  that  this  said  sentence  would  be  made 
as  severe  for  the  female  calumniator  as  lor  the  co-conspirator, 
the   Prior   of    the    Carmelites.     It   was    a  pity,    however,  that 
Cadiere,    as   soon   as   she    had    regained    her  senses,    averred 
that   her   last   confession    had  been  absolutely   false,  and  was 
obtained  from  her  simply  by  compulsion,  and  everyone  of  any 
intelligence  gave  credence  to  her  in  this  respect.      Noth with- 
standing, however,  that  Father  Girard,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
strenuously  denied  with  a   bold  face  all  the  proceedings  with 
Cadiere  imputed  to  him,  as  well  as  all  the  grave  charges  that 
had  been  especially  advanced  against  him,  he  could  not  alto- 
gether hold  his  own,  as  several  of  the  witnesses  stedfastly  adhered 
to  the  evidence  they  had  already  given;  some  few  of  them,  at  least, 
testified  to   the   truth   of  what   Cadiere   had   brought  forward 
against  him,  and  those  few  already  threw  quite  an  extraordinary 
Ught  upon  the  affair.     He  thus  ultimately  was  induced  to  adiuii 


THE   SPIRITUAL   EXERCISES. 


325 


that  his  confessant  had  for  a  long  time  suffered  from  hysterical 
attacks,  by  which  she  was  deprived  of  consciousness  for  hours 
together,  and  that  he  had  shut  himself  up  with  her  alone 
during  all  this  time.  He  further  acknowledged  that  he  had 
administered  the  Spanish  discipline  to  her. 

All  this  did  he,  indeed,  confess,  being  unable  altogether 
to  deny  the  testimony  brought  forward  against  him,  as  his 
understanding  told  him  that  he  must  not  make  himself  suspected 
by  being  too  obstinate.  He  affirmed  that  he  had  the  right,  so 
to  speak,  of  interpreting  his  deeds  and  actions,  as  well  as  his 
own  words,  and  was  thus  consequently  in  a  position  to  make 
them  out  to  be  as  innocent  as  possible.  But  he  might  say  what 
he  liked,  in  what  he  himself  acknowledged  was  there  not  a  clear 
admission  that  he  must  have  stood  on  a  peculiariy  confidential 
footing  with  his  confessant?  On  such  terms,  indeed,  as  were 
evidently  entirely  contrary  to  all  decorum. 

It  was  thus,  then,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  there  was  hardly 

anyone  in  the  lay  world  who    looked   upon  Father  Girard  as 

innocent,  and,   on   that   account,    credence  was  even  given  to 

Cadiere,  as,  by  a  solemn  protest  made  on  oath,  she  cancelled  all 

the  proceedings  which  had  taken  place  during  her  tljird  hearing, 

affirming  that  the  pure  truth  was  only  contained  in  her  first 

confession.     Still  further,  indeed,  as  Cadiere,  by  the  advice  of 

her  advocate,  now  complained  to  the  Council  of  State  regard- 

ing  the  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  justice,   and  appealed  claiming 

a  reversion  to  the  former  mode  of  investigation  ;   her  petition 

was    at    once   complied    with,    and    the    Parliament    of    Aix 

decided    to    refer    the    case    for    final    determination    to    the 

last  court  of   appeal.     The  trial  thus  began  afresh  from    the 

commencement,     and    the    Jesuits    then   incessantly    used   all 

their  influence   in   order  to    bias   the    new   judges    in    their 

favour.     Repeatedly  did   their  friends,   both  male  and   female, 

work  upon   the   members   of  Parliament,   repeatedly   did   they 

make   use   of  threats   of    eternal    punishment,   repeatedly    did 

they  employ     gold    in    such    quantities     that,    to    the     vast 

amount  already  expended,  yet  another  million  was  added      In 

this  manner,  in  fact,  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  win  tlie   judges 

over  to  their  side,  and  another  great  advantage  that  they  had 

was  that  the  celebrated  advocate,  Thorame,  was  retained  by  them 

to  plead  for  Girard  before  the  Court     They,  moreover,  dared  to 


326 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


reckon  upon  the  Procurator- General  for  tbemselves,  as  also  tbe 
Chief  Attorney  of  State,  and  secretly,  too,  even  the  president  of 
the  court  sold  himself  to  them,  body  and  soul.  Under  these 
circumstances,  then,  they  might  well  calculate  upon  a  favourable 
termination  to  the  case,  more  especially,  also,  as  Cadiöre  could 
neither  command  many  friends  nor  much  money.  One  thing, 
however,  had  been  forgotten  by  the  sons  of  Loyola — that  is,  the 
sense  of  justice,  which  can  never  die  out  from  the  mind  of  man, 
and  it  was  this  feeling  that  obtained  for  Cadiöre  such  a  distin- 
guished advocate  as  Chaudon,  who,  if  he  did  not  excel  Thorame 
in  acumen  and  craft,  was,  at  all  events,  his  superior  as  regards 
knowledge  and  skill,  and  thus  prevented,  at  least,  all  of  the  judges, 
or  even  a  majority  of  them,  from  being  blinded  by  the  gold  of 
the  Girard  party.  T  shall  not  now  dwell  any  longer  on  the 
particulars  of  this  scandalous  story,  most  scandalous,  indeed,  in 
more  ways  than  one,  but  hasten  to  bring  it  to  a  conclusion.  On 
the  11th  of  September  1731,  Thorame,  Father  Girard 's  advocate, 
made  this  proposition,  "  That  Cadi^re  should  be  sentenced  in  the 
first  place  to  do  penance  before  the  Church  of  St.  Salvador,  and 
then  be  hanged  and  strangled.*'  This  sentence  was,  however, 
peremptorily  rejected  by  far  the  greater  majority  of  votes  of  the 
members  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  which  consisted  of  twenty-five. 
A  counter  proposition  on  the  part  of  Chaudon  ran  thus,  **  That 
Father  Girard  should  be  sentenced  to  death  for  having  been 
completely  proved  guilty  of  ecclesiastical  incest,  as  well  as  of 
the  degradation  of  his  priestly  office,  by  repeated  crimes  against 
morality,*'  and  not  fewer  than  twelve  judges  voted  for  it ;  one 
was,  therefore,  wanting  in  order  to  constitute  this  to  be  the 
conclusion  come  to  by  the  Court.  The  other  twelve  judges 
agreed  upon  a  third  proposition,  of  the  nature  of  a  compromise, 
which  ran  as  follows  :  "  That  Father  Girard,  in  consideration  of 
the  evident  imbecility  of  mind  that  had  come  upon  him,  and 
which  had  made  him  to  be  an  object  of  derision  to  his  confess- 
ants,  should  be  acquitted  of  the  gravamen  of  the  crime  and 
misdemeanor  laid  to  his  charge,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  should 
be  dealt  with  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Court ;  secondly,  that  Cadiöre 
should  be  given  over  free  to  her  mother,  with  the  sole  penalty  of 
bearing  the  expenses  incurred  by  the  Criminal  Lieutenant  of 
Toulon,  but  without  interest  on  former  costs;  thirdly,  thatNiclas, 
the  Prior  of  the  Carmelites,  as  well  as  Gadiire'f  ^r^ther,  both 


THE   SPIBITUAL  EXERCISES. 


327 


of  whom  had  been  accused  of  conspiracy  against  Girard,  should 
be  acquitted  and  released  from  prison  ;  fourthly  and  lastly,  that 
the  documents,  which  had  been  drawn  up  for  the  parties,  so  far 
as  they  might  be  prejudicial  to  the  honour  of  the  Church,  should 
be  tarn  up  and  destroyed  by  the  chief  clerk  of  the  Court."      As 
regards  the  second   and  third   propositions,   then,  the  former 
was  rejected,  while  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  the  votes  being 
equally  divided,  it  rested  with  the  casting  vote  of  the  President; 
he,  however,  being  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  voted,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  for  the  latter,  and  accordingly  the  above-mentioned  com- 
promise, which  allowed  all  the  parties  to  go  free,  was  passed,  as  the 
decision  come  to  bv  the  Court.    Some  of  the  judges,  indeed,  being 
strongly  biased  in  favour  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  were  of  opinion 
that  it  was  right  that  some  sort  of  punishment,  at  least,  should  be 
inflicted  on  Cadi^re,  in  order  that  she  might  not  be  able  to  boast 
of  having  completely  escaped   scot-free,  but   the    rest  of  the 
members   of  Parliament   were   not  in  the  least   to   be   moved. 
"What!"  said  one  of  them,  full  of  indignation,  "we  have  just 
acquitted  a  man  who  is  perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  criminals  in 
the  worid,  and  are  we  to  assign  the  least  punishment  to  this 
poor  giri  ?    Bather  let  this  palace  be  consumed  by  fire,  and  our- 
selves buried  in  the  ruins."   These  stirring  words  took  eff*ect,  and 
Cadiöre  was  released  out  of  prison.     So  ended  the  case  of  Girard 
V  Cadiöre,  which  caused  such  an  enormous  sensation  throughout 
the  whole  of  Europe.     It  terminated,  according  to  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence,  without  result,  and  still,  what  an  uncommonly 
clear  signification  lay  therein.     And  why  ?     Had  not  the  Order 
of  Jesus  accused  Cadiöre  and  her  brother,  along  with  the  Prior 
of  the  Carmelites,  of  being  false  accusers  and  conspirators ;  why, 
then  did  they  go  unpunished  ?     On  the  other  hand,  was  it  a 
light  matter  to  bring  charges  of  the  most  serious  nature  against 
a  priest  of  the  rank  of  Rector  of  the  Jesuits  ?     Certainly,  had 
Father  Girard  been  innocent,  Cadiöre  would  not  have  escaped 
death  and  the  Jesuits  had  thus,  with  all  their  enormous  influence 
and  their  terrific  expenditure  of  money,  contrived  to  do  no  more 
than  prevent  their  brother  being  condemned  to  death.     That  he 
deserved  such  a  fate,  however,  no  right-thinking  man    in  the 
whole  civilised  worid  could  have  the  slightest  doubt,  and,  on  the 
promulgation  of  the  sentence  in  Aix,  it  was  indeed  found  to  be 
necessary  to  haye  a  large  military  force  in  order  to  be  able  to 


328 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   SPIBITUAL   EXERCISES. 


329 


convey  him  in  safety  throngh  the  howling  crowd.  But  even 
further  than  this,  the  Archhishop  of  Aix,  although  not  such  a 
crow  as  to  pick  out  the  eyes  of  another,  puhlicly  came  over  to  he 
of  the  opinion  of  those  who  designated  the  pious  Father  as  a 
criminal,  and  maintaining  that  he  was  guilty,  not  only  prohibited 
him  from  ever  again  mounting  a  pulpit,  from  which  he  might 
hoast  of  his  triumph,  but  banished  him  out  of  the  town  of  Aix 
and  entirely  out  of  the  whole  of  his  Archiepiscopal  See.  Girard 
thus  dared  not  to  return  to  Toulon,  as  it  was  feared  that  his 
doing  so  might  have  caused  an  insurrection,  and  he  consequently 
took  up  his  abode  in  Lyons,  and,  not  long  after,  in  about  a  year, 
took  his  departure  out  of  the  world,  people  affirming  that  the 
sudden  death  of  such  a  strong  man  could  be  looked  upon  no 
otherwise  than  as  a  judgment  of  God  upon  him.  What  did  it 
matter  that  the  Jesuits  tried  in  every  possible  way  to  write  him 
up  as  a  persecuted  saint  ?  None  gave  any  credence  to  them,  but 
thousands  upon  thousands  came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  society 
which  had  not  only  refrained  from  expelling  out  of  their  body,  as 
a  mangy  sheep,  a  criminal,  evidently  of  the  grossest  description, 
but  had  taken  him  up  in  their  arms  and  elevated  him  up  to 
heaven, — that  such  a  society,  I  say,  was  no  better  than  the 
criminal  himself. 

A  few  words  must,  lastly,  be  said  concerning  the  future  fate  of 
Cadiöre.  On  leaving  the  Court  of  Justice,  she  was  greeted  with 
the  most  vociferous  cheers,  and  all  made  haste  to  tender  to  her 
the  deepest  sympathy.  She  was,  indeed,  regularly  feted  as 
a  heroine,  and  a  number  of  poems  made  their  appearance  in 
which  her  stedfastness,  and  especially  her  beauty,  were  extolled 
with  the  highest  praise.*  On  the  other  hand,  the  tongue  of 
malice  and  calumny  did  not  remain  silent;  all  maidens,  espe- 
cially those  who  had  Jesuits  for  Father  Confessors,  being 
disposed  to  defame  her  secretly  in  all  kinds  of  ways.  Her 
residence  in  Aix,  consequently,  soon  became  in  the  highest 
degree  intolerable,  and  she  also  found  it  to  be  equally  impossible 

•  She  was  a  brunette  of  middle  stature,  of  peculiarly  mild  and  agreeable 
features,  with  an  uncommonly  symmetrical  figure.  She  was  especially 
diatmguished  for  a  truly  wonderful  harmony  in  her  whole  appearance,  as 
well  as  for  a  fulness  and  freshness  of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  the 
like  ;  and,  above  all,  her  contemporaries  extolled  h*^r  '=lprk  pirroin«  softly 
languishing  eyes,  corresponding  exquisitely  with  her  luxurious  bkck  hair. 
In  a  word,  it  would  be  no  easy  matter  to  find  more  charms  united  in  a  female 
form  than  m  Ca4jherine  Cadi^re,  tho  victim  of  the  Jesuit  Girar^ 


to  remain  any  longer  in  Toulon.     Her  mother,  therefore,  quickly 
disposed  of  all  her  property,  and  one  fine  morning  both  mother 
and  daughter  disappeared  without  leaving  behind  them  a  single 
trace    of  where    they  had    gone.      The    sons   of  Loyola  put 
themselves  to  no  end  of  trouble  to  find  out  the  place  of  her 
abode,   and   many  persons   who,   it   may  be  stated,  had   been 
initiated  into  the  secret  were,  under  various  pretexts,  thrown 
into  prison,   with  the  object  of  inducing  them  to  let  it   out. 
History  is,  however,  silent  as  to  whether  they  were  successful,  as 
.the  world  never  heard  anything  more  of  the  poor  unfortunate 
creature.     Several  people  affirmed  that  she  had  gone  over  the 
water  into  some  foreign  country  under  a  feigned  name ;  others 
would  have  it  that,  out  of  disgust  for  the  world,  she  had  immured 
herself  in  some  cloister,  to  which  her  mother  had  made  over  all 
her   property.      The  majority,   however,   maintained   that   the 
Jesuits  having  discovered  her  abode,  she  had  then  been  secretly 
removed  from  the  world  by  poison. 


\ 


BOOK     IV. 


THE  DISINTEEESTElDNESS  OP  THE  JESUITS, 


OB, 


THE  VOW  OP  POVBBTT. 


MOTTO: 

Die  Schwarzröck  sind  die  Hirten  der  Erde, 
Die  Bürger  des  Erdkreises  sind  die  Heerde ; 

Die  Weid'  ist  ihr  liegendes  Gut, 

Die  WoU'  ihr  Reichthum  und  Blut. 
Wer  aber  bestimmt  die  Platze  zum  Weiden? 

Das  ist  in  Bom  der  schwarz*  General, 

Der  da  herrscht  aber  Papst  und  Könige  zumal. 
Er  scheeret  die  Wolle,  das  Schaaf  müss  es  leiden, 

Und  müss  noch  danken  demüthiglich, 

Dass  er  mit  der  Wolle  begnüget  sich; 
Denn  wenn  er  auch  noch  das  Fell  wollt'  nehmen, 
Wer  Eonnt's  ihm  wehren? 

Aus  dem  Drama :  "  Der  Weinberg  des  Nahoth, 


I'll 


333 


CHAPTER    I. 

«THE   CONPE88IONAL  AS   THE   KEY   TO   THE   MONEY-CHEST. 

The  first  great  nail  in  the  coffin  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  was,  as  I 
have  just  shown,  the  vices  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  practised 
to  such  an  extraordinary  extent;  the  second  still  greater  and 
still  more  important  death-hlow  which  I  conspicuously  hring  to 
notice  was  their  inordinate  desire  to  attain  riches,  hy  any  kind  ol 
means,  even  the  most  exceptionable.     We  have  learned  through 
the  First  Book  of  this  work,  how  very  much  the  founder  ot  the 
Society  of  Jesus  sought  to  symbolize,  through  his  own  proper 
example.   Christian  humiUty,  poverty,  and  self-sacrifice  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  he  urged  with  iron  austerity  that  his  disciples 
should  imitate  him  in  this  respect.     We  also  know   that  he 
claimed  for  his  Order  at  the  same  time,  with  the  view  to  the 
establishment,  endowment,  and  maintenance  of  colleges,  semi- 
naries, novice-houses,  and   other   educational   institutions,   the 
privilege  of  accumulating  as  much  money  and  goods  as  could  be 
gathered  together,  and  that  he  attached  at  least  as  great  impor- 
Lee  to  this  matter  as  to  the  symbolizing  of  Christian  poverty, 
self-denial,  and  simplicity.    Both  rules-riches  for  the  Order, 
and  poverty  for  the  individual  son  of  Loyola-were,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  intention  of  the  founder  of  the  Order,  kept  with 
a  truly  rigorous  consistency ;  and  there  was  required  of  every 
Jesuit  on  his  entrance  into  the  Society,  the  double  duty  to  gain 
at  once  as  much   as  ever  was  possible  for  the   latter,  and  to 
sacrifice  for  the  general  benefit— that  is,  for  the  Order  and  its 


334 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESÜITÖ. 


*HE   CONFESSIONAL. 


335 


General— all  that  he  should  personally  win  or  acquire,  himself 
living  in  the  greatest  frugality  and  poverty,  under  the  obligation 
of  self-renunciation.     This   was    for   mortal   man   a  task  very 
difficult   of  fulfilment,    and,   indeed,    was    almost    impossible; 
consequently  it  was  never  in  reality  carried  out,  but  merely  in 
appearance— only  so  far  as  was  necessary  to  lead  mankind  into 
error.     And  why  ?    Were  not  the  more  initiated  soon  well  aware 
that,  neither  in  the  Jesuit  profess-houses  nor  in  the  colleges  and 
other  institutions  of  the  Order,  was  there  even  the  least  restric- 
tion in  relation  to  eating,  drinking,  or  other  enjoyments  of  life  ? 
It  was  true,  indeed,  that  there  secretly  reigned  in  certain  things 
a  luxury  that  was  not  to  be  met  with  in  even  the  most  wealthy  • 
houses— a  luxury  of  such  a  refined  description  as  to  promote 
the  very  vices  which  it  was  the  duty  of  the  fraternity  to  avoid. 
All  this  gradually  became  known,  but  only,  as  before  said,  among 
the  more  initiated  circles,  as  the  great  mass  of  the  public  allowed 
themselves  to  be  deceived,  through  many  dozens  of  decades,  by 
the  external  appearance  of  indigence  maintained  for  mere  out- 
ward show,  and  strangers  taken  into  a  Jesuit  institution  saw 
there  nothing  but  plainly  furnished  apartments,  along   with  a 
corresponding  simplicity  in  other  respects.     Yet  far   more   is 
behind  the  scenes.     As  regards  the  riches  which  were  collected 
by  the  Order  for  the   general  benefit,  is  one  actually   to  rest 
satisfied  that  they  were  solely  to  be  used  for  the  educational 
establishment,  as  laid  down  by  the  statutes  of  the  Order  ?    How, 
then,  were  there  so  many  paid  spies  who  were  maintained  at  the 
several  great  and  small  courts,  sunk  in  vice  ?    With  what  were 
the  situations  of  Father  Confessors  to  ministers  and  other  influen- 
tial personages  bought,  frequently  at  uncommonly  dear  prices  ? 
How  much  did  the  alliances  and  marriages  cost, which  the  Order 
of  Jesus  brought  about  among  the  great  of  the  earth  for  its  own 
advantage,  and  how  much  was  expended  on  mistresses  and  other 
similar   creatures?      Certainly  the   great  mass   of  the  people 
might  be  managed  through  fanaticism,  flattery,  and  bigotry ;  in 
higher  circles,  however,  very  difl'erent  machinery  must  be  set  in 
motion,  and  the  acquisition  and  oiling  of  this  machinery  cost 
money,  and,  indeed,  a  very  large  amount. 

Ftom  these  few  indications  one  perceives  why,  in  spite  of  all 
this  display  of  poverty  and  indigence  by  individual  members,  the 
buciety  of  Jesus  had  need  to  accumulate  riches  of  every  kind. 


»nd  it  succeeded  in  this  to  such  an  extent  that,  so  early  as  the 
year  1626,  the  university  of  Pans  complained  of  the  immensity 
of  these  possessions.  *'  Along  with  their  colleges,"  so  it  is 
stated  in  that  written  complaint,  **  are  conjoined  the  best  and 
richest  benefices,  landed  estates,  and  foundations,  and  their 
revenues  are  now  so  great  that  they  can  no  longer,  with  any 
amount  of  cunning,  conceal  that  such  is  the  case.  On  this 
account  their  houses  can  no  more  be  termed  houses,  but  resemble 
rather  kings'  palaces  and  residences  of  princes  of  the  blood,  as 
regards  splendour  and  magnificence." 

Such  was  the  case  in  France  itself,  and,  indeed,  in  all  other 
countries  in  which  the  Order  of  Jesus  had  procured  an  entrance. 
And  another  question  may  now  be  put.  How  and  by  what  means 
had  these   riches   been  accumulated  ?     The  Jesuits,  of  course, 
maintained  that  it  had  all  been  effected  in   a  straightforward, 
honourable,  and   honest  manner,   namely,  by  presents  made  to 
them  by  believers,  of  their   own  accord ;  and  there  cannot  be 
any  question  but  that  much  money  and  property  came  into  their 
possession  in  this  way.     Moreover,  as  we  have  already  seen  in 
the  First  Book,  the  Popes,  almost  without  any  exception,  showed 
themselves  so  favourable  to  them,  that  to  obtain  they  had  only 
to  indicate  a  number  of  incomes  which  the  Roman  Senate  had 
at  its  disposal ;  they  also  stirred  up  the  orthodox  behevers,  by 
"Special  Bulls,  to  accord  benevolent  contributions  to  the  Order, 
^  while  on  the  reverse,  they  launched  heavy  denunciations  against 
all  who  endeavoured  to  hinder  any  such  benevolence.     Lastly, 
it  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  a  very  considerable  amount  was 
derived  from  the  masses  read  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  not  to 
speak  of  rosaries  sold,  as  in  prosperous  times  the  former  averaged 
hall  a  million  annually,  and,  nota  bene,  those  half  million  were 
only  read  for  deceased  persons  who  had  shown  especial  hberality 
to   the  Society.     Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  it   would 
appear  incredible  that  such  colossal  riches  as  the  Jesuits  pos- 
sessed could  have  been  acquired  merely  by  these  means,  and 
thinking  people  soon  began  to  be  of  opinion  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola  employed  besides  ."  entirely  difierent  "  ways  to  succeed 
in  their  object.     And  it  was  not  difficult  to  produce  the  neces- 
sary proofs  for  such  a  supposition  as  soon  as  they  had  observed 
more  closely  the  behaviour  which  the  Jesuits  assumed   towards 
the   rich   and   highly  conditioned,   while  as  Father  Conliesaors 


336 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


337 


towards  the  rulers  of  the  vorld  these  spiritual  guides  were 
actually  obliged,  by  the  command  of  their  General,  to  stir 
up  their  confessants  continually  to  exercise  bencTolence  towards 
the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  experience  proved  that  they  fulfilled  this 
obligation  most  assiduously.  One  has  only  to  run  through 
superficially  the  history  of  Bavaria  and  Austria,  or  that  of  Spain 
and  Portugal,  to  be  enabled  to  seize  such  things  by  the  hands,  so 
to  speak,  and  such  was  the  case,  also,  in  all  other  countries  and 
territories  in  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  made  a  nest  for 
themselves.  In  a  word,  it  was  soon  perfectly  apparent  to  the 
intelligent  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  claimed  for  themselves,  as  a 
kind  of  monopoly,  the  spiritual  counselling  and  conscience-keeping 
of  all  the  rich  people  and  persons  of  rank,  and  that  they  suc- 
ceeded, by  their  unremitting  exertions,  in  confining  the  remaining 
monks  and  members  of  Orders  to  the  confessions  of  the  poor 
and  those  of  low  degree.  But  how  was  this?  öimply  because 
much  was  to  be  obtained  from  the  wealthy  and  opulent,  whereas 
one  must  needs  go  away  empty-handed  Irom  those  in  humble 

spheres  of  life. 

But  these  are  only  general  statements;  in  particular  cases, 
however,  things   came   to  hght  which  proved  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola  made  use  of  the  confessional  in  a  way  which  may  be 
denominated    scarcely   less  than  dishonourable.      Thus,    when 
examining  the  matter  in  regai'd  to  Venice,  it  will  be  seen,  by 
letters  which  were   found,  that  they  made  use  of   the  confes- 
sional in  order   to  pry  into  family  secrets,   and  in  particular 
into  the  circumstances  of   private   individuals,   and   that   they 
sent   an    accurate   report   to    their   General    in    Home   on    the 
subject  every   six  weeks.     There  was   traced,  too,   on   investi- 
gation of  the  Jesuit  College  at  Euremonde,  in  the  Netherlands, 
a  letter    of    the    General    Kicci,   in    which    the    chiefs   were 
instructed    in    what    way     they    might    be     able     to   prevent 
rich    widows    from     contracting    a     second    maniage.      Thus 
they   raised   a  hope  in  several  of  their  confessants  that   they 
would     be     assured    of    happiness    after    death    as    soon    as 
they   should    give     themselves    up     wholly    and    entirely    to 
Jesuit  guidance;  for   example,    the   rich  Marie   de   la  Coque, 
after  she  had  made  a  will  in  favour  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
allowed  herself,  on   the  persuasion  of  the  Father  La  Colom- 
biere,  to  be  bled,  always  on  the  first  Friday  in  every  month. 


^ 


"in   honour    of  the    holy   heart   of    Mary";    this    continued 
from   1674  to   1690,   until   she   at    length   died   from   loss   of 
blood   in   the   latter  year.     In    this   manner   they  intimidated 
many   of   their   flock  with  the  eternal  pains  of   hell  in   such 
a  truly  barbarous  manner,  and  did  not  grant  them  absolution 
until   the   fraternity   had   obtained  a  certain  sum.      The   well- 
known    Jesuit,    Salmeron,    made    them    pay    as    much     as    a 
thousand  gold   dollars.     Thus,  the  two  Fathers  Alegambi  and 
Ortiz    carried    on    with    the  Countess  Magdalena  Ulloya,  the 
widowed  grand  stewardess  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  to  such 
an  extent,  in  regard  to  being  possessed  with  a   devil,  that  she 
made  over  16,000  ducats  to  them,  in  order  to  drive  out  Satan  ; 
while  in   a  precisely   similar    manner  Father    Canisius    trans- 
gressed as  regards  the  two  Countesses  Ursula  and  Sibilla  von 
Fugger.      Again,    two    other  Jesuits,  for  the  sum  of  200,000 
florins,  finding  that  a  very  rich  but  half-witted  man,  in  regard 
to  his  fate  after  death,  wished  for  some  assurance,  furnished 
him  with  the  following  passport  to  eternity : — 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  as  priests  of  the  true  religion,  attest 
and  promise,  in  the  name  of  our  Society,  which  possesses  the 
necessary   authority   in    such    cases,    that    it    takes    under  its 
special    protection    Mr.     Hippolyte    Bräm,    licenciate    of  law, 
in  order  to  defend  him  against  the    whole   power  of  hell,  in 
the   event    of  its    desire   to    undertake   anything   against    his 
honour,    his    person,    or   his   soul;  this   we   confirm    by   oath, 
employing  in  such  a  case  the  authority  of  our  most  illustrious 
founder,  in  order  that  the  above-mentioned   Bräm  may  be  pre-  " 
sented,  through  him,  to  the  most  holy  chief  the  Apostle,  with 
all   the  fidelity  and  precision  to  which   our  Society  is  bound. 
For  the  further  confirmation  of  this,  we  have  stamped  it  with  the 
secret  seal  of  our  Society.     Given  at  Ghent,  on  the  29th  of  March 
1650.     Francis  Seclin,    Rector  of  the   College;  Peter  de  Bic, 
Prior  and  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus." 

From  these  few  instances  it  may  be  perceived  how  the  Jesuits 
proceeded  in  order  to  acquire  for  themselves  a  rich  inherit- 
ance from  the  dead,  or  a  no  less  valuable  present  from  the  living ; 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  add  that  they  especially,  on 
tliis  account,  looked  well  after  wealthy  widows.  One  knows, 
indeed,  how  much  easier  it  is  to  deal  with  that  description  of 
God's  creatures  than  with  njarried  women  of  the  same  age,  or 

22 


338 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


with  those  of  the  male  sex  ;  consequently,  the  Superiors  selected 
only  such  memhers  of  the  Society  to  he  Father  Confessors 
of  widows  as  seemed  most  likely  to  secure  the  end  in  view. 
They  required  to  be  men  of  the  so-called  best  age,  that  is  to  say, 
not  too  young,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal,  but  also  certainly  not 
too  old ;  men  of  a  cheerful,  lively  temperament,  of  a  strong 
and  stately  frame,  and  especially  well  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
eloquence,  in  order  to  be  able  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the 
ladies.  They  should  be  not  merely  Father  Confessors,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word,  but  also,  at  the  same  time,  bosom 
friends  to  whom  the  widows  might  entrust  all  their  little  secrets 
and  take  counsel  in  worldly  affairs  ;  with  whom,  too,  they  would 
willingly  enter  into  conversation  about  the  news  of  the  day, 
presuming  that  the  pious  Fathers  take  as  much  interest  in  the 
state  of  the  bodily  condition  of  their  penitents  as  in  the  health 
and  welfare  of  their  souls. 

Such  counsellors  ought  to  have  much  good  fortune  with 
widows  requiring  consolation,  and  as  in  the  case  of  sickness 
they  never  stirred  from  the  bedside,  it  could  not  fail  that  a 
passage  in  their  will  in  favour  of  the  Order  was  almost  always 
found.  Again,  when  the  sons  of  Loyola  keep  a  particular  look- 
out upon  rich  widows,  they  by  no  means,  on  this  account, 
also  neglect  to  obtain  from  them  other  information,  especially 
interesting  themselves  in  drawing  the  sons  of  rich  parents  into 
their  Order.  These  novices  are  then  at  once  subjected  to  a 
strict  examination  respecting  the  age  and  worldly  circumstances 
of  their  father,  and  not  the  less  questioned  as  to  their  blood 
relationship,  and  as  to  whether  here  and  there  some  inheritance 
may  not  be  still  expected.  The  rector  thus  becomes  acquainted 
with  all  family  particulars  on  these  matters,  and,  making  a 
careful  note  thereof,  he  confirms  the  same  by  information 
derived,  in  an  underhand  mode,  from  other  sources. 

One  need  not  have  the  slightest  doubt  that  in  this  way  the 
Order  was  accurately  apprised  respecting  the  private  affairs  of 
its  members,  and  that  it  knew  what  part  to  play  in  the  event 
of  death  taking  place.  Indeed,  the  Fathers  acted  mostly  with 
an  energy  and  perseverance  which  would,  in  fact,  be  deserving 
of  admiration  were  it  not  that  their  impudenre  and  interested- 
ness  were  also  apparent,  arousing  a  feeling  quite  the  contrary 
to  that  of  admiration  ! 


THE   OON^SÖiÖNAL. 


389' 


A  couple  of  instances  may  make  ttiis  clear  to  the  reader.  The 
Count  Carl  Zani,  son  of  the  Count  Johann  Zani,  at  Bologna, 
in  Italy,  allured  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  entered  into  their  Society 
in  the  year  1627,  but  was  required,  before  he  could  obtain  his 
fathers  permission  to  take  this  step,  to  enter  into  a  written  bond, 
attested  by  a  notary  and  witnesses,  that  as  long  as  he  continued 
to  be  a  member  of  the  Jesuit  Order  he  would  renounce  his  whole 
paternal  inheritance,  and  would  never  at  any  time  make  any 
claim  to  the  estates,  either  for  himself  or  for  the  Society  of 
Jesus.  His  elder  brother,  therefore,  Count  Angelo  Zani,  in- 
herited after  his  father's  death  the  whole  possessions,  and  it  thus' 
appeared  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  obtained  no  special  advantage 
from  the  entrance  of  Carl  Zani  into  their  Order.  But  in  the 
year  1639,  irnmediately  after  entering  upon  his  inheritance, ' 
Count  Angelo  died;  not,  hpwever,  as  is  supposed,  without  the 
skilful  assistance  of  a  Jesuit  physician  who  treated  him.  And 
now  the  sons  of  Ignatius  exploded  the  long-laid  mine.  Carl 
Zani  hastened  to  make  at  once  a  request  to  the  (General  to  be 
permitted  to  resign  the  Order,  in  order  that,  by  returning  into 
the  secular  state,  he  might  be  enabled  to  lay  claim  to  the  great 
inheritance,  and  the  General  did  not  delay  in  causing  the 
necessary  papers  to  be  delivered  to  him  through  the  Provincial 
Menochio.  However,  previous  to  this,  he  was  required  to  make 
a  promise  on  oath  that,  after  settling  the  business  connected  with 
the  inheritance,  he  would  again  re-enter  the  Order,  and,  on  this 
account,  a  bond  was  laid  before  him  which,  literally  translated, 
ran  as  follows : — 

"  After  that  T,  Carl  Zani,  shall  now  receive  from  the  Society 
oJF  Jesus  my  letter  of  discharge  respecting  which  I  made  a  peti- 
tion, before  the  same  shall  be  handed  to  me  by  the  highly- 
esteemed  Father  Provincial,  Stephan  Menochio,  I  make  a  vow  to 
God,  and  in  his  presence,  by  which  I  bind  myself,  on  my  con- 
science, to  his  Divine  Majesty,  that  after  the  receipt  of  my  letter  of 
disci  large,  and  as  soon  as  I  have  brought  into  order  the  matters 
on  which  account  I  made  the  request,  1  will  address  the  most 
urgent  solicitation  to  the  Superiors,  as  well  as  to  the  Society, 
that  I  may  be  again  received  back  into  the  same,  and,  indeed, 
at  that  very  time  which  may  be  considered  to  be  most  right  and 
convenient  by  the  most  worthy  Father  Vincenz  Maria  Bargellini, 
who  was  assigned  to  me  as  my  companion  for  the  regulation  of 

22  * 


iHE   CONFESSIONAL* 


341 


840 


HISTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


I 


my  affairs,  considering  that  I  will  thus  engage  to  ahide  by  this 
his  reasonable  order  and  judgment,  setting  aside  all  scruple,  and 
in  order,  with  God's  help,  to  give  satisfaction  to  my  vow    to 
place  at  the  disposal  of  the  college  all  that  falls  to  my  lot  by 

the  inheritance."  _    ,   „     •     i.^  •     j    ^i.^ 

After  the    execution  of  this  bond,  Carl  Zani   obtained  the 
nocessarv  documents,  and  at  once  put  off  the  Jesuit  costume,  on 
the  2nh  November  1639.     It  was,  of  course,  not  difficult  for 
him,  as  next  of  kin,  to  enter  into  possession  of  the  said  inherit- 
ance,  and  now  not  only  was  he  looked  upon  as  a  nch  indepen- 
dent cavalier,  but  he  was  also  beset,  on  all  sides,  to  enter  into  the 
state  of  matrimony,  in  order  to  continue  the  race  of  Zani,  and 
many  of  the  most  beautiful  ladies  were  suggested  to  him.     1  he 
above-mentioned  bond,  sworn  to  on  oath,   now  greatly  troubled 
him,  and  he  hastened  then  to  Rome,  in  order  to  obtain  from 
Pope  Innocent  a  release  from  his  vow.     The  latter,  however, 
lent  an  ear  to  the  Jesuit  General,  and  thus  neither  money  nor 
fair  words  had  any  effect  upon  him.     In  the  meantime    Carl 
Zani   became   dangerously   ill,   and    the   Jesuits  besieged    his 
bedside  day  and  night,  as  may  be  well   imagined,  in   order  to 
extort  from  him  by  pressure  a  will  in   their  favour.     They  were 
successful,  too,  shortly  before  he  breathed  his  last  in  obtaining 
such  a  deed,  wherein   he  bequeathed  to  them   all  the  posses- 
sions  belonging  to  him;  and  now,    of  course,  tbey  fell  upon 
the  rich  inheritance  with  great   eagerness.      But   lo,  behold  . 
the  male  relations  of  the  deceased  produced  an  ancient  family 
statute,  according  to  which  Carl  Zani  had  no  right  whatever  to 
dispose  testamentarily  of  the  family  estates  which  were  an  allo- 
dium (that  is  private  property  in  contradistinction  to  freehold 
property),  and  there  now  at  once  arose  a  law-suit,  which  occupied 
the  iudges  of  the  Roman  Rota  for  many  years.     In  the  course 
of  the  law-suit  the  sons  of  Loyola  persuaded   themselves  not 
only  that  they  would  not  succeed  in  winning  the  same,  but  that 
they  would  be  compromised  thereby,  through  their  insatiable 
avarice,  as  well  as  owing  to  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  they 
acquired  inheritances ;  and,  consequently,  ihey  addressed  them- 
selves  to  Pope  Alexander  VII.,  the  successor  of  Innocent  X., 
with   the   most   urgent  appeal   in  respect  to  n  so-ralled  sign- 
manual   of  grace.     The  Pope  granted  it  to  them,  that  is,  he 
ordered  the  counsellors  of  the  Rota  to  bring  the  matter  to  a 


suitable  compromise,  and  thereupon  the  estates  and  possessions 
to  which  it  referred  were  divided  into  twelve  parts,  five  of 
which  the  Jesuits  obtained,  while  seven  were  allotted  to  the 
rightful  heirs.  Thus  the  sons  of  Loyola  swallowed  up  a  part, 
and,  indeed,  a  very  large  part,  out  of  the  estate,  although  their 
claims  were  entirely  unjust;  in  addition  to  this,  they  had  the 
pleasure  of  having  almost  entirely  ruined  the  rightful  heirs  by 
the  costs  of  the  law-suit. 

Another  not  less  remarkable  inheritance  suit  came  before  the 
world  at  the  end  of  the  16th  century  in  France,  under  the 
government  of  Henry  III.,  and  likewise  ended  in  favour  of 
the  Jesuits,  although  in  this  instance  they  were  no  less  in  the 
wrong  than  in  the  case  just  related. 

Peter  Airault,  Criminal  Lieutenant  at  the  Presidial  Court  of 
Angers,  possessed  an  only  son,  Rene,  a  lad  ol  great  attainments, 
who   had  a  brilliant   future   before  him  from   the   riches   and 
rank  of  the  family,  and  he  placed  the  lad  for   the  completion 
of  his  education  in  a  Jesuit  college  which  was  very  celebrated  in 
his  eyes  from  its  great  advantages  in  regard  to  learning.     He 
did  not,  however,  take  this  step  without  beforehand  expressly 
declaring  to  the  good  Fathers  that  he  destined  his  son  to  be  his 
sole  successor,  and  that  he  therefore  wished  him  to  be  brought 
in  contact  with  those  youths  only  who  were  to  be  devoted  to 
secular  and  not   ecclesiastical   pursuits.     The  sons   of  Loyola 
promised  most  faithfully  and  religiously  to  meet  his  wishes  in 
this  respect,  and  they  would  have  perhaps  done  so  had  young 
Rene  been  merely  a  poor  lad  without  prospects.     But  in  this 
case  it  was  quite  the  reverse,  as  he  not  only  was  to  inhent,  in 
the  first  place,  a  large  property  from  his  father,  but  also   a  rich 
estate  belonging  to  his  grandmother  had  already  fallen  to  him. 
Could,  then,  the  Society  of  Jesus  let  such  a  fat  booty  slip  from 
them  ?     No,  this  the  pious  Fathers  could  not  bring  their  hearts 
to  do,  and  they  gave  themselves  so  much  trouble  that  the  long 
and  short  of  it  was  that,  after  a  three  years'  residence  in  .their 
college,  the  youth  confided  to  their  care  put  on  the  habit  of  the 
Order.'  The  father,  on  being  informed  of  this,  became  furious, 
and  instantiy  appealed  to  the  law  court  in  order  to  regain  his 
son.     The  Jesuits,  however,  explained,  in  justification,  that  Ren6 
had  voluntarily  entered  the  Society,  and  that  now  his  connection 
with  it  was  indissoluble.     The  Criminal  Lieutenant  i-ppealed  at 


i 


342 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUlTäi 


once  to  the  Parliament  of  Anjou,  and  it  adjudged  the  accused  to 
deliver  up  their  novice  as  being  detained  contrary  to  law.     With 
the   judgment  in   his   hand,   Peter  Airault  now   hastened   to 
Angers,  and,  supported  by  an  armed  force,  knocked  at  the  gate 
of  the  Jesuit  college.    But  what  was  the  answer  which  was  given 
to  him  ?     Young  Ueno  had  flown  under  cover  of  night,  and  no 
one  knew  what  had  become  of  him.     The   Criminal  Lieutenant 
could   not  believe    this,   and    searched   throughout  the   whole 
college.     Still  nowhere  did  he  find  his  son,  who  was,  in  fact, 
not  forthcoming.     He  had  long  before  been  secretly  conveyed, 
for  security,  into  a  college  in  Loraine,  thence  into  Germany, 
and  lastly  to  Italy.     The  precaution  had,  moreover,  been  taken 
to  strike  out  the  uame  of  Kene  Airault  from  the  register  of  the 
college,  as  one  who  had  disappeared,  and  to  substitute  for  it 
another  unsuspected   name,   under  which    the   newly -acquired 
member  went   henceforth.     The  extraordinary  cunning  of  this 
method  of  procedure  soon  showed   itself      King   Henry   III., 
urged  by  the  unhappy  father,  intervened  through  his  ambassador, 
and,  appealing  to  Pope  äixtus  V.,  demanded  Irom  the  Holy  See 
a  mandate  in  favour  of  his  Criminal  Lieutenant.     To  comply 
with  this  demandi  the  eldest  son  of   the  Church  ordered  the 
Jesuit  General,  Claudio  Aquaviva,  to  lay  before  him  the  list  of 
the  whole  of  the  members  of  the  Order,  not  omitting  even  the 
novices.     The   General  obeyed  at   once,  without  delay,  as   he 
knew  that  it  was  impossible  to  find  the  corpus  delicti.     So  it 
happened,  and  the  Pope  as  well  as  the  ELing  had  to  be  content 
with  the  answer  that  no  Ben6  Airault  could  be  found  among 
the  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.     In  the  meantime  years 
elapsed,  and  no  trace  was  discovered  of  the  missing  youth.     And 
as  it  nuw  became  evident  to  the  elder  Airault  that  his  son  had 
taken  part  in  the  Jesuit  conspiracy,  and  must  have  been  privy 
to  their  intentions,  for  otherwise  he  would  certainly  have  taken 
an   opportunity   of  allowing  his   father  to  hear  from  him,  at 
least  once  at  all  events,  he  consequently  made  a  will  before  a 
notary  and  witnesses,  wherein  he  gave  his  curse  to  the  son,  and 
disinherited  him,  so  far  as  the  laws  would  permit.     Immediately 
thereupon  he  died,  deeply  pitied  by  all  who  knew  him. 

But  what  took  place  now  ?  Hardly  had  the  deceased  been 
buried  when  Bene  Airault  came  upon  the  scene  and  demanded 
what  was  due  to  him.     He  made  his  appearance,  uot  as  a  Jesuit, 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


343 


but  as  a  civilian,  and  explained  his  long  absence  on  the  ground 
of  his  thirst  for  seeing  foreign  countries.  He  could  not  be 
refused  the  estate  of  his  grandmother,  as  it  had  been  up  to 
this  time  administered  by  the  Orphan  Court,  and  with  as  little 
trouble  did  he  take  possession  of  the  immovable  estate  which 
his  father  had  not  the  power  of  alienating  from  him  by  his  will. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  he  obtained  possession  of  his  property 
when  he  declared  himself  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
gave  over  the  whole  of  his  newly-acquired  inheritance  to  his 
superiors,  as  in  duty  bound,  as  he  had  now  reassumed  his  black 
garment,  and  no  Jesuit  dare  possess  any  property  of  his  own. 

Thus  did  the  Order  of  Jesus  arrive  at  its  end,  and  what  now 
mattered  the  j  udgment  and  disdain  of  the  world  ? 

A  similar  instance  of  sneaking  after  an  inheritance  occurred  a 
short  time  alterwards  in  Flanders,  where  the  Jesuit  Grebert,  after 
he  had,  during  thirteen  years,  filled  the  tolerably  important 
position  of  an  ecclesiastical  coadjutor,  retired  for  a  couple  of 
years  into  the  lay  condition  in  order  to  lay  claim,  at  the  expense 
of  his  brother,  to  the  family  patrimony.  So  again  there  was  a 
question  of  many  years  of  litigation,  which,  in  the  second  half 
of  the  17  th  century,  the  Knights  of  the  Purgstalle  of  the 
Biegerburg  in  Styria  carried  on  with  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

But  where  would  this  end  if  I  were  to  enter  into  this  affair, 
and  the  many  dozens  of  other  cases  of  the  same  nature  ?  I 
must  be  satisfied,  however,  with  the  account  of  one  other  case, 
namely  the  great  law- suit  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  carried  on 
respectmg  the  considerable  lordship  of  Büren  in  Westphalia, 
hoping  that  the  reader,  from  the  public  exposure  of  this  more 
than  wicked  afi'air,  may  obtain  a  true  picture  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Jesuits  in  relation  to  matters  of  inheritance. 

In  the  year  1610,  Baron  Joachim  of  Biiren,  a  good  Protestant, 
died,  leaving  behind  an  only  little  son,  of  course  also  Protestant, 
of  the  name  of  Moritz,  over  whom  his  mother,  a  no  less  zealous 
Protestant,  acted  as  guardian.  Because,  however,  at  that  time 
— ^it  was  previous  to  the  Thirty  Years*  war — Protestants  and 
Catholics  for  the  most  part  associated  quite  well  together  as 
long  as  they  were  not  hounded  on  by  their  clergy,  the  widow 
Elizabeth  had  no  scruple  in  selecting  as  friends  also  some 
Catholic  ladies  among  the  nobility  of  the  neighbourhood, 
especially  in  tne  neighbouring  small  town  of  Paderborn,  and 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


these  paid  her  frequent  visits.  Of  course  this  could  not  long 
remain  unknown  to  the  Jesuits,  who  had  at  that  period  just 
settled  in  Paderborn ;  and  while  they  at  the  same  time 
learned  that  the  widow  possessed  more  good  nature  than 
understanding,  they  at  once  concocted  a  plan  to  convert 
young  Moritz  von  Büren,  with  his  mother,  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  in  order  to  incorporate  with  their  possessions  the  two- 
fold inheritance,  especially  the  beautiful  lordship  of  Büren. 
This  was  indeed  a  bold  undertaking ;  but  the  sons  of  Loyola 
had  one  among  them,  in  Paderborn,  ^who  was  popular  with 
everyone  on  account  of  his  softness  of  manners  and  subtlety 
in  social  intercourse,  more  especially  in  everything  which  might 
ingratiate  him  among  women ;  and  consequeutly  they  hoped 
through  him  to  overcome  all  difficulties.  In  fact,  Father  Fried- 
rich  Eoerich,  the  name  of  this  individual,  immediately  set  to 
work  with  the  greatest  zeal  in  the  prosecution  of  his  task,  and 
having  been  introduced  by  the  above-mentioned  ladies  to  Frau 
Elizabeth  von  Büren,  he  very  soon  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
confidence  of  the  latter.  After  he  had  now  established  himself 
as  house  friend  and  adviser  in  worldly  matters,  he  did  not  desist 
until  he  had  also  advanced  to  the  rank  of  spiritual  adviser, 
and  the  long  and  the  short  of  it  was  that,  after  three  years 
of  unremitting  exertion,  he  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  widow  von  Büren  publicly  go  over  into  the  only  saving 
Church. 

This  took  place  at  the  end  of  the  year  1613,  and  the  natural 
consequence  was  that  the  education  of  young  Moritz  was  at 
once  placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  sons  of  Loyola ;  for  how 
could  a  convert  who  required  to  show  some  zeal  for  the  new 
religion  act  otherwise?  The  result  was  that  the  now  nine-year- 
old  boy  was  first  placed  in  the  Jesuit  college  of  Paderborn, 
where  he  remained  until  the  year  1617,  at  which  time  his  mother 
married  for  a  second  time,  with  the  High  Bailifi*  William 
of  Westphalia.  Thereupon  he  was  taken  to  the  celebrated 
Jesuit  institute  at  Cologne,  where  he  was  so  manipulated,  and 
his  mind,  inclined  to  extravagant  ideas,  was  so  worked  upon 
with  endless  skill,  that  on  attaining  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
wished  to  forego  the  seductions  of  this  sinful  world,  and  to 
enter  at  once  as  a  novice  with  the  sons  of  Loyola.  The  latter 
believed  that  both  his  mother  and  stepfather  would  gladly  say  Yes, 


THE   CONFESSIONALv 


U5 


"but  they  were  mistaken.  On  the  contrary,  both  patents  earnestly 
expressed  their  opinion  that  the  youth  should,  first  of  all,  look  a 
little  about  him  in  the  world,  that  he  should  be  sent  on  his 
travels  to  the  various  capitals  and  courts  of  the  globe,  as  then 
was  the  custom,  and  by  a  prolonged  residence  in  them  become 
acquainted  with  the  manners  of  the  times.  The  Jesuits  con- 
sented to  this,  as  they  did  not  wish  to  run  counter  to  the  power- 
ful High  Bailifi!,  and  Moritz  commenced  his  educational  travels 
at  once,  in  the  year  1621,  with  their  approval.  They  contrived, 
however,  that  a  certain  Balthasar  Bonninghausen,  a  young  man 
who  had  been  brought  up  by  them  in  their  principles,  and  was 
entirely  devoted  to  their  interests,  should  accompany  him  as 
tutor  and  marshal,  and  by  this  means  they  always  were  en- 
abled to  obtain  minute  particulars  of  every  step  and  proceeding 
of  their  former  pupil. 

I  will  not  enter  upon  a  description  of  all  the  adventures  and 
travels  of  the  young  von  Büren,  but  only  remark  that,  after  a 
prolonged  residence  in  France  and  Spain,  he  went  to  Italy  in 
order  to  visit  Eternal  Rome.     Scarcely,  however,  had  he  arrived 
there  than  he  deemed  it  most  important  to  have  himself  pre- 
sented to  the  Pope,  and,  above  everything,  to  pay  his  humble 
respects  to  the  Jesuit  General  Mutius  Vitelleschi.     He  was  not, 
however,  satisfied  with  making  the  latter  a  respectful  visit,  but 
he  declared  to  the  General  that  it  was  his  intention  to  enter  into 
his  Order  as  soon  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do  so,  and  the 
great  man  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  youth  was  entirely  in  earnest 
as  to  this.     The  General,  however,  did  not  at  once  pounce  upon  . 
him,  but  rather  advised  him  to  delay  for  a  little  carrying  out  his 
pious  intention,  and  in  the  meanwhile  to  prepare  himself  quietly 
for  taking  so   great  a   step,   as  such  things  ought  to  be  well 
considered  beforehand.     The   advice  sounded  quite  fatherly  to 
von  Büren,  and  was  accepted  also  by  him  ;   but  the  motives 
which  induced  the  General  so  to  act  were  of  a  very  different 
character.     Young  Moritz  was  now  only  in  his  nineteenth  year, 
and  as  he  was  still  a  minor  he  had  not,  as  yet,  any  valid  power 
of  disposal  over  his  lordship  of  Büren  ;  nor  had  he,  during  the 
lifetime  of  his  mother,  those  estates  at  his  command,  which  he 
would  only  inherit  at  her  death  ;  and  the  General  thus  contem- 
plated nothing  else,  by  his  advice,  than  to  induce  von  Büren 
not  to  enter  the  Society  of  Jesus  previous  to  his  mother's  death^ 


346 


filSTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS« 


or  before  he  was  of  age.  Of  course,  it  was  not  for  the  sake 
of  obtaining  the  amiable  person  of  von  Büren  for  the  Society  of 
Jesus — as  an  historian  expresses  it — but,  on  the  contrary,  only 
in  order  to  get  possession  of  his  great  landed  estates  and  pro- 
perties !  After  von  Büren  had  returned  home  from  his  travels, 
he  was  urged  by  his  mother  and  stepfather,  with  all  their  might, 
to  take  unto  himself  a  spouse,  as  he  had  no  legitimate  successor, 
and  the  beautiful  lordship  must  in  this  case  go  to  a  collateral 
relative;  but  upon  this  point  the  youth  showed  himself  to  be 
inexorable.  He  could  not  marry,  because  he  had  secretly  taken 
an  oath  that  he  would  later  on  belong  to  the  Order,  and  his 
Father  Confessor  thought  it  well  to  remind  him  of  the  eternal 
punishment  in  hell,  which  every  perjured  person  of  any  descrip- 
tion irrevocably  obtains.  On  another  point,  on  the  contrary,  he 
complied  with  the  wish  of  his  mother,  namely,  that  he  should 
select  some  secular  field  of  employment,  and  felt  himself  much 
flattered  when  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  11.,  through  the  eüorts 
of  the  Jesuits,  nominated  him  in  October  16^9  to  the  oihce 
of  President  of  the  Imperial  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature. 
He  entered,  at  the  same  time,  upon  the  control  of  his  lordship, 
although  to  a  limited  degree,  as  his  mother,  so  long  as  she 
lived,  was  entitled  to  draw  a  certain  income  therefrom. 

But,  at  length,  this  came  to  an  end,  as  the  death  of  Frau 
Elizabeth  took  place  in  the  year  1632,  and  now  the  sons  of 
Loyola  urged  him  earnestly  either  to  enter  into  their  Order  at 
once  or,  at  least,  to  make  a  will  in  their  favour.  Moritz  von 
Büren  promised  to  do  both,  only  he  begged  to  be  allowed  some 
respite,  in  order  that  he  might  previously  have  an  opportunity  of 
making  an  explanation  to  his  stepfather  and  sisters,  who  had 
claims  on  a  certain  portion  of  the  revenues.  Thus  year  alter 
year  went  past,  and  on  this  account  they  became  more  and  more 
impatient.  They  now  raised  another  storm  against  him  in  the 
year  1640,  and  he  then  was  prevailed  upon  to  execute  a  will  on 
the  2lst  of  April  of  the  same  year,  by  which  he  beq^ueathed  the 
whole  of  his  possessions,  without  exception,  to  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  with  the  object  that  after  his  deatb  a  college  should  be 
erected  in  Büren.  He  also  nominated  the  Bishops  of  Müuster 
and  Paderborn,  as  well  as  the  Emperor  himself,  to  be  executors 
of  this  his  will,  and  accordingly  the  sons  of  Loyola  believed  that 
any  possibiUiy  of  its  being  upset  had  now  been  extinguished. 


tHE   CONFESSIONAL* 


347 


Moreover,  in  order  to   make  the  matter   even  more   certain, 
they   persuaded   their  faithful    pupil,    some    years    afterwards, 
to  enter    formally   into   the   Order;    this    happened    in  April 
1 644,  and  they  now  hoped  to  be  able  to  levy  an  embargo  on 
these  great  possessions,  even  during  his  lifetime,  and  they  did 
this  at  once,  although  with  the  foresight  of  leaving  to  von  Büren 
^the  appearance  of  still  having  the  eujoyment  of  the  same.     In 
truth,  however,  he  was  merely  administrator,  being  so  completely 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Superiors  that  he  dare  not  do  the 
shghtest  thiug  without  them,  and  the  whole  of  this  juggling  had 
no  other  object  than  to  throw  dust  into  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
Taking  into  account  their  avidity  of  all  sorts,  it  would  not  have 
been  wise,  indeed,  if  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  contented  them- 
selves with   a  simple  seizure  of  the  lordship ;  they  acted,  how- 
ever, discreetly  in  preparing  people  gradually,  and  especially  the 
relations   of  the  Büren  race,  for   the  great  stroke  which  was 
to  follow,  as  it  might  be  hoped  that  the  latter  would  thereby 
become  the  more  easily  reconciled  to  the  unavoidable.     They 
succeeded  for  a  time  in  the  deception,  but  only  for  a  time.     As, 
after   some   years,    the   High   Bailiff,    William   of  Westphalia, 
who   was  a   good    Catholic,  indeed,  but,  at  the  same   time,''  a 
most  haughty  nobleman,  came  to  a  knowledge  of  the  secret, 
feeling  himself  most  deeply  aggrieved  at  the  Jesuitical  intrigues, 
he  at  once,  with  all  the  energy  at  his  command,  urged  his  step- 
son not  only  to  annul  the  said  will,   but  also  to  return  iüto 
the  world  and  bid  an  eternal  farewell  to  the  Jesuits.     At  the 
same  time  he  represented  to  him  how  much  his  sisters  and  other 
relations  would  be  injured  by  this  donation  of  the  Büren  lord- 
ship to  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  how  the  sisters,  as  well  as  him- 
self,  were    fully  justified  in   claiming,   on   this   account,   the 
protection  of  the  law,  so  that  by  the  persistent  refusal  of  Moritz 
to  lay  aside  the  Jesuit  habit  it  would  become  necessary  for  them 
to  institute  a  law-suit,  which,  prosecuted  between  near  relatives, 
must  give  rise  to  much  vexation  and  scandal  in  the  world. 

However,  he  might  preach  as  much  as  he  could,  the  step- 
sisters might  pray  as  incessantly  and  as  long  as  they  were  able, 
Moritz  von  Büren  remained  obstinate,  and  neither  gave  to  his 
stepfather  any  motive  founded  on  reason,  nor  yielded  one  iota  to 
his  sisters'  tears.  Consequently  the  threatened  law-suit  now 
commenced,  and  the  High  Bailiff  was  justified  when  he  called 


348 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUIT^. 


att<3ntiün  to  tfie  scalidal  that  would  be  occasioned  thereby  oil 
such  things  coming  to  light,  as  must  necessarily  fill  the  world 
with  disgust  and  abhorrence. 

•Indeed,  the  sons  of  Loyola  showed  thereby  such  a  detestable 
and  violent  desire  for  thieving,  that  the  Bishop  of  Paderborn,  Diet- 
rich Adolphus  von  Reck,  in  whose  diocese  the  lordship  of  Büren 
was  situated,  saw  himself  necessitated  to  occupy  the  same  with 
troops  in  August  1657,  and  this  sequestration  continued  fully 
three  years,  until  at  length  the  Emperor  Leopold  I.  induced 
him  to  evacuate  it  in  the  year  1660. 

The  year  following,  Father  Moritz,  as  Von  Büren  had  been 
called  since  1644,  died,  without,  however,  having  seen  the  end 
of  the  great^law-suit.  The  same  lasted,  on  the  contrary,  seven- 
Äud-thirty  years,  as  it  only  ended,  indeed,  in  a  compromise,  in 
the  year  1698,  according  to  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  retained 
the  stolen  inheritance,  paying  the  then  very  considerable  sum  of 
45,000  gold  dollars  out  of  it. 

From  what  has  now  been  related,  the  reader  will  have  been 
thoroughly  convinced  respecting  the  eminent  talent  which  the 
Jesuits  displayed  in  inheritance-hunting ;  with  this  talent,  how- 
ever, they  conjoined  shamelessncss,  which  went  as  far  even  as 
baseness,  and  this,  also,  will  best  be  made'  apparent  by  some 
examples.  Count  de  Marie,  formerly  Equerry  of  the  Prince  de 
Conde,  had  an  only  son,  and  placed  him  in  the  Jesuit  educa- 
tional establishment  of  St.  Acheul,  in  order  to  have  him  there 
■  educated.  The  pious  Fathers  became  acquain  ted,  through  the 
son,  regarding  the  particular  circumstances  of  the  father,  and  as 
they  ascertained  that  he  would  have  a  very  large  inheritance  to 
i  leave  behind  him,  they  determined  to  win  over  this  said  only 
'  ojffspring  for  their  Order.  This  was,  however,  not  such  an  easy 
Ibusiness,  as  the  young  de  Marie  was  of  a  very  jovial  nature, 
*nd  would  hear  nothing  at  all  about  entering  into  the  ecclesias- 
tical state.  On  the  contrary,  he  threatened  the  Superiors  of 
the  said  ecclesiastical  institution,  that  if  they  pestered  him  any 
more  with  any  such  proposals  he  would  run  away  and  make  his 
father  acquainted  with  everything  about  it.  Thereupon,  the 
sly  Fathers  suddenly  changed  their  tactics,  and  afforded  the 
sprightly  youth  so  many  opportunities  for  frivolous  amuse- 
ments, that  the  same  would  have  been  a  more  than  steady  man 
if  he  had  allowed  those  opportunities  to  pass  by  without  making 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


849 


use  of  them.  The  more,  however,  that  the  son  transgressed,  thö 
more  they  wrote  lamentable  letters  respecting  him  to  his  father ;; 
so  much  so,  that  the  latter  became  quite  inconsolable. 

It  was  now  arranged  between  the  father  and  the  rector  of  the- 
institution  that  the  young  scapegrace  should  be  transferred 
from  St.  Acheul  to  the  Jesuit  seminary  in  Bordeaux,  with  the 
hope  that  perhaps  a  change  of  teachers  and  fellow-scholars 
would  be  beneficial;  but,  unfortunately,  there  was  still  no 
improvement,  according  to  the  reports  of  the  principal  of" 
the  seminary,  at  least,  and  the  poor  deluded  father  received  no 
other  information.  Indeed,  they  took  care  to  prevent  the  son 
from  writing,  and  when  he,  at  any  time,  ever  did  so,  it  was  a 
letter  dictated  by  the  principal,  or,  at  all  events,  corrected  by 
him.  As,  however,  the  young  de  Marie  became  no- better  in 
Bordeaux,  he  was  conveyed,  as  a  last  resource,  to  Forcalquier, 
and  the  father  wrote  to  him  that  he  would  withdraw  all  interest 
in  him  if  he  ever  again  heard  bad  news  about  him.  The  son, 
deeply  affected,  firmly  resolved  to  be  foolish  no  longer,  and  pro- 
secuted his  studies  for  some  time.  This,  however,  did  not  at 
all  suit  the  taste  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  they  consequently 
contrived  to  bring  the  youth  into  connection  with  a  companion 
who  might  again  awaken  in  him  the  old  inclination  for  folly. 
Of  course,  the  reports  sent  to  the  old  Count  became  bad  again, 
indeed,  worse  than  ever,  and  thereby  his  grief  and  anger  reached 
to  the  highest  degree.  In  this  frame  of  mind,  induced  to  do  so 
by  the  Rector  of  the  seminary  at  St.  Acheul,  he  wrote  such  a 
reproving  letter  to  the  son,  that  the  latter,  in  a  state  of  despera- 
tion, made  his  escape  from  Forcalquier  and  betook  himself  to 
the  wide  world. 

The  pious  Fathers  had  now  brought  the  matter  to  the  pitch 
it  was  intended  from  the  commencement;  whereupon  the  in- 
consolable father  at  once  resolved  to  sell  all  his  estates,  as  far 
as  he  could  do  so,  and  to  take  refuge,  with  this  dowry,  among 
the  Jesuits,  in  order  to  die  happy  in  their  pious  company.  No- 
thing more  was  heard  of  the  son,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
pious  Fathers  prepared  a  speedy  death  for  him. 

Almost  more  disgraceful,  even,  is  the  following  story.  Among 
the  countries  into  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  frequently  en- 
deavoured to  penetrate,  although  without  bringing  about,  at 
once,  any  particular  result,  was  especially  European  Turkey, 


860 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


and  Father  Sarot,  among  others,  gave  himself  trouble  quite 
beyond  the  common  to  make  proselytes  among  the  Greek 
Christians  in  Roumelia.  His  object  appeared,  however,  to  be 
much  less  for  the  welfare  of  their  souls  than  for  looking  after 
their  property,  as  he  attached  himself  at  once  merely  to  the  rich, 
and  he  favoured,  above  all,  with  his  exhortations,  well- endowed 
widows. 

To  the  latter  class  belonged  a  certain  Sophia  Nara,  a  woman 
who  possessed  in  gold  and  valuables  more  than  forty  purses,  that 
is  about  30,000  florins,  and  Sarot,  who  had  soon  discovered  this, 
did  not  desist  until  the  good  Sophia  went  over  to  Catholicism 
from  the  heretical  sect  of  Armenians  to  which  she  had  belonged, 
and  at  the  same  time  consigned    her    whole  property  to  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  in  consideration  of  the  promise  that  she  should 
be  bountifully  cared  for  during  the  rest  of  her  life.     This  was  a 
good  stroke  of  fortune,  as  the  woman  was  no  longer  young,  and, 
besides,  soon  became  sick,  which  encouraged  a  hope  that  the 
pension  would  not  long  have  to  be  paid.   But  Sarot  had  reckoned, 
as  is  said,  without  his  host,  and  during  the  next  two  years  the 
lady  advanced  not  a  single  step  nearer  the  grave.     He  now,  how- 
ever, began  to  be  more  close,  and  denied  her,  indeed,  about  half 
the  allowance  she  had  previously  enjoyed,  as  she  had  evidently 
fallen  into  a  long  tedious  sickness  ;  her  nephews,  to  whom  the 
woman  at  once  turned,  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
her,  after  she  had  made  it  known  that  she  had  sunk  all  her 
goods  and  chattels  with  the  Jesuits.     Thus,  the  condition  of  the 
poor  Sophia  became  always  more  unbearable,  and  as  she  was  now 
confined  to  her  one  solitary  room,  which  she  could  no  longer 
leave  on  account  of  weakness,  she  was  nearly  ont  of  her  senses 
with  despair.     Once  more  she  applied  to  her  nephews,  and  once 
more  received  for  answer  that  she  should  look  for  support  to 
those  to  whom  she  had  assigned  her  property.     The  deplorable 
creature  now  collected  together  all  her  strength,   and  crawled 
into  the  street.     Here,  falling  down,  she  was  raised  up  by  some 
compassionate  soul,  and  conveyed  in  a  carriage  before  the  house 
of  her  relative.     They  knocked  at  the  door,  and  begged  for  com- 
passion for  her.     At  first  the  nephews  were  deaf  to  all  entreaties, 
but  at  last  they  opened  the  door  and   admitted  htr.     The  aunt 
related  everything — how  she  had  been  treated  from  the  first  up 
to  the  present  time,  how  they  had  at  the  commencement  allured 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


351 


her  with  flattering  speeches,  and  how  latterly  they  had  given 
her  kicks.  All  were  filled  with  pity  for  her,  and  were  enraged 
at  the  vile  conduct  of  the  sons  of  Loyola. 

The   Armenian   Patriarch,   at  that  time   present,  was  made 
acquainted  with  all  the  details  of  the  transaction.     The  woman 
acceded  with  joy  to  his  admonition  to  return  into  the  Arme- 
nian Church,  and,  after  this  was  accomplished   the  Patriarch 
promised  to  use  all  his  influence  in  order  to  recover  the  pro- 
perty which  had  been  given  away.     The  Prince  of  the  Church 
kept  his  promise,  and  made  a  complaint  to  the  Pasha.     The 
Pasha  was  no  less  resolute,  as  he  caused  Father  Sarot  to  be 
fetched,  and  ordered  him,  with  the  alternative  of  having  his  ears 
cut  ofl*,  to  give  back  the  whole  of  the  donation.     The  Father, 
however,    affirmed  that  he  had  received  only  four,  instead  of 
forty,  purses,  and  swore  to  this  falsehood  on  the  cross  of  Christ. 
Herewith  content,  the  Pasha  allowed  him  to  go  at  liberty,  and 
the  Father  rejoiced,  internally,  that  he  had,  at  all  events,  saved 
thirty-six  purses.     Immediately  thereupon  he  found  it  well  to 
vanish  during  the  darkness  of  the  night,   as  he  learnt  that  the 
nephews  were  not  satisfied  with  the  decision  of  the  Pasha,  but  had 
taken  the  trouble  to  collect  facts  by  which  the  true  condition  of 
their  aunt's  property,  and  also  the  perjury  of  Father  Sarot,  could 
be  proved.     He  found  it  well  to  disappear,  said  I ;  but,  as  to 
this,  I  mean  merely  out  of  Roumelia,  not  out  of  the  world,  for  a 
short  time  afterwards  he  turned  up  in  Italy,  and  the  General 
rewarded  him  for  his  excellent  service  with  a  situation  of  Rector. 
But  enough  of  this!     Enough,  for  it  would  only  disgust  most 
readers  to  listen  to  further  proofs  of  the  shamelessness  of  the 
sons  of  Lovola  as   to   inheritance-hunting.      Involuntarily  the 
other  question  comes  up  for  consideration,  whether  all  the  Jesuits 
thought   and  acted  alike.     One   might   be   of  opinion   that   it 
was  a  sheer  impossibility  that,  in  a  Society  numbering  so  many 
members,  who  in  part,  at  least,  were  highly  gifted— that,  I  say, 
in  such  a  Society  there  should  not  exist  some  brethren  who 
would  be  ashamed  of  such  a  vile  transaction  as  that  of  notorious 
inheritance-hunting.     One  might  be  of  such  an  opinion,  and  I 
believe  rightly  so,  but  what  does  that  matter?     The  Superiors 
of  the  Society,  and  especially  the  General  in  Rome,  knew  every 
member  perfectly,  while  annually  the  most  detailed  spying  reports 
must   necessarily  be  forwarded,    and    consequently   they  were 


852 


HISTOBY  OP  THE  JESUITS, 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


353 


aware  exactly  for  what  position  this  oae  or  that  one  was  best 
suited.  Is  it  to  be  believed,  however,  that  one  who,  in  the  matter 
of  inheritance-hunting,  thought  even  but  a  little  un-Jesuitically, 
would  be  appointed  to  be  Father  Confessor,  and,  indeed,  Father 
Confessor  to  a  rich  widow  ?  Suppose  this  to  be  the  case,  how- 
ever, had  the  mistake  been  made  at  any  time  of  an  unsuitable 
person  being  assigned  as  Father  Confessor  to  this  or  that  high 
personage,  would  not  this  error  be  at  once  rectified  by  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  fit  and  proper  successor?  The  Superior  retained 
the  full  right  of  disposal  over  the  members,  and  notoriously  made 
the  most  unlimited  use  of  this  right.  To  obey  was  the  duty  of 
every  one  of  them,  as  otherwise  punishment  was  certain,  and  the 
result  most  disagreeable.  Suppose,  however,  the  most  extreme 
case,  namely,  that  a  member  had  contrived  to  deceive  all  his 
brethren  as  to  his  true  character,  and  had  made  use  of  his  posi- 
tion of  Father  Confessor  to  restrain  his  confessant  from  making 
a  will  in  favour  of  the  Order,  or  even  had  not  encouraged  him  to 
do  so  ;  suppose  such  a  case,  what  would  be  the  consequences  ? 

The  instance  of  Father  Zimenes  gives  us  the  best  reply.  He 
was  Father  Confessor  to  a  rich  widow  of  Madrid,  and  as  she 
lay  on  her  death-bed,  in  the  year  1633,  made  her  will ;  he  did  not 
use  all  his  influence  with  her  to  bequeath  her  means  to  the 
Order,  but,  on  the  contrary,  admonished  her  to  leave  it  to  her 
rightful  heir.  So  the  widow  did,  indeed,  and  more  than  that, 
she  confessed  immediately  before  death  to  her  relatives  the  noble 
conduct  of  the  Father  ;  from  these  relatives,  however,  the  Jesuits 
at  third  hand  learned  this,  and  four  weeks  afterwards  the  worthy. 
Zimenes  was  no  longer  among  the  living.  He  died  in  the 
profess-house  in  Madrid  of  a  sudden  attack  of  henrt  disease,  as 
his  fellow  members  aflBrmed ;  he  was,  in  truth,  however,  as  most 
clearly  came  out  on  the  subsequent  expulsion  of  the  sous  of 
Loyola,  condemned  to  death  by  his  Superiors,  aud  slowlv  killed 
by  the  deprivation  of  all  food  and  drink.  He  ought  to  serve  as 
a  warning  to  his  fellow  members ;  and  this  has  certainly  been 
the  case,  as  no  one  ever  afterwards  heard  that  a  Jesuit  had 
advised  anyone  not  to  bequeath  his  property  to  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  On  the  contrary,  they  proved  themselves  in  this 
respect,  almost  without  exception,  so  zealous  and  expert, 
that  no  other  Order  can  be  at  all  compared  with  them  in  this 
particular;  and  an  author  of  the  last  century  gave  them,  on  that 


account,  the  characteristic  nickname  of  "  Legacy  hunters  par 
excellence,** 

I  must  not,  however,  conceal  on  this  occasion  that  several 
booties  escaped  them  from  the  fervour  of  their  zeal.  As  best 
proof  that  it  is  wiser  in  all  things  to  be  content  with  moderation 
rather  than  to  covet  everything,  I  allow  myself  to  confirm  this 
by  a  couple  of  examples. 

In  Brussels  there  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century  a 
couple  of  rich  relatives — a  brother  and  sister — quite  pleasantly 
and  in  perfect  accord  with  each  other,  although  the  sister  was  a 
little  over-pious,  while  the  brother  entertained  rather  free  views 
in  regard  to  matters  of  religion.     They  were  neither  of  them 
any  longer  young,  and  there  could  be  no  question  of  marriage 
either  in  the  one  case  or  the  other ;  on  the  other  hand,  there 
was  no  lack  of  other  sources  of  enjoyment,  and  the  brother  took 
especial  trouble  in  visiting  every  year  for  a  couple  of  months 
foreign   lands  and   cities.     On  one  occasion  the  latter  set  oflf 
again  on  such  a  journey,  and  as  he  contemplated  remaining 
away  for  a  lengthened   time,  he  previously  made  his  will,  in 
which  he  designated  his  sister  as  his  sole  heiress ;  not  that  there 
was  any  thought  about  dying,  but  merely  to  be  prepared  for  all 
contingencies,  as  a  matter  of  duty.     It  appeared,  however,  that 
the  brother  remained  away  much  longer  than  he  had  any  inten- 
tion of  doing,  and  as  he  did  not  during  the  whole  of  this  time 
allow  a  single  word  to  be  heard  from  him,  the  sister  began  to 
have  foreboding  of  something  being  amiss.  She  was  strengthened 
in  this  foreboding  by  her  Confessor,  a  worthy  Father  belonging 
to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  looked  already  upon  the  death  of 
the  brother  as  certain,  and  built  joyful  hopes  upon  it.     Upon 
her  entreaty,  moreover,  he  promised,  in  order  that  she  should   ' 
not  be  any  longer  vexed  with  uncertainty,  to  cause  information 
to  be  obtained  through  his  fellow  members,  who  had  their  places 
of  residence  all  over  the  world,  and  on  this  account  she  told 
him  everything  that  she  knew  as  to  the  aim  and  object  of  her 
brother's  journey.     It  now   occurred   that  she  herself  became 
sick  shortly  thereupon,  and  the  Jesuit  urged  her  most  earnestly 
to  make  a  will  in  favour  of  his  Order.     Sh«  hesitated  for   a 
long  time,  as  her  brother,  whom  she  had  promised  to  institute 
as  heir  in  the  event  of  her  death,  might  possibly  be  still  alive. 
The  Confessor  now  suddenly  brought  a  document,  prepared  by 

23 


354 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  rector  and  coadjutor  of  some  distant  college,  and  in  this 
document  it  stood  in  black  and  white  that  the  brother  had  died 
on  such  and  such  a  day,  and  even  the  complaint  from  which  he 
had  suffered  was  mentioned.  Of  course  there  was  now  no 
longer  any  doubt  about  his  death,  and  in  consequence  thereof, 
the  Jesuit  continued  his  urgent  solicitations  in  regard  to  the  will 
that  he  demanded.  At  length  the  pious  devotee  bequeathed  to 
the  Order  not  only  her  own  property,  but  that  also  belonging  to 
her  brother,  as  upon  this  she  had  testamentary  claims.  Now, 
who  could  rejoice  more  than  the  worthy  Society  of  Jesus?  But 
lo  and  behold !  She  suddenly  recovered  again,  although  dready 
being  looked  upon  as  lost,  and,  what  was  still  worse,  the  brother, 
supposed  to  be  dead,  turned  up  again  safe  and  sound.  He  had, 
sure  enough,  got  through  a  severe  illness,  but  in  quite  a  diffe- 
rent town  from  where  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  made  him  out  as 
dead,  and  now  it  became  as  clear  as  daylight  that  the  attested 
document  had  been  a  mean  and  lying  invention.  Consequently 
the  Jesuit  Confessor  was  at  once  dismissed,  and,  besides,  the 
sister  then  made  a  new  will,  in  which  the  former  one  was  com- 
pletely cancelled,  so  that  the  Jesuits  were  frustrated  for  this 
time  at  least. 

Another  still  more  pleasant  story,  wherein  it  happened  that 
the  sons  of  Loyola  had  deceived  themselves  about  an  inheritance 
of  which  they  had  already  made  quite  sure,  had  Metz  for  its 
playground  during  the  second  half  of  the  l7th  century.  The 
Jesuits  had  there  persuaded  a  very  rich  man,  as  he  came  to  die, 
that  his  soul  would  only  suffer  torture  for  ten  thousand  years  in 
Purgatory,  if  they  had  ten  thousand  masses  for  the  welfare  of 
his  soul,  that  is,  a  thousand  a  year  for  ten  years,  and  the  dying 
man  not  only  believed  this,  but  provided  in  his  will  that  his 
sons  should  pay  ten  gold  dollars  for  each  mass,  so  that  the  heirs 
had  to  disburse  annually  an  expenditure  of  ten  thousand  gold 
dollars  for  ten  years.  This  now  seemed  to  them  to  be  a  very 
dear  ransom  from  the  flames  of  Purgatory,  and  they  consulted 
over  the  matter  with  their  counsel,  an  extremely  sagacious  man, 
as  to  whether  there  was  any  way  of  remedying  the  matter.  The 
will  was,  however,  quite  legally  drawn  up,  and  could  not  be  dis- 
puted. Thus  far,  then,  there  appeared  that  nothing  could  be 
dune,  and  they  already  were  willing  to  submit  to  their  fate,  when 
a  most  cunning  expedient  occurred  to  the  advocate.  "  How  would 


THE   CONFESSIONAL. 


355 


it>,    thought  he,  "if  we  brought  forward  an  attestation  from 
the  Pope  that  the  soul  of  the  testator  had  been  already  released 
from  Purgatory  ?     Such  an  attestation  ought  to  'be  obtainable 
for  a  moderate  sum  of  money,  and  then  soul  masses  would  no 
longer  be  required  for  the  release  of  the  soul  of  the  deceased.  This 
being  the  case,  the  obligation  for  the  payment  would  also  cease, 
and  I  will   now  undertake   that    the    sons   of    Loyola   obtain 
for  damages  naught  but  ridicule."     Thus  did   the  man  learned 
m   the  law   reckon,   and,   in   due   course,   he   put  himself  in 
close  communication  with   a  Minorite  brother,  a  crafty   fellow 
of  a  monk.     The  latter,  who,  besides,  was  a  thorough  enemy 
of  the  Jesuits  on  account   of  their  arrogance,   undertook   the 
commission  with  the  utmost  joy,  and  set  off  for  Kome  in   the 
greatest  haste,  well  provided  with  money  and  recommendations.' 
Of  course  he  publicly  gave  out  quite  a  different  ground  for  the 
object  of  his  journey,  and  the  other  participators  in  the  matter 
preserved  perfect  silence  as  to  the  design,  in  order,  that  the  son» 
of  Loyola  might  not  have  their  attention  called  to  the  affair,  and 
prevent  its  accomplishment.     The  Minorite  arrived  in  Rome  all 
safe  and  sound,  and,  as  before  said,  possessing  a  proper  degree 
of  understanding,  he  immediately  made  appUcation  in  the  right 
direction  and  quickly  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  testimonial  he 
desired,  for  less  than  one  thousand  dollars.    As  soon,  however,  as 
he  got  this  in  his  pocket  he  hastened  back  to  Metz  with  a  very 
contented  mind,  and  handed  the  same  over  to  the  heirs,  who  richly 
rewarded  him  for  it.     In  the  meantime,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were 
not  idle  in  reading  masses  for  the  soul  of  the  deceased,  and, 
after  the  first  quarter  of  a  year  had  elapsed,  they  presented  their 
first   account  for  two  thousand  five   hundred   dollars.     How, 
indeed,  were  they  now  startled  when  they  received  a  reply  quite 
seriously  that  the  soul  of  the  testator  had  already  been  released 
from  Purgatory,  and  that  as  there  had  thus  been  no  occasion  to 
read  the  masses,  the  money  must  be  refused.     "  This  is,  indeed, 
quite  a  foolish  answer,  which  savours  of  the  mad-house,"  exclaimed 
the  Jesuits  to  the  heirs ;  but  the  latter  held  to  it,  and  left  the 
sons  of  Loyola  to  proceed  as  it  pleased  them.     The  advocate, 
indeed,  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  produce  proof  of  the  truth 
of  their  assertion.     It  came  now,  of  course,  to  a  law-suit,  and 
the  Jesuits  rested  in  the  firm  conviction  that  they  must  gain  it 
simply  upon  the  passage  in  the  will  referred  to.    As,  however, 

28  • 


856 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  man  learaed  in  the  law  pulled  the  testimonial  of  the  Holy 
See  out  of  his  pocket  and  laid  it  before  the  Court,  all  self- 
possession  disappeared  from  their  faces,  and  they  acknowledged 
themselves  to  have  been  outwitted.  They  renounced,  conse- 
quently, all  further  legal  proceedings,  and  at  the  same  time,  also, 
all  money  claims,  upon  the  advocate,  however,  on  the  other 
hand,  who  had  adopted  this  cunning  measure,  and  upon  the 
Minorite  monk,  who  acted  as  the  mediator,  they  visited  such 
intense  irreconcilable  hatred  that  they  never  rested  until  both  of 
them  quitted  the  town,  and  never  more  returned  thereto. 

A  still   more  unpleasant  business,   connected  with  a  buc- 
cession,    happened    at    that    time  to   the  sons  of   Loyola  in 
Naples,  when  the  Duke  of  Ossuna  reigned  there  as  Viceroy.     A 
very  rich  merchant  had  bequeathed  to  them  his  whole  property, 
under  the  condition  that  an  only  son,  who  was  very  young  at  the 
time  of  his  death,   entered   into  their  Order;   however,  when 
interrogated,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  as  to  whether  it  would  be  his 
wish  to  remain  in  the  world,  should  the  lad  refuse  to  become  a 
Jesuit,  they  should  then  be  bound  to  pay  over  his  patrimony 
to  him,   which   amounted  to  more   than  a  hundred    thousand 
ducats,  and  they  might,  in  that  case,  only  retain,  as  a  compensa- 
tion,  what  had  been   expended   by   them   for    his   education, 
Christianly  and  economically  reckoned.     This  was  a  very  indefi- 
nite passage,  out  of  which,  at  a  pinch,  anything  might  be  twisted 
that  was  liked,  and  the  Jesuits  at  once  made  up  their  minds,  at 
any  rate,  to  turn  it  to  their  own  advantage.     Therefore,  when 
the  young  man,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  declared  his  intention 
to  remain  in   the  worid,    they  gave  thenreelvfes  no  particular 
trouble  to  keep  him  back  from  doing  so,  but  allowed  him  rather 
to  withdraw  conspicuously   and  without  any  difficulty;  as  he 
then,  however,  desired  to  have  his  property  delivered  up  to  him, 
they  intimated  that  it  would  be  liberal  on  their  part  if  they  gave 
him  back  as  much  as  ten  thousand  ducats,  as,  on  the  supposition 
that  he  would  remain  with  them,  they  had  already  expended 
everything  in  benevolent  objects.     Upoo  this  the  youth  declared 
liimself  not  to  be  at  all  satisfied,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  put  in 
a  demand  for  eighty  thousand  ducats,  as  it  was  certainly  more 
than  enough  if  he  allowed  them  twenty  thousand  on  account  of 
his  education.    Thus  the  two  parties  contended  with  the  utmost 
vivacity  about  the  matter,  and  the  Jesuits  especially  showed  not 


TEH   00NFESSI0K4L. 


357 


the  least  desire  to  abate  even  one  iota  of  their  claim.  In  order 
to  put  an  end  to  the  matter  as  soon  as  possible,  the  youth,  by 
the  advice  of  his  friends,  addressed  himself  to  the  Viceroy  (the 
Duke  of  Ossuna),  who  caused  the  accuser,  as  well  as  the  accused, 
to  come  before  him,  asking  each  of  them  as  to  how  far  he  went 
in  his  demand,  and  how  much  he  was  inclined  voluntarily  to 
abandon  ?  The  youth  declared  that  as  a  last  resource  he  would 
be  contented  with  seventy  thousand  ducats ;  the  Jesuits,  how- 
ever, obstinately  persisted  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  pay 
more  than  ten  thousand.  "  Good,  then,"  said  the  Viceroy  now 
to  the  sons  of  Loyola;  "you  can  demand  what  you  consider 
reasonable  and  Christianlike.  I  ask  you,  then,  this:  Is  it  a 
Christian  principle  that  one  should  do  to  one's  neighbour  as  one 
would  wish  to  be  done  by  ?  "  "  So  teaches  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures," answered  the  disciples  of  Ignatius.  "Then,"  decided 
the  Viceroy,  "  act  accordingly ;  that  is  to  say,  give  to  the 
youth  the  ninety  thousand  ducats  which  you  retained  for  your- 
selves, and  take  the  ten  thousand  which  you  were  prepared  to 
pay."  This  decision  held  good,  in  spite  of  all  the  machinations 
of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  everyone  praised  the  Duke,  as  well 
for  his  Solomon-like  wisdom,  as  on  account  of  the  characteristic 
behaviour  which  he  had  brought  to  light.  Thus,  sometimes, 
the  sons  of  Loyola  came  off"  badly;  in  general,  however,  they 
contrived  to  hold  uncommonly  fast  to  what  had  been  testa- 
mentarily  promised  them,  and  the  world  would  be  astonished  if 
one  put  upon  paper  all  the  particulars  as  to  the  whole  of  the 
sums  obtained  by  them  through  legacy-hunting. 


358 


HISTOEY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


BOBBERY  AND  THEFT. 


359 


CHAPTEE  IL 

ROBBEBY  AND  THEFT  AMONG  LAITY  AND  ECCLESIASTICS. 

There  is  much  material  for  this  chapter,  and  one  would  almost 
be  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  liked  nothing 
better  than  to  busy  themselves  with  stealing  and  robbing.  One 
comes  much  more  quickly  and  easily  into  possession  of  anything 
in  this  way  than  by  honest  gain  and  the  industry  of  the  hands — 
why  not,  therefore,  acquire  riches  thus?  In  order^  however, 
to  give  the  reader  a  very  clear  insight  into  those  villainous 
practices  I  will  begin  with  "  Cheating  in  a  small  way,*'  then  go 
on  to  regular  "  Theft,"  and,  lastly,  conclude  with  "  Robbery  on  a 
large  scale."  But,  in  all  these  three  specialities,  villainy  shall  only 
be  so  far  especially  brought  to  notice  as  may  be  necessary  to 
give  a  correct  picture  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  the  object  I  have' 
in  hand,  and  I  will  not  go  to  work  with  the  Chronique  Scan- 
daleuse  in  my  hand. 

A  most  common  practice  among  the  sons  of  Loyola  was  to 
solicit  a  present  from  rich  parents  who  desired  the  reception  of 
their  sons  into  the  novitiate  of  their  Order,  and,  indeed,  such  a 
present  as  corresponded  to  the  property  to  which  the  young  man 
would  one  day  be  entitled.  One  might,  therefore,  regard  such 
presents  as  a  kind  of  *'  dotal  gift,'*  or,  still  better,  a  "  gift  in ' 
anticipation  of  the  future  inheritance,"  and  upon  this  the  sons 
of  Loyola  founded  their  right  to  demand  the  same.  Besides, 
added  they,  is  not  a  person  taken  care  of  for  life  as  member  of 
their  Society,  and  therefore  may  one  not  sacrifice  a  bit  of  money 


I 


for  it  ?  In  short,  they  knew  how  to  get  over,  in  this  way,  most 
cunningly,  without  deriving  any  hurt  therefrom,  the  publicly 
expressed  statute  by  which  they  were  bound  to  impart  all  in- 
struction gratis,  and  the  sums  of  money  which  they  earned  in 
this  manner  were  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  Still,  matters 
did  not  end  here,  seeing  they  dismissed  very  many  of  these 
youths  after  a  short  time  as  unsuitable,  retaining,  however,  for 
themselves  the  dotal  gift.  Indeed,  they  were  aware  that  not  a 
few  of  those  were  unfit,  and  that  they  could  not  be  made  any 
use  of,  owing  to  their  want  of  talent ;  their  sole  object,  therefore, 
in  receiving  them  into  the  novitiate  was  to  be  able  to  possess 
themselves  of  what  was  paid  on  admission !  The  proofs  of 
these  deceitful  dealings  might  be  brought  to  light  by  hundreds 
and  hundreds ;  it  is  suflBcient,  however,  to  refer  to  one  instance 
alone,  which  is  remarkable  in  this  respect,  that  a  father  con- 
trived, in  a  most  original  way,  to  get  back  the  entrance  money 
which  had  been  paid  for  his  son. 

A  very  wealthy  smith,  settled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Milan, 
wished  to  participate  in  the  honour  of  seeing  his  son  among  the 
Jesuits,  and  offered  the  rector  of  the  college  in  the  aforesaid 
capital  the  tolerably  large  sum,  in  ready  money,  of  2,000  ducats 
in  the  event  of  the  latter  meeting  his  wishes.  The  rector 
laughed  in  his  sleeve,  as  the  youth  was  a  very  strong,  square- 
built  churi,  being  at  the  same  time  such  a  queer  fellow  that  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  mould  him  into  an  ordinary  monk,  and 
still  less  into  a  Jesuit.  Nevertheless,  the  rector  assented  with 
pleasure,  slid  the  2,000  ducats  into  his  pocket,  and  enveloped 
the  youth  in  a  novice's  habit.  All  went  on  well  now,  during  a 
couple  of  weeks,  and  the  son  of  Loyola  in  embryo  was  treated 
in  a  way  as  that  nothing  better  could  be  desired.  In  course 
of  time,  however,  they  ceased  to  consider  him  as  a  stranger, 
and  their  teasing,  chicanery,  and  maltreatment  overstepped  all 
bounds.  They  plainly  wished  to  carry  on  so  far  with  the 
fellow  that  he  should  take  flight  from  the  house  of  probation, 
for  then  the  Jesuits  could  wash  their  hands  in  innocency. 
Because,  however,  the  poor  tormented  fellow,  fearing  the  wrath 
of  his  father,  endured  all  without  a  murmur,  the  pious  Fathers 
then  lost  all  patience,  and  at  length  chased  their  pupil  away 
without  further  ado,  while  they  gave  him  no  more  than  five 
dollars  for  sustenance  on  the  way.    The  anger  of  the  smith 


860 


HISTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


may  be  well  imagined,  when  his  son  came  hack  to  him,  and  the 
latter  had  to  suffer  much  at  ßrst  from  the  circumstance  of  his 
return.  The  father  soon,  however,  perceived  that  the  fault  lay 
entirely  with  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  he  not  only  at  once  de- 
manded the  return  of  his  2,000  ducats,  but,  as  his  request  was 
refused,  he  proceeded  to  lodge  a  complaint  in  the  law  courts. 
But  what  did  this  complaint  matter  ?  The  sons  of  Loyola 
proved  that  the  smith  had  given  the  2,000  ducats  to  them  "  as 
a  present,"  and,  as  one  could  not  be  compelled  to  return  dona- 
tions, so  was  the  complainant  put  to  silence. 

In  the  regular  legal  way  there  was,  then,  nothing  to  be  done, 
but  the  smith  now  hit  upon  an  extraordinary  plan  of  proceeding, 
and  this  brought  about  his  object.  He  caused  a  regular  Jesuit's 
dress  to  be  made  for  his  son,  and  thus  clad  he  was  obliged  to 
work  in  the  smithy,  to  flog  the  horses  in  the  streets,  and  to  go 
on  all  errands  that  were  required.  This  peculiar  spectacle 
attracted  a  number  of  inquisitive  loafers,  as  the  Jesuit  pupil  was 
observed  by  everyone  at  the  anvil,  and  soon  nothing  else  was 
talked  about  in  the  whole  neighbourhood  than  this  affair. 
People  not  only  chatted  about  it,  however,  but  also  railed  and 
jeered  uncommonly,  and  the  honour  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  began 
to  suff'er  considerably.  They  at  once  complained  respecting  the 
abuse  of  their  Jesuit  costume;  but  the  legal  authorities  gave' 
it  as  their  opinion  that  the  young  smith  had  a  right  to  the 
said  costume,  as  he  actually  had  been  received  as  a  Jesuit 
novice  ;  and  now  the  insults  and  jeers  increased  more  than  ever. 
In  short,  at  last  there  remained  nothing  else  for  the  sons  of 
Loyola  to  do  but  to  terminate  the  scandal  by  putting  the  best 
face  on  the  matter,  and  returning  the  2,000  ducats  to  the  smith  ; 
and  thus  the  latter  attained  his  end  by  .means  of  his  original 
idea. 

There  was  another  custom  among  the  sons  of  Loyola,  accord- 
ing to  direction  to  borrow  from  rich  persons  well  disposed 
towards  the  Order,  under  the  pretext  of  great  poverty  and  on 
account  of  the  colleges  or  seminaries,  smaller  or  larger  sums  of 
money,  and,  if  demanded,  to  give  written  bills  of  obligation,  the 
repayment  of  which  they  put  off"  as  much  as  possible  If,  then, 
the  creditor  should  later  on  contract  some  illness  which  brought 
him  near  to  death,  they  were  wont  to  visit  him  unceasingly,  and 
continue  to  put  pressure  upon  him  until  he  should  hand  over 


ROBBERY  AND  THEFT. 


861 


to  them  the  note  of  hand  they  had  given  him,  which  was  the 
same  thing  as  giving  them  a  present  of  the  money  lent.  In 
this  way  the  Society  of  Jesus  acquired  much  riches.  More 
than  this,  they  borrowed^  sums  of  money  wherever  they  could 
without  giving  in  acknowledgment  any  note  of  hand  for  the 
same.  In  order  to  carry  on  this  game  eflFectually  the  Fathers 
put  on  an  appearance  of  the  greatest  honesty  and  candour,  and 
conducted  themselves  in  such  a  way  as  if  the  word  "  deceit " 
were  quite  opposite  to  their  character;  so  how  could  a  pious 
soul,  from  whom  they  had  borrowed  money  for  a  holy  object, 
think  so  meanly  of  them  as  to  require  a  note  of  hand  as 
security  ?  No  ;  the  mere  word  of  such  distinguished  men  was 
quite  sufficient,  and  anything  more  would  have  been  an  insult  to 
religion  itself. 

What  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  do,  however,  when,  as  was  often 
the  case,  they  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  loan  in  this  way  ?  Did 
they  keep  to  their  word,  and  pay  back  the  loan  honourably  and 
honestly  ?  God  forbid !  but,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  they 
denied  having  incurred  the  debt,  and  by  perjury  released  them- 
selves from  repaying  it.  Certes!  a  very  convenient  way  of 
obtaining  money,  although  they  repudiated  the  idea  of  theft. 
**  But,"  said  the  sons  of  Loyola,  **  only  fools  would  have  so 
inelastic  a  conscience  as  to  shrink  from  doing  such  a  trifle  as 
that !  *'  Of  course,  moreover,  it.  would  be  inadmissible  for  me 
to  make  so  startling  an  accusation  against  the  Society  of  Jesus 
without  having  the  required  proofs  in  my  hands. 

In  the  town  of  Orleans  a  Mademoiselle  Vinet,  before  her  death, 
had  presented  to  her  maid,  who  had  served  her  during  many 
years,  a  considerable  sum  in  Louis  d'or,  along  with  a  valuable 
collection  of  old  gold  coins ;  and  this  took  place  in  the  presence 
of  her  coufessor.  Father  Director.  The  latter  now  offered  to  the 
maid  to  deposit  the  money  for  her  at  very  good  interest,  as  also 
to  hand  over  to  an  amateur  with  whom  he  was  acquainted  the 
gold  coins,  in  order  that  they  should  be  properly  valued ;  and 
the  maid,  greatly  pleased  at  such  an  offer,  at  once  gave  him  over 
her  whole  treasure.  As  regards  a  receipt  for  the  same  from  the 
holy  Father,  it  was  out  of  the  question,  and  never  entered  into 
the  head  of  the  maid  to  demand  one,  as  she  was  fearful  of  com- 
mitting sin  by  not  putting  the  fullest  confidence  in  such  a 
respectable  gentleman  as  was  the  Father.     Some  time  after  this 


862 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Mademoiselle  Vinet  died,  and  as  the  maid,  Alice  by  name,  wished 
to  enter  into  the  state  of  matrimony,  she  asked  the  Father,  at 
the  request  of  her  lover  how  much  had  been  realised  from  the  sale 
of  the  gold  coins,  and  where  he  had  deposited  the  whole  of  the 
money.  "  Gold  coins,"  replied  the  Father,  "  thou  deceivest  thy- 
self, my  daughter ;  there  were  none  such,  but  merely  copper  ones 
of  little  value,  and  as  for  the  remaining  money,  thou  canst  have 
that  any  day,  altogether  about  a  thousand  francs."  The  maid 
was  astounded,  as  her  deceased  mistress  had  told  her  that  the 
total  value  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  livres,  or  francs.  But 
the  Father  stuck  to  his  assertion,  and  became  most  indignant 
when  the  lover  of  Alice  would  not  be  contented  with  the  thousand 
francs.  The  advice  of  an  advocate  was  now  taken,  and  re- 
course had  to  the  law.  But  the  Jesuits,  who  to  a  man  sided 
with  their  fellow  brother,  at  once  adopted  a  lofty  tone,  and 
entered  a  complaint  of  gros^  calumny.  Consequently,  Alice 
and  her  betrothed  were  at  length  compelled  to  pray  for  forgive- 
ness, and  publicly  to  confess  that  they  had  falsely  accused 
Father  Director  of  fraud. 

It  went  better  with  the  Capucin  Timotheus  de  la  Flute,  who 
acted  for  many  years  as  agent,  correspondent,  and  courier  for 
Father  Le  Tellier,  the  ill-famed  Father  Confessor  of  Louis  XIV., 
during  his  strife  with  the  Jansenists.  After  the  said  Capucin  had 
become  Bishop  of  Berith,  in  the  year  1739,  he  demanded  of  the 
Jesuits  of  Tours  the  return  of  the  sum  of  130,000  livres,  which 
he  had  handed  over  to  them  for  safe  keeping;  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  however,  denied  ever  having  received  a  single  sou  from 
him,  and  he  could  not  produce  proof  to  the  contrary,  as  he  had 
been  foolish  enough  not  to  have  made  sure  by  a  note  of  hund  of 
any  description.  With  dismay  he  took  to  entreaty,  and  humili 
ated  himself,  even  to  tears ;  but  the  worthy  Fathers  remained 
obdurate,  and  declared  they  would  make  a  complaint  ngainst 
him  if  he  pestered  them  any  more.  At  last,  in  his  rage,  he 
threatened  to  expose  all  the  intrigues  and  wicked  manoeuvres  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected  by  order  of  the  Father  Confessor 
Le  Tellier,  and  he  already,  indeed,  began  to  entertain  the  idea 
of  making  the  party  of  the  Jansenists  acquainted  with  every- 
thing, when  Le  Tellier  interfered  just  in  time,  and  constrained 
his  fellow- members  to  yield. 

Timotheus  de  la  Flute  thus  obtained  his  money  back  again, 


ROBBERY  AND  THEFT. 


363 


but  in  thirteen  yearly  instalments,  and,  besides,  without  any 
interest,  so  that  the  Fathers  still  always  derived  some  profit. 
*  At  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century  the  Jesuits  played  a 
great  game  at  Li6ge,  and  most  of  the  widows  and  elderly  un- 
married ladies  wished  to  have  only  them  as  Father  Confessors. 
Among  these  said  ladies  was  a  Mademoiselle  Devis6,  a 
maiden  of  mature  age,  celebrated  for  her  riches  as  well  as  her 
bigotry,  who  had  on  different  occasions  not  only  lent  large 
sums  to  the  Jesuit  college,  but  also,  in  the  year  1737,  when  very 
ill,  given  over  in  charge  to  her  Confessor,  Father  Adrian 
Lontemberg,  a  casket  filled  with  gold  pieces,  in  order  that  the 
latter  might  hand  it  over  to  her  nephew  Devis6  as  soon  as  he 
should  arrive  at  Li6ge  after  her  death.  The  Father  Confessor, 
who  also  obtained  a  very  considerable  legacy  for  his  Order, 
solemnly  promised  to  do  so,  and  the  good  old  dame  died  imme- 
diately afterwards  in  the  firm  belief  that  she  had  acted  for  the 
best  for  her  dear  nephew.  When,  however,  he  arrived,  and  at 
once  demanded  from  the  college  the  restoration  of  the  sums  which 
had  been  lent,  as  well  as  the  casket  entrusted  to  the  care  of 
Father  Lontemberg — respecting  which  two  matters  he  had  been 
fortunately  made  aware  by  a  letter  which  the  aunt  caused  to  be 
written  on  her  death-bed  by  the  chamber-maid— the  above  named 
Father  denied,  in  the  strongest  terms,  ever  having  received  any- 
thing but  a  small  trifle  from  Mademoiselle  Devis6.  Indeed,  he 
declared  the  requisition  of  the  nephew  to  be  a  villainous  inven- 
tion, which  was  calculated  to  bring  the  Order  of  Jesus  into 
disrepute,  for  as  far  as  he  knew — and  he  stood  on  the  most  in- 
timate terms  with  his  deceased  confessing  daughter,  so  much  so 
that  she  withheld  no  secret  from  him — it  was  quite  contrary  to 
the  inclination  of  the  aunt  Devis6  to  allow  large  sums  of  money 
to  lie  without  interest,  and  there  never  had  existed  such  a  thing 
as  a  casket  filled  with  pistoles. 

The  other  sons  of  Loyola  present  in  the  college  of  Li6ge 
also  assumed  the  same  role,  and,  if  they  did  not  absolutely 
gainsay  having  received  small  donations  now  and  then  from 
the  deceased,  they  stoutly  denied,  with  a  bold  front,  having 
obtained  any  such  large  sums  as  were  laid  claim  to  by  the 
nephew.  The  poor  Devis6,  who  had  believed  himself  entitled  to 
a  large  inheritance,  was  now  in  a  sad  plight,  and  knew  not  what 
to  do.     He  had,  indeed,  the  letter  of  the  chamber-maid,  but  the 


864 


HISTOBT   OF   THB   JESUITS. 


llOBBERY  AND   THEFT?. 


865 


latter  had  suddenly  disappeared  from  Li4ge  overnight,  without 
anyone  being  in  the  least  able  to  give  any  information  as  to  her 
abode.  How  could  he,  then,  be  able  to  prove  that  the  letter 
contained  the  truth,  or,  indeed,  that  it  was  authentic  ? 

The  situation  was  one  of  desperation  ;  still,  overnight  came 
good  counsel.  Father  Golenvaux,  who  kept  the  secret  register 
of  the  revenues  and  expenses  of  the  college  at  Liege,  had  a 
nephew — others  affirm  that  he  was  his  son — towards  whom  he 
entertained  extraordinary  affection,  and  this  latter,  who  always 
and  at  all  times  had  access  to  his  uncle,  offered,  for  a  sum  of 
money,  to  make  a  copy  of  the  whole  receipts  which  flowed 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Jesuit  college.  This  was  done,  and, 
sure  enough,  in  this  secret  book  were  not  only  found  noted  all 
the  moneys  as  to  which  the  nephew  had  laid  claim,  but  there 
was  also  the  statement  of  the  number  of  pistoles  contained  in 
the  casket  above  mentioned. 

The  young  Devise  now,  by  the  advice  of  his  advocate,  applied 
to  the  vicar  apostolical  of  the  day,  and  laid  all  these  particulars 
before  him,  at  the  same  time  declaring  that  he  would  be  willing 
and  ready  to  spare  the  Jesuits  the  scandal  of  a  public  trial,  if 
they  voluntarily  accorded  to  him  what  he  was  entitled  to  demand. 
Thereupon  the  vicar  at  once  took  action,  and  Father  Golenvaux, 
by  his  order,  was  obliged  to  lay  before  him  at  once  the  original 
register,  and  as  it  was  found  to  correspond  with  the  copy,  th^re 
remained  nothing  else,  of  course,  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  do 
but  to  pay  the  amount  for  which  they  were  liable,  so  that  their 
design  for  this  once  completely  miscarried. 

The  greatly  notorious  law-suit,  between  them  and  the  Herren 
von  Viane,  which  began  in  1738  and  ended  in  1745,  terminated, 
on  the  other  hand,  quite  differently,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola  com- 
pletely gained  the  day,  although  their  proved  rascality  was  quite 
apparent.  In  the  year  1738,  Frau  Mariane  Justidavis,  spouse 
of  Herr  Rombault  von  Viane,  succeeded  to  an  inheritance  in 
Germany,  to  the  amount  of  300,000  florins,  consisting  partly  in 
coin  and  partly  in  diamonds  and  other  valuables,  whereupon  she 
came  to  Brussels  with  the  same,  in  order  to  convert  all  these 
objects  into  current  money.  Hereupon  Father  Lutger  Jansens, 
whom,  on  account  of  his  highly  esteemed  reputation,  she  took 
as  her  Father  Confessor,  declared  to  her  that  he  would  assist  her 
to  the  best  of  his  ability ;  and  at  the  same  time^advised  her,Eflrs1) 


of  all,  to  place  the  valuables  in  the  Jesuits'  college,  as  they 
would  be  much  safer  there,  at  any  rate,  than  in  any  private 
house.  This  was  evident  to  Frau  Mariane  von  Viane,  and  the 
Father  fetched  a  carriage,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  conveyed  the 
gold  and  precious  stones  into  the  college ;  no  acknowledgment 
was  granted  as  to  the  receipt  of  these  latter,  which  amounted  in 
value  to  630,000  francs,  because  it  was  intended  shortly  to  con- 
vert them  into  Belgian  coin.  Scarcely  had  this  taken  place, 
than  Herr  Rombault  von  Viane  arrived  in  Brussels,  and  when 
his  wife  told  him  all,  informing  him  that  she  had  received  no 
receipt  of  any  kind,  he  augured  nothing  good.  He  ordered  the 
same,  therefore,  to  preserve  the  most  complete  silence  for  the 
present  as  to  his  arrival,  and  then  hastened  to  a  sagacious 
lawyer,  in  order  to  consult  with  him  as  to  what  should  be  done. 
After  long  consideration,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Frau  should  fall 
sick,  and  that,  on  this  account,  she  should  send  for  her  Con- 
fessor, Father  Jansens.  After  having  received  from  him  some 
religious  consolation,  she  should  then  begin  to  speak  to  him  con- 
oerning  the  valuables  entrusted  to  his  care,  and  tell  him  that  she 
had  received  the  orders  of  her  husband  in  writing  to  deliver 
them  over  to  Herr  von  Dormael,  a  well-known  wholesale  dealer 
in  Brussels.  It  was  arranged,  moreover,  that  every  word 
which  was  exchanged  should  be  taken  down  by  two  notaries, 
who,  with  four  worthy  citizens  of  the  town,  would  be  hid 
in  a  neighbouring  alcove,  and  the  account  then  subscribed  by 
these  citizens  as  witnesses.  In  due  course,  the  four  witnesses, 
with  the  two  notaries,  were  so  artfully  concealed  in  the  alcove, 
that  they  could  see  as  well  as  hear  all  that  went  on  in  the  neigh- 
bouring chamber,  and  the  celebrated  Father  was  now  brought 
to  render  consolation  to  the  sick  Frau  Mariane,  who  laid 
herself  down  in  bed.  He,  of  course,  came  at  once,  and 
discharged  his  duty  as  ecclesiastic,  receiving  his  fee.  As  this 
was  over,  however,  the  Frau  asked  him  whether  there  was  any 
hope  yet  that  the  German  gold,  together  with  the  precious  stones 
and  other  valuables^  might  be  advantageously  converted  into 
Belgian  money.  "  Not  yet,"  replied  the  Father,  who  naturally 
presumed  that  he  was  quite  alone  with  his  confessing  child ;  on 
the  other  hand,  ''  he  hoped,  in  a  short  time,  to  be  enabled  to 
bring  more  favourable  intelligence,  and,  in  the  meantime,  the 
treasure  was  well  taken  care  of."    The  Frau  now  explained  to 


H 


366 


filSTOBY   Of   THE   JESUITS. 


him  that  her  hushand  had  given  her  orders  that  the  gold  and 
diamonds  should  be  handed  over  to  the  wholesale  dealer  von 
Dormael,  and,  good  or  ill,  that  she  must  give  effect  to  the  order. 
Upon  this  the  Father  became  very  angry,  and  declared  that  he 
would  in  no  case  deliver  the  things  to  the  said  wholesale  dealer. 
Indeed,  he  forbade  the  Frau  to  speak  a  single  word  about  the 
matter  with    Herr  von  Dormael,  and  vowed  solemnly  that  he 
would  deny,  without  further  ado,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  burnt 
alive,  having  any  concern  as  to  the  keeping  of  the  treasure  if  she 
was  so  indiscreet  as  to  speak  to  him  again  about  this  order. 
With  these  words  he  took  his  leave,  without,  however,  having 
any   conception  of  having  been  overheard  by  anyone  with  the 
exception   of  the   Frau   von   Viane   alone;    the  two  notaries, 
however,  at  once  now  stepped  out  of  the  alcove,  completed  their 
minutes,    and  caused  the  same   to  be  subscribed  by  the  four 
citizens  as  witnesses,  who  had  likewise  been  concealed.     The 
next   step  was,  that  Herr  von  Viane  demanded   from   Father 
Jansens  the  restoration  of  the  treasure  committed  to  his  keeping, 
and,   as  the  Father  actually  Carried  out  his  threat  of  denying 
everything,  he  at  once  lodged  a  legal  complaint.     His  advocate 
produced  the  protocol  which  had  been  taken,  and  the  four  sworn 
witnesses,  to  show  that  everything  had  occurred  as  stated  in 
the  deed.     In  spite   of  all   this.  Father  Jansens  persisted  in 
denying   everything,  and  all  the  Jesuits  of  Liege  sided  with 
him.     The  coachman  was  found  who  had  taken  the  treasure  into 
the  Jesuit  College,  and  the  man  acknowledged  on  oath  having 
done  80.     On  the  other  hand,  the  sons  of  Loyola  maintained 
that  every  point  of  the  accusation  was  invented,  and  that  the  two 
notaries,  along  with  the  four  witnesses,  had  been  bought  over  by 
Herr  von  Viane.     They  succeeded  in  getting  the  coachman  to 
recall  his  first  declaration,  and  further  managed  to  produce  sixty 
witnesses  who  gave  evidence  in  their  favour;    they  at  length 
worked  upon  the  people,  by  pamphlets  distributed  about,  as  well 
as  by  public  denunciations  from  the  pulpits,  in  such  a  way  that 
not  a  few  firmly  beheved  that  the  couple  Viane,  with  the  said  two 
notaries  and  four  witnesses,  had  concocted  a  vile  conspiracy  to 
the  injury  of  the  Jesuit  Order.     The  law-suit  appeared  inclined 
to  go,  too,  in  favour  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  the  High  Council 
of  Brabant  had  already  ordered  proceedings  to  betaken  against 
the  perjured  coachman.     Indeed,  it  was  also  proposed  to  pro- 


BOBBEBY  AND   THEFT. 


367 


ceed  summarily  against  the  two  Vianes  and  their  associates; 
when  'suddenly,  in  May  1743,  fifty  out  of  the  sixty  Jesuit 
witnesses,  driven  into  a  corner  by  the  Court  of  Law,  declared  that 
they  had  received  money  for  their  evidence,  and  that  it  was  false. 
The  leader  of  the  sixty,  by  name  Konisloe,  who,  with  nine 
others,  still  adhered  to  his  first  assertion,  was  now  subjected  to 
torture,  whereupon  the  whole  web  of  villainy  was  revealed.  The 
sentence  against  Konisloe  and  five  other  chief  perjurers  con- 
sisted in  flogging,  branding  round  the  neck,  and  then  ten 
years'  imprisonment  with  hard  labour,  and,  lastly,  eternal  banish- 
ment out  of  the  town  and  its  precincts.  Two  other  guilty 
accomplices  were  condemned  to  be  flogged  and  to  be  banished 
for  life ;  and  another  two  merely  to  be  placed  in  the  pillory.  At 
the  same  time  the  High  Council  of  Brabant  ordered  proceedings 
to  be  taken  against  Master  Versin,  the  secretary  of  the  Pro- 
curator-General, because  he  had  likewise  allowed  himself  to  be 
bribed  by  the  Jesuits,  but  he  saved  himself,  together  with  some 
equally  guilty  associates,  by  flight,  to  which  he  was  assisted  by 
money  from  some  unknown  hand — undoubtedly  that  of  the 
Jesuits. 

It  now  seemed  that  the  rightful  case  of  the  Vianes  had 
won  the  victory,  and  everyone  expected  shortly  a  decree  in 
their  favour.  But  the  sons  of  Loyola  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Brussels,  and,  supported  by  fresh  evidence,  demanded 
re-establishment  in  their  former  position.  The  Supreme  Court, 
consisting  for  the  most  part  of  adherents  to  their  Order,  granted 
their  petition,  and  the  trial  began  afresh.  At  once  every  effort 
was  made  in  order  to  get  the  judges  to  vote  in  their  favour, 
and  money  and  women  played  therein  a  principal  part.  Herr 
Kombault  von  Viane,  on  the  other  hand,  was  brought  to  extremi- 
ties from  the  hitherto  enormous  costs  of  the  suit,  and  could  no 
longer  compete  against  Jesuit  influence.  At  length,  in  the 
summer  of  the  year  174Ö,  the  case  was  ripe  for  judgment,  and 
the  Supreme  Court  decreed  as  follows : — 

First.  Eombault  von  Viane  is  declared  arrested,  as  he  has 
falsely  represented  that  he  was  possessed  of  a  treasure  of  coined 
and  uncoined  gold,  as  well  as  of  rough  diamonds  and  other 
precious  stones,  to  the  amount  of  1^96,000  florins,  and  that  he 
had  committed  this  treasure  to  the  Jesuit  College,  and  more 
especially  to  Father  Lutger  Jansens.     On  account  of  the  long 


ii 


368 


HISTOEY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


confinement,  however,  to  which  he  has  heen  suhjected,  as  also 
of  his  former  imhecility  of  tnind,  and  other  mitigating  cir- 
cumstances, he  is  released  from  arrest  and  condemned  merely 
in  law  costs. 

Second.  The  two  prisoners  Michael  Valder,  painter,  and 
Jodocus  Roos,  formerly  infantry  officer,  are  to  be  considered 
convicted  in  that  they  gave  false  evidence  against  Father  Jansens, 
and  shall  be  flogged  on  the  scaffold  and  then  banished ;  their 
property  also  is  to  be  forfeited  to  the  State,  after  the  deduction 
of  legal  expenses. 

Thirdly  and  lastly.  The  prisoner  Cauve,  citizen  of  Brussels, 
is  also  declared  to  be  guilty  of  having  sworn  a  false  oath 
against  Father  Jansens;  but  on  account  of  his  lengthened 
imprisonment,  he  is  released  fro'm  further  imprisoment,  and 
condemned  merely  in  costs. 

Thus  ran  the  sentence  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Brussels,  and 
who  can  describe  the  joy  of  the  Jesuits  ?      They  could  now 
retain  their  booty,  and  had  succeeded  in  legally  justifying  them- 
selves besides!    Nevertheless,  it  became  at  that  time  a  proverb 
in  Brabant,  that  one  might  as  well  throw  one's  money  into  the 
sea  as  entrust  it  to  the  Jesuits,  for,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  bigoted  women,  everyone  was  convinced  of   their  villainy 
against  the  poor  Bombault  von  Viane.     But  not  only  did  the 
sons  of  Loyola  know  how  to  appropriate  money  entrusted  to 
their  keeping,   their  system   of  cheating  extended  itself  much 
further,  and  they  took  possession  of  whatever  they  could  lay 
their  hands  upon.    Indeed,  they  showed  such  a  degree  of  expert- 
ness  in  such  matters,  as  one  could  hardly  imagine ;  they  were 
well  up  in  the  school  of  forgery,  theft,  and  robbery,  and  many  of 
them  in  this  acquired  actual  perfection.     Thus,  to   begin  with  a 
little  example,  they  caused  several  very  rich  and,    at  the  same 
time,  very  pious  inhabitants  of   Bordeaux   to  make   a  large 
sarcophagus  of  pure  silver  in  order  to  keep  in  it  several  relics 
upon   the  high   altar  of  the  principal  church;    the  superior, 
Bussow,  in  the  night,  substituting  for  the  same   a  precisely 
similar  one  made  of  lead,  which  had  a  thin  plate  of  silver  over  it, 
sold  the  silver  one  after  having  melted  it,  and  thereby  gained  for 
the  Order  a  hundred  pounds  of  silver.     Thus,  too,  the  Fathers 
€luniac  and  Marsan  employed  themselves  for  several  years  in  the 
Jesuit  College  of  Angoulemei  in  coining  counterfeit  money,  for 


ROBBERY  AND   THEFT. 


869 


which  operation  they  made  use  of  a  cellar  underneath,  and  their 
fellow  brethren  brought  the  same  into  circulation  ;  as,  however, 
in  the  year  1641,  the  affair  got  wind,  the  two  Fathers  above- 
named  were  transferred  quickly  to  some  distant  college,  and  it 
was  declared  that  they  had,  for  their  crime,  been  expelled  from 
the  Order,  and  it  was  not  known  where  they  had  gone. 

Again,   King  Philip  III.  of  Spain  gave  permission   to   the 
sons  of  Loyola  living  in  his  kingdom,  to  coin  the  rough  gold 
and  silver   that    they    obtained    from    America    according   to 
the   usual  standard,    to  the    amount,    indeed,  of   a   million  of 
piasters,   in    order  that,   with   the   profit   thus   obtained,    they 
might   be   in    a   position   to  build  a   college  in  Malaga;    the 
cunning  Fathers,  however,  extended  this  permission  to  the  extent 
of  three  millions,  and  the  four-maravedi  pieces  which  they  coined 
were  so  bad  that  it  gave  rise  to  a  general  grumbling.     It  passed 
into    a  proverbial    saying,  if  a  dishonest  debtor  paid  half  to 
his  creditors,  "  he  had  liquidated  his  debt  with  the  maravedis  of 
the  Jesuits  "  ;  and  ultimately  it  came  to  this,  that  the  Govern- 
ment were  compelled  to  lower  the  value  of  this  denomination 
of  coin,  because  no  one  would  take  them  any  longer.     Again,  in 
the  year  1729,  Father  Dequet  caused,  arbitrarily,   101   pictures 
of  great  value  to  be  removed  out   of  the  house  of  Monsieur 
Tardif,  engineer  and  secretary  of  Marshal  Bonfleur,  in  the  same 
night  on  which  the  master  of  the  house  died  ;  this  was  done  bv 
twelve  shoe-blacks,  brought  together  in  great  haste,  such,  indeed, 
being  the  hurry  that  one-and-twenty  of  the  paintings  were  lost ; 
when  the  police  interfered  he  produced,  in  justification  of  his 
robbery,  a  piece  of  waste-paper,  on  which  was  written,  "  I  present 
all  my  pictures  to  the  novitiate  of  the  Jesuits  in  Paris,  out  of 
regard  for  my  friend  Father  Dequet,  who  may  cause  the  same  to 
be  removed  at  once.    May  20th,  1729.    Tardif."    But  when  this 
bit  of  waste-paper   came   to   be   more   narrowly    inspected,  it 
became  apparent  that  the  scribbling  thereon  had  be^n  made  by 
Dequet  himself,  and  the  police  authorities  consequently  ordered 
the  immediate  restoration  of  the  pictures  by  the  Jesuits  of  the 
novitiate  of  Paris,  who  were  compelled  to  make  compensation 
for  those  which  had  been   lost — a  decision  which  was  received " 
with  deafening  applause  by  the  public  there  assembled. 

Once  more,  the  sons  of  Ignatius  played  a  little  game  in  St. 
r6,  not  far  from  Granada  in  Spain,  by  means  of  a  contrivance 

24 


870 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


BOBBERY  AND   THEFT. 


371 


which  would  have  done  honour  to  the  most  cunning  swindler, 
and  on  that  account  I  cannot  pass  it  over  in  silence.  The 
inhabitants  of  St.  F6,  so  far  back  as  the  15th  century,  had 
obtained,  from  the  royal  pair  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  right 
to  conduct  a  canal  from  the  river  Genii,  and  this  canal  was  for 
them  of  incalculable  value,  as  it  served  for  the  irrigation  of  their 
lands,  which  would  otherwise  have  yielded  no  produce.  Now, 
it  so  happened  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  also,  in  the  1 7tb 
century,  acquired  a  large  piece  of  land  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood for  quite  a  ridiculous  price,  as  this  land  possessed  no 
water  right,  and  was,  consequently,  dry  during  the  summer 
time ;  and  one  knows  what  a  rainless  summer  in  Granada  means. 
On  this  account  they  made  strenuous  exertions  to  be  allowed  to 
participate  in  the  privilege  as  regards  the  water  permitted  to  the 
inhabitants  of  St.  F6,  and  they  urged  to  the  utmost  in  order 
to  obtain  this  liberty.  The  St.  F6ans  did  not,  however,  at  all 
allow  themselves  to  be  talked  over,  as  they  were  unable  to  spare 
even  the  smallest  portion  of  their  water  without  inflicting  the 
greatest  injury  upon  themselves;  and  at  length  the  sons  of 
Loyola  perceived  that  they  could  not  prevail  in  a  friendly  way, 
and  by  persuasion,  in  arranging  the  affair. 

Father  Fonuca,  the  rector  of  the  college  of  Granada,  there- 
upon resolved  to  take  a  daring  course,  and  caused  a  lay  brother, 
who  was  well  skilled  in  architecture,  to  build  quite  quietly  a 
complete  mill.  That  is  to  say,  the  individual  parts  of  the  same 
were  prepared,  as,  for  instance,  the  beams,  wheels,  mill-stones, 
and  all  other  requisites ;  these  were  so  excellently  fitted,  that 
the  erection  of  the  whole  work  could  be  effected  in  the  course  of 
a  few  hours.  The  builder  at  length  completed  his  preparations, 
and  now  everything,  such  as  the  woodwork,  the  stones,  and  other 
requisites,  was  loaded,  one  fine  evening,  on  carts,  in  order  to  con- 
vey them  to  a  certain  spot  where  the  property  of  the  Jesuits  nearly 
abutted  on  the  irrigation  canal.  Having  arrived  there,  imme- 
diately Father  Fonuca,  with  the  aid  of  his  carpenters,  proceeded 
with  the  erection  of  the  mill,  while  he  directed  the  labourers, 
who  were  waiting  in  readiness  from  the  neighbouring  farm 
belonging  to  the  Jesuits,  to  dig  a  ditch  up  to  the  irrigation 
canal,  in  order  that  the  mill  might  be  supplied  with  water. 
Within  a  few  hours  all  was  done,  and  at  the  break  of  day  the 
mill  machinery  rattled  as  lustily  as  if  it  had  itself  a  pleasure  in 


its  existence.  Thereupon  a  notary  who  accompanied  him,  and 
who  was  well  paid  for  his  trouble,  produced  an  instrument 
wherein  it  was  stated  how  he  had  seen  the  said  mill  grinding 
upon  the  land  belonging  to  the  Jesuits,  without  a  single  objec- 
tion ;  and  when  the  instrument  was  ready,  and  had  obtained  the 
signatures  of  more  than  twenty  eye-witnesses.  Father  Fonuca 
put  it  in  his  pocket  with  a  triumphant  smile,  as  he  thought,  "  Who 
can  now  be  in  a  position  to  deprive  us  of  our  mill,  and  if  none 
can  do  this,  who  can  take  away  from  us  the  mill-ditch,  with 
which  we  shall  be  enabled  to  convert  our  unfruitful  lands  into 
a  charming  settlement  ?  " 

His  rejoicing,  however,  came  a  little  too  soon,  as,  hardly  had 
the  inhabitants  of  St.  Fe  been  informed  of  what  had  taken  place 
in  the  night,  when,  under  the  command  of  their  provost,  Thomas 
Muros,  a  man  as  brave  as  he  was  sagacious,  they  attacked 
the  mill,  pulled  it  completely  down,  and  filled  up  the  mill-ditch, 
stamping  it  down  so  firmly  that  the  water  again  took  its 
own  course.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  Jesuits  made  a  com- 
plaint to  the  administration  of  justice  at  Granada,  laying  before 
the  same  the  document  wherein  the  quiet  possession  of  their 
mill  was  testified  to,  and  sure  enough  the  law  court,  the  majority 
of  whose  members  stood  on  their  side,  not  only  admitted  the 
justice  of  the  complaint,  but  also  forthwith  ordered  the  leaders 
of  those  concerned  in  the  work  of  destruction  to  be  put  in 
prison.  The  trial  thus  appeared  to  take  a  very  favourable  turn 
for  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  as  they  spared  no  money  in  order  to 
win  over  the  judges  to  their  side,  the  inhabitants  of  St  F6  were 
within  an  ace  of  being  condemned  to  re-build  the  mill  at  their 
own  cost.  This,  however,  was  prevented  by  the  most  respect- 
able amongst  the  judges  of  the  law  court,  the  equally  wise 
and  upright  Don  Paul  Basquez  de  Aguilar,  who  was  completely 
proof  against  all  attempts  at  bribery,  and  upon  his  eloquent 
exposition  of  the  true  facts  of  the  ease — an  exposition  which  in 
the  clearest  manner  proved  the  right  of  the  inhabitants  of  St. 
F6,  as  well  as  the  thievish  mode  of  proceeding  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola — no  one  of  his  colleagues  dared  to  express  a  contrary 
opinion.  Consequently,  on  the  motion  of  Aguilar,  the  complaint 
of  the  Jesuits  was  unanimously  rejected,  and  the  imprisoned 
St.  Feans  immediately  obtained  their  liberty.  The  sons  of 
Loyola,  too,  took  good  care  not  again  to  raise  any  claim  to  the 

24  • 


372 


HIBTOET  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


feoSBEKT  AND   THEFT. 


373 


Bald  irrigation  works,  and  the  most  sensible  amongst  them 
admitted  even  as  much  as  that,  if  the  whole  history  of  the  aflPair 
came  before  the  public,  there  could  be  no  question  of  its  anni- 
hilating all  belief  among  the  people  as  to  the  piety  of  the 
fraternity. 

I  could  relate  dozens  of  similar  stories.  In  order,  however, 
not  to  tire  the  reader,  I  would  rather  now  leave  these  alone.  Of 
such  there  exist  not  merely  a  few  hundreds,  but  tens  of  hundreds, 
indeed,  hundreds  of  thousands,  if  not  even  still  more  !  It  behoves 
me,  then,  from  a  fear  of  being  guilty  of  too  great  prolixity,  to 
make  a  selection,  and  I  shall  therefore  content  myself  with  the 
description  of  three  wholesale  robberies,  of  which  each  one 
exceeds  the  other  in  magnitude. 

But  to  begin.  In  the  first  decade  of  the  18th  century 
an  old  sailor  settled  in  Nantes ;  his  name  was  Grillet,  and  his 
family  consisted  of  a  grown-up  daughter,  who  formerly,  as 
long  as  her  father  was  at  sea,  had  lived  at  Orleans  with  her 
mother,  now  deceased.  The  sailor,  to  all  appearance,  was  very 
poor,  and  for  this  reason  performed  the  most  menial  offices  in 
order  to  gain  at  least  a  little.  The  daughter,  on  her  part,  too, 
made  herself  useful  as  a  washerwoman,  and  from  morning  till 
evening  was  never  idle.  They  thus  went  on  well  for  several 
years,  and,  as  they  were  no  burden  to  the  town,  no  one  took  anv 
particular  notice  of  them.  In  the  year  1718,  the  elder  Grillet 
began  to  fall  sick,  and  as  his  life  soon  came  to  be  con- 
sidered in  danger,  the  daughter,  as  a  matter  of  course,  now 
looked  about  for  a  Father  Confessor.  Her  choice  fell  upon 
Father  Drouet,  one  of  the  most  prominent  among  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  of  the  town,  and  the  same,  in  fact,  undertook  the  post, 
although  not  without  long  resistance,  as  old  Grillet  was  con- 
sidered to  be  very  poor,  as  before  said,  and  for  the  souls  of  the 
poor  the  sons  of  Loyola  never  troubled  themselves  much. 
Drouet  now  visited  his  new  confessant  from  time  to'  time, 
and  these  visits  were  always  very  important,  because  the 
old  sick  man,  who  was  unable  to  leave  his  bed,  lay  almost 
unconsoled  in  his  solitude;  while  the  daughter  could  not 
remain  in  the  house,  because  she  otherwise  would  not  have 
earned  the  necessary  money  for  their  sustenance.  Nevertheless, 
the  Father  did  not  give  by  any  means  frequent  calls,  and  the  few 
times  that  be  did  come  he  cut  matters  as  short  as  possible,. 


without  doubt  because  the  poverty  of  the  neighbourhood  and 
the  ill- odour  of  the  poor  creature  disgusted  him.    He  came,  now, 
one  day  at  an  unexpected  time,  and  greatly  to  his  astonishment 
found  old  Grillet  out  of  his  bed  sitting  upon  the  ground.     But 
his  amazement  was  vastly  increased  as,  silently  approaching  from 
behind,  he  found  what  the  old  man  was  occupied  in  doing.    The 
latter   had   a   chest,   which   the  Father    had  previously   often 
remarked  under  the  bed;  this  was  standing  open  before  him, 
while  he  was  rummaging  about  the  contents  of  the  same  with 
both   his   hands.      Of  what,  then,    did   the   contents  consist? 
Nothing  else  than  heavy  gold   pieces,    the  number   of  which 
might  amount,  indeed,  to  as  much   as  sixty  thousand.     Only 
imagine  such  a  sight  in  a  room  like  a  beggar's  dwelling  !     Only 
fancy  such  riches  with  a  man  languishing  in  misery !     There  was 
good   ground  here,  indeed,    for  the  Father  to  be   quite  beside 
himself  with  amazement;    on  the  other  hand,  there  was  suffi- 
cient ground  for  old  Grillet  to  have  had  a  stroke  of  apoplexy 
from  terror,  as  he  caught  sight  of  the  Father,  for  he  had  up   to 
this  time  initiated  no  one  into  the  secret  of  his  riches,  and  had 
only  allowed  himself  a  sight  of  his  treasure  when  he  knew  that 
he   was  quite  alone.     Before  everything,   the  Father  was  now 
desirous  to  know  from  what  source  these  riches  had  come,  and 
he  presently  made  out  that  Grillet,  in  former  times,  had  been  the 
captain  of  a  piratical  ship,  by  which  he  had  rendered  the  bays 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean  unsafe.     Curiosity  now  impelled  the  Father 
to  make  still  more  minute  inquiries  as  to  how  these  riches  had 
been  derived,  and  he  did  not  rest  until  he  had  made  certain, 
by   himself  counting   them  over    twice,    that    the    gold  pieces 
amounted  to  not  less  than  sixty  thousand.     Now,  however,  the 
thought  distressed  him  as  to  whether  the  old  man,  whose  mind 
began  to  be  as  infirm  as  his  body,  had  enlightened   any  third 
person  with  the  secret  of  the  treasure  in  question,  and  he  con- 
jured the  same  most  solemnly  to  keep  it  from  everyone  most 
zealously,  and  even  from  his  own  daughter.     The  old  man  pro- 
mised this  with  a  solemn  oath,  and,  being  reassured  as  to  this, 
the  Father  took  his  departure,  under  the  firm  conviction  that  the 
other  would  keep  his  word,  owing  to  the  avarice  with  which  he 
watched  over  his  treasure.     He,  indeed,  fulfilled  his  promise,  but 
nevertheless,  as  it  afterwards  turned  out,  there  was  some  other 
-  people  who  became  aware  of  the  circumstance,  in  the  shape  of  ft 


1^ 


374 


fllSTOBY  OP   THE   JESUIl?^. 


JOBBERY   AND   THEFT. 


876 


poor  couple  who  inhabited  the  adjoining  apartment  to  that  of 
Grillet,  and  who  had  seen  and  heard  everything  that  had  passed, 
through  a  crack  in  the  wall.  But  as  these  two,  the  man  and  his 
wife,  whether  owing  to  fear  or  from  some  other  intention, 
did  not  allow  a  single  word  to  escape  them  to  indicate  that 
they  were  aware  of  the  secret,  the  Father,  of  course,  could  have 
no  conception  of  this,  and  remained  under  the  firm  conviction 
that  no  one  but  the  sick  old  man  and  himself  knew  anything 
respecting  the  contents  of  the  wooden  chest  under  the  bed. 

But  what  was  to  be  done  now?  This  much  was  firmly 
resolved  upon  by  the  true  son  of  Loyola,  that  the  contents  of 
the  said  chest  must  become  the  property  of  the  Society  of  Jesus ; 
but  as  to  how  this  was  to  be  accomplished,  he  for  some  time 
remained  in  doubt,  and  he  tried  first  in  one  way  and  then  in 
another. 

During  the  many  hours  which   he  now  spent  daily  with  the 
sick  man,  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  latter  that  it  was 
not  at  all  safe  to  keep  such  a  large  amount  of  gold  in  such  a 
poor    bouse    as  that  occupied  by  Grillet,  and  that  it   would 
be  much  more  prudent  to  have  it  transported  into  the  Jesuit 
college,  where  it  could  be  better  taken  care  of.     As,  however, 
Grillet  showed  himself  to  be  vehemently  opposed  to  this,  or  to 
aUow  himself  to  be  ever  separated  from  his  treasure,  the  idea 
was  abandoned,  and  some  other  plan  substituted.     At  length, 
after  long  consideration,   the  following  scheme  was  concocted. 
The  Father  kept  constantly  assuring  the  penitent  that  the  many 
sins  which  he  had  committed  as  pirate  could  not  be  expiated  by 
the  ordinary  means  of  masses  for  the  soul  and  such-like  things, 
but  that  his  soul  must  remain  eternally  ruined  unless  he  were  to 
die  in  the  habit  of  a  Jesuit.     The  sons  of  Loyola  had  alone  the 
privilege  of  being  at  once  translated  into  heaven,  after  leaving 
this  worid,  for  whenever  a  Jesuit  was  on  the  point  of  death 
Christ  Himself  regulariy  came  to  his  dying  bed,  and,  in  spite 
of  all  the  devils,  conducted  the  soul  Himself  to  the  gates  of 
Paradise.     Consequently,  there  was  nothing  else  for  Grillet  to  do 
but  to  join  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  he,  the  Father,  desired  to 
be  serviceable  to  him  in  this  respect  as  a  particular  favour.     To 
such-like  and  similar  representations  had  the  former  pirate  to 
Hsten,  almost  hour  by  hour;  and  what  could  be  more  natural 
than  that  he  should  give  credence  to  these  words,  and  that  at 


length  he  should  earnestly  implore  Father  Drouet  to  delay  no 
longer  his  transfer  into  the  novitiate  of  the  Jesuits  ?      The 
Father   consented   thereto,   and   one   evening  as   the   daughter 
returned  home  from  her  work,  she  found,  to  her  great  astonish- 
ment— for  all  had  been  carried  on  secretly — that  her  father,  with 
his  chest,  had  disappeared,  without  anything  having  been  left  to 
indicate  what  had  become  of  him.     She  had  not,  however,  to 
remain  long  in  uncertainty,  as   it  was  related  to  her  by  the 
neighbours  that  her  father  had  been  conveyed  away  in  a  litter, 
and  the  heavy  chest  in    a   cart.      Moreover,  in   the    dead   of 
night,  the  neighbouring  pair  who  occupied  the  adjoining  apart- 
ment came  in,  and  now  the  poor  daughter  was,  for  the  first  time, 
informed  of  the  whole  secret,  as  to  which  she  had  hitherto  not  had 
the  slightest  conceptioij.     The  first  thing  to  be  done  next  morn- 
ing was  for  her  to  seek  out  Father  Drouet  in  the  Jesuit  college. 
She  was  referred  to  the  novitiate,  and  she  hastened  thither.    As 
she  came  there,  however,  she  found  the  sons  of  Loyola  there 
present  in  the  greatest  consternation,  as  old  Grillet  had  just 
departed  this  life,  even  before  they  had  been  able  to  carry  out  the 
ceremony  of  his  reception  among  the  novices.     The  daughter  at 
once  demanded  the  property  left  by  her  father,  more  especially 
the  heavy  chest  with  its  contents;  but  they  shortly  showed  her 
the  door.     Thereupon  she  addressed  herself,  on  the  advice  of 
acquaintances,  to  an  honest  advocate,  and  he  threatened  Father 
Drouet'  and  his  associates  with  a  criminal  complaint.     At  the 
same  time,  he  made  his  client  aware  that  two  things  were  wanting 
for  the  gaining  of  the  trial,  firstly,  the  necessary  means  of  proof, 
because  the   married  pair  who  had  seen   all  were  not  in  the 
apartment  itself,  but  in  the  neighbouring  one ;  and,  secondly, 
what  was  still  more  necessary,  money  for  carrying  on  the  suit. 
She  ought,  therefore,  he  added  with  a  good  intention,  submit  to 
a  moderate  compromise  rather  than   stake   all,  as  the  Jesuits 
would  employ  all  their  influence  and  their  enormous  wealth  in 
order  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  victorious  issue.      This  advice 
was   good,   and   the  poor  washerwoman  determined   to    follow 
it.     Therefore,  immediately  when  Father  Guimont  was  sent  to 
her   in  order    to   negotiate   amicably  with  her,   she   contented 
herself  with  a  sum   of  acquittance  of  4,000   francs,   and   con- 
sequently  the    whole    affair   was    an    end.     Nevertheless,   the 
matter  came   to  be   so  notorious,  all  agreeing  as  to  the  dis« 


376 


HiSfOEY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ROBBERY  AND   THEFT, 


377 


graceful  nature  of  the  transacüon.  that  the  law  authorities  of 
the  town,  who  were  conversant  with  the  affair,  expressed  an 
unreserved  opinion  in  regard  to  this  shameful  robbery  on  the 
part  of  the  sons  of  Loyola. 

There  was  yet  a  far  more  magnificent  robbery  that  the  Jesuits 
perpetrated,  as  regards  the  inheritance  'of  Ambrose  Guy,  and 
this  18,  perhaps,  the  most  extraordinary  swindling  story  which 
ever  came  before  the  civilised  worid.     The  said  Ambrose,  born 
at  Apt  m  Provence,  in  the  year  1613,  after  arriving  at  man's 
estate,  settled  at  Marseilles  as  a  pastrycook,  and  united  himself  in 
marriage,  in  the  year  1640,  with  Anna  Eoux,  who  in  due  course 
presented  him  with  two  giris.     Having  become  a  widower  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years,  he  espoused  his  eldest  daughter  to  Johann 
Baptist  Jourdan,  placed  his  second  daughter  with  the  married 
Couple,  and  left  France  in  order  to  prosecute  his  trade  in  the 
French  West  Indian  Islands.     However,  he  never  went  to  the 
West  Indies,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  having  thought  better  about 
It,  sailed  for  Brazil,  and  employed  himself  there  in  gold-digging 
and  m  search  for  precious  stones,  whereby,  in  the  course  of  forty 
years,  he  amassed  enormous  riches.    At  the  end  of  this  time,  that 
is  to  say,  after  he  had  attained  the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  the 
desire  took  him  to  see  his  native  land  and  his  family  once  more, 
and,    consequendy,   in   the    beginning   of  the   year   1701,   he 
embarked  with  all  his  riches  on  board  the  ship  Phelipeaux, 
Captain  Beauchene,  for  Europe.     His  possessions  consisted  of    ' 
90,000  pounds  of   gold   in   bars,   a  proportionate    amount  of 
silver    and   eight  chests  full    of  precious    stones,    and   other 
valuable  property,  amounting  in  all  to  not  less  than  eigh't  millions 
of  French  livres  or  francs.     Having  arrived  in  the    roads  of 
Kochelle,  Guy  embarked  in  another  ship,  bound  for  Brest,  and 
here  he  landed  in  August  1701,  in  a  rather  indifferent  state  of 
health,  seeing  that,  at  his  advanced  time  of  life,  the  sea  voyage 
did  him  no  good.    He  begged  to  be  taken  to  a  respectable  hotel, 
and  was  conducted,  with  all  his  valuable  things,  to  a  host  of  the 
name  of  Guimar,  whose  inn  was  situated  on  the  Quay  Eecouvrance. 
As  soon,  however,  as  he  had  got  into  his  apartment  there,  he  sent 
for  the  rector  of  the  Brest  Jesuit  college,  and  caused  him  to  be 
informed  that  he  had  to  deliver  to  him  letters  from  the  sons  of 
Loyola  stationed  near  the  Amazon  river  in  Brazil ;  he,  besides, 
made  request  for  a  Father  who  might  dispense  to  him  the  con- 


solations  of  religion,  as  he  felt  himself  to  be  very  weak,  and, 
very  possibly  he  had  nearly  come  to  the  end  of  his  career.  The 
rector  at  once  sent  to  the  hotel  in  order  to  obtain  possession 
of  the  letters,  without  paying  any  particular  regard  to  the  old 
man,  as  at  that  time  he  knew  nothing  further  about  him.  On 
learning,  however,  from  the  letters,  as  to  the  enormously  rich 
property  he  had  with  him,  the  pious  Father  at  once  assembled 
the  rest  of  the  members  of  the  college,  and  took  counsel  with 
them  as  to  what  could  best  be  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  Society 
in  this  extraordinary  case.  It  was  then  determined  that  Father 
Chauvel  should  be  sent  as  Confessor  to  Ambrose  Guy,  and  the 
Jesuits  knew  perfectly  well  why  they  did  this.  Was  not  this 
Father  one  of  the  most  experienced  and  skilled  amongst  them, 
who  understood  how  to  bend  by  his  eloquence  the  hearts  of  his 
confessants  exactly  according  to  his  wishes,  but  also,  at  the  same 
time,  a  man  of  such  a  true-hearted  appearance,  that  one  would 
have  thought  it  quite  impossible  he  could  lend  himself  to  any 
dishonest  transaction. 

Chauvel  did  great  honour  to  their  choice,  as  we  shall  very 
soon  see  that  Ambrose  Guy,  after  the  first  couple  of  hours 
after  he  made  his  acquaintance,  put  his  entire  confidence  in  him. 
But  there  was  nothing  wonderful  in  this,  as  the  Father  by  no 
means  contented  himself  with  merely  consoling  his  confessant 
mentally  and  spiritually,  but  also  showed  himself  so  very 
solicitous  as  regards  his  bodily  condition,  as  to  administer  to 
him,  with  his  own  hands,  the  medicines  prescribed  for  him, 
by  the  physicians.  He  did  not  rest,  until  Guy  took  posses- 
sion of  an  isolated  apartment  at  the  back  of  the  house, 
ostensibly  because  the  noise  in  the  front  of  the  hotel  exercised 
a  detrimental  effect  on  the  nervous  system  of  the  patient; 
in  truth,  however,  in  order  to  cut  him  off  as  much  as  possible 
from  all  communication  with  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 
place.    • 

This  kind  of  game  lasted  for  several  days,  and  with  every 
sunset  the  Father  ventured  to  congratulate  himself  that  he  had 
gained  new  ground  in  the  affections  of  his  truly  important 
confessant.  In  the  course  of  a  week,  however,  a  sudden  con- 
tretemps occurred  which  threatened  to  upset,  at  a  blow,  all  the 
trouble  hitherto  taken  by  the  cunning  Loyolite.  Ambrose  Guy 
one  morning,  after  a  sleepless  night,  found  himself  most  un- 


378 


ÖiSTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


BOBBERY  AND  THEFT. 


879 


commonly  weak,  and  on  this  account  asked  Father  Chauvel,  as 
soon  as  he  had  come  into  the  apartment,  to  get  him  as  quickly 
as  possible  a  notary,  with  four  witnesses,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  able  to  execute  his  will.  The  patient  frequently  spoke  openly, 
indeed,  of  leaving  a  legacy  to  the  Jesuit  college  at  Brest ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  was  determined  to  bequeath  the  greater 
part  of  his  possessions  to  his  two  daughters  and  their  heirs, 
whoever  they  might  be,  and  Chauvel  at  once  perceived  but  too 
well  that  here  all  attempt  to  effect  a  change  as  to  this  resolution 
would  be  of  no  avail.  After  a  couple  of  weeks,  indeed,  when  the 
patient  had  become  a  little  more  pliant,  and  had  been  still  more 
worked  upon  in  a  Jesuitical  sense,  and  perhaps  brought  to  the 
conviction  that  his  daughters  had  long  since  died  without 
leaving  any  descendants,  it  was  then  hoped  that  he  might 
be  induced  to  bequeath  everything  to  the  Order  of  Jesus  ;  but  for 
the  present  this  was  totally  impossible,  owing  to  the  obstinacy 
of  the  old  man  ! 

Yet,  on  this  account,  must  all  thought  of  securing  the  great 
inheritance  be  at  once  entirely  given  up  ?  Must  no  attempt 
whatever  be  made  to  save,  in  one  way  or  other,  for  the  Order 
the  many  hundredweights  of  gold  and  silver  bars,  together  with 
the  eight  chests  of  precious  stones  and  other  valuables — in 
other  words,  the  eight  millions  bequeathed  to  the  rightful  heirs  ? 
The  thought  of  this  made  the  head  of  Father  Chauvel  much 
confused  indeed,  and  one  scheme  drove  out  another.  Still  he 
had  so  little  time  for  deliberation  that  he  promised  the  patient 
to  take  care  to  fetch  the  notary  and  the  four  witnesses  instantly, 
and,  in  fact,  at  once  set  out  on  his  way  to  do  so.  Be  it  well 
understood,  however,  his  path  was  not  in  the  direction  of  the 
town,  in  order  to  fetch  a  man  of  law,  but  towards  his  college,  in 
order  to  consult  over  the  matter  with  his  brethren.  The  time 
pressed  frightfully,  and  it  was  necessary  to  come  to  a  quick 
decision,  for  otherwise  the  patient  was  in  si.  oh  a  condition  that 
he  might  call  for  a  third  party  to  procure  the  execution  of  the 
wished- for  testament. 

But  when  had  it  been  that  the  right  way  was  not  forthcoming 
with  the  sons  of  Loyola  whenever  anything  could  be  got  for 
their  advantage  ?  And  on  this  occasion  a  resolution  was  formed 
that  exceeded  everything  in  infamy,  and  must  be  classed  in 
the  category  of  the  vilest  swindling.    The  gardener  of  their 


college — quite  a  thorough-going  fellow,  who  could  readily  play 
any  part  required  of  him,  having  served  formerly  as  writer  in  a 
notary's  office  for  a  couple  of  years — was  at  once  dressed  up  as 
a  notary,  and  he  was  minutely  instructed  in  what  he  had  to  do. 
Four  of  the  Jesuits,  too,  transformed  themselves  into  worthy 
citizens  of  the  town  of  Brest,  in  order  to  accompany  the  notary 
as  witnesses.  With  these  five  Father  Chauvel  proceeded  in  a 
covered  bark — not  wishing  to  arouse  the  curiosity  of  the  Brest 
people — to  Quay  Recouvrance,  and  brought  them,  without  any- 
one talking  about  the  matter,  or,  indeed,  as  he  presumed,  anyone 
having  seen  anything  of  it,  into  the  back  chamber  of  Ambrose 
Guy,  who  showed  himself  not  a  little  pleased  at  their  arrival. 
All  now  went  on  satisfactorily  as  to  the  business  of  the  will- 
making,  and  the  pretended  notary,  with  the  greatest  formality 
and  with  the  most  complete  dignity,  put  down  upon  paper  what 
was  required  of  him  by  the  patient.  When  the  testament  was 
now  ready  and  properly  drawn  up  in  the  usual  form,  in  order 
that  it  might  not  be  disputed  by  anyone,  it  was  signed  by  the 
four  so-called  citizen  witnesses,  while  the  gardener,  or — as  he 
gave  himself  out  to  be — the  notary,  thereupon  took  the  docu- 
ment, to  be  deposited  at  the  office  of  the  town  hall.  He  did 
not,  of  course,  convey  it  there,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  the 
Jesuit  college,  where  the  four  witnesses  also  followed  him. 

Ambrose  Guy,  then,  had  made  a  will,  and  still  had  not  made 
one ;  that  is  to  say,  he  had  made  a  will,  according  to  his  idea 
properly  executed,  while  it  was  totally  invalid  and  utterly 
worthless — as  good,  indeed,  as  none  at  all.  He  was  under 
the  belief,  then,  that  his  will  lay  at  the  town  hall,  and  would 
be,  after  his  death,  opened  by  the  authorities  and  carried  into 
effect.  In  truth,  however,  no  one  weis  aware  of  its  existence, 
except  the  sons  of  Loyola,  or,  rather,  the  latter  were  under  the 
conviction  that  no  one  knew  anything  about  it,  and  acted 
accordingly.  With  this  heroic  little  document  the  matter,  how- 
ever, was  only  half  done.  What  was  required,  if  the  sons  of 
Loyola  were  to  succeed  in  appropriating  the  whole  of  Ambrose 
Guy's  effects,  was  to  persuade  the  old  man  to  transfer  himself 
and  his  treasure  into  the  Jesuit  college.  Were  he  brought  thither, 
then  might  his  property  be  taken  possession  of  immediately  after 
his  death,  before  any  could  get  news  of  the  old  man^s  decease 
having  taken  place.    Were  he  not  brought  thither,  was  it  not 


880 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


to  be  feared  that  the  secular  authorities  might  put  everything 
under  their  seal,  and  so  retain  it  until  it  could  be  ascertained 
whether  he  had  any  rightful  heirs  or  not  ?  It  was  requisite, 
then,  at  any  price,  to  bring  about  the  removal,  and,  thanks  to 
the  persuasive  powers  of  Father  Chauvel,  this  was  effected.  The 
Father  chattingly  represented  to  the  old  man,  with  a  pleasing 
demeanour,  how  it  was  quite  impossible  to  bestow  upon  him  the 
proper  bodily  and  spiritual  care  that  was  necessary  in  such  an 
hotel  as  that  in  which  he  was  lodging,  as  there  was  much  too 
great  a  noise  going  on  there,  and  a  locality  where  sailors, 
carters,  and  other  people  of  a  similar  description  frequented, 
was  not  at  all  suitable  for  a  man  such  as  Ambrose  Guy ;  on 
the  other  hand,  the  sons  of  Loyola  would  prize  it  as  the  greatest 
honour  to  give  him  shelter  in  their  college,  and  would  devote 
themselves  to  him  day  and  night  with  such  zeal  that  he  could 
wish  for  nothing  better.  Moreover,  the  riches  which  he  had 
with  him  would  be  much  more  secure  in  the  college  than 
in  a  public-house,  which,  might  possibly  be  frequented  by 
disguised  thieves  and  robbers ;  and,  finally,  it  had  to  be  con- 
sidered that,  in  the  event  of  his  sudden  death,  the  State 
authorities,  in  the  person  of  a  rascally  financial  fellow,  might 
pounce  upon  the  effects  he  left  behind  and  make  the  best  of  it 
for  himself. 

Similar  things  had  happened  before,  and  just  at  the  present 
time  the  Intendant  of  Brittany  did  not  stand  exactly  in  the 
highest  repute,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
with  their  accustomed  probity  and  honesty,  would  watch  over 
the  treasure,  and,  completely  independent  of  all  divisional 
authorities,  devote  themselves  to  its  safe  custody.  Good  Father 
Chauvel  employed  such,  and  similar  other  persuasive  words,  and 
Ambrose  Guy,  who  had  lived  for  forty  years  in  a  land  where  the 
sons  of  Loyola  were  held  in  the  highest  estimation,  could  not  do 
otherwise  than  accept,  with  the  greatest  thankfulness,  the  offers 
made  to  him.  Consequently,  one  evening  the  Father,  accom- 
panied by  several  servants  and  lay  brethren,  landed  from  a  sloop 
at  the  Quay  ßecouvrance,  and,  an  hour  later,  Ambrose  Guy  was 
safely  conveyed  to  the  Jesuit  College  with  all  his  gold  and 
other  property.  What  good  fortune  was  this,  indeed  !  There 
could  now,  be  nothing  more  to  fear  as  to  the  old  man  con- 
fiding anything  whatever  to  the  host  or  to  any  third  person. 


ROBBEBY  AND   TPEFT. 


381 


Especially  there  was  no  danger  as  to  the  parson  making  use  of 
his  privilege  to  visit  the  dying  man,  and,  by  means  of  confes- 
sion, becoming  acquainted  with  everything  which  it  had  been 
sought  carefully  to  conceal.   No;  Ambrose  now  belonged  entirely 
to  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  they  alone  knew  exactly  the  true 
state  of  his  property ;  they  alone  had  this  same  under  lock  and 
key.     When  this  was  the  case,  what  occasion  was  there  any 
longer  for  them  to  give  themselves  any  further  trouble  about  the 
patient  ?     Where   was    there    now  any  more   need   for   tender 
solicitude  concerning  him,  or  why  should  there  be  a  physician 
who  might  possibly  be   able  to   discover  something  from   the 
patient  ?    The  old  man  should  now  die,  and  as  soon  as  possible  ! 
Consequently,  they   gave  themselves  no  further  trouble  about 
him,  but  abandoned  him  to  his  pains  and  his  misery,  without 
administering  to  him   the   requisite  medicine.     Was  there  any 
wonder  then  that  his  life  was  not  prolonged  many  days  ?     Was 
there   any  wonder  that  he  at  length  breathed  his  last  with  a 
curse  against  the  Jesuits  ?     Already,  a  few  hours  after  his  death, 
the  report  was  spread  abroad  that  the  stranger  who  had  been 
taken  away  from  Guimar's  Hotel  during  the  night-time,  had  been 
conveyed  into  their  college  ;   and  this  report  reached  the  parson 
of  the  church  diocese  of  St.  Louis,  to  which  the  Quay  Recou- 
vrance  belonged,  and  upon  this  report  he  now  demanded  the 
corpse  and  the  property  he  had  left.     The  Jesuits  refused  to 
comply  with  this  demand,  declaring  that  they  themselves  would 
undertake  to  bury  him  ;  and,  as  regards  his  property,  that  it  was 
hardly  sufiBcient  to  cover  the  expenses  which  they  had  incurred 
for  the  patient's  cure.     With  this,  however,   the  parson,  whose 
name  was  Raignaut,  was  not  satisfied,  but  he  made  a  complaint 
to  the  police ;  and  now  the  Fathers,  so  far  at  least  yielded,  that 
they  placed  the  corpse  before  the  College  gate.      Thence  the 
parson   took   it,    and  had   it  honestly  buried  in  the  Hospital 
churchyard  of  St.  Louis ;  the  expenses  of  the  funeral,  however, 
were  not  remitted  to  him,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola  repeated  their 
declaration  that  the  deceased  had  left  as  good  as  nothing,  as  to 
whjch  assertion  there  lay  no  ground  for  any  sufficient  doubt. 
For  this  reason  the  police  authorities  made  no  further  inquires 
as  to  the  deceased,  or,  indeed,  as  to  any  more  minute  particulars 
regarding  him,  and  as  day  after  day  no  relation  came  forward  to 
claim  what  he  bad  left,  the  Jesuits  dared  to  hope  confidently 


882 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


EOBBEBT  AND   THEFT. 


883 


that    the  whole    rohhery  would   remain    undiscovered.      Still, 
wonderful  to  say,  immediately  after  the  funeral  of  Ambrose  Guy,' 
reports  began  to  be  circulated  over  the  town  of  Brest,  that  there 
had  been  enormous  riches  in  the  old  man's  possession,  and  it  was 
even  whispered  about,  iudeed,  as  to  what  the  same  comprised. 
Also  strong  confirmation  of  these  said  rumours  was  found  in  the 
circumstance  that  during  the  years  following  the  college  had  made 
large  purchases  of  estates,  and,  besides,  lent  out  large  sums  at 
interest.   The  jewel-dealers  of  the  neighbouring  large  towns,  too, 
said  that  many  very  costly  precious  stones  coming  from  the  Jesuit 
College  in  Brest  had  been  priced  by  them,  and  regarding  other 
valuables  it  became  known  that  they  had  been  forwarded  to  a 
man  in  Paris.      Thus  it   could  not  fail  to  be  that  by  degrees 
the  statement  regarding  the  fabulous  treasures  which  Ambrose 
Guy  had  left  behind   him   penetrated  far  beyond  the  town  of 
Brest,  and,  at  length,  the  affair  was  talked  about  even  in  the 
town   of  Marseilles.     Here,    however,   there  resided   a   grand- 
daughter    of    Ambrose    Guy,    Franziska    Jourdan    by    name, 
married   to  Esprit  Beranger,    and    one    might  easily  imagine 
what  effect  these  reports  must  have  had  on   the  minds  of  the 
pair. 

Summoned  by  advocates,  whom  he  had  for  this  reason  con- 
sulted, Beranger  started  for  Brest  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
171 5,  in  order  to  make  more  particular  inquiries  into  the  matter, 
and,  as  he  went  very  cautiously  to   work,  and  was  supported 
besides  by  an  excellent  legal  friend,  he  succeeded,  in  a  quiet  way, 
in  making  himself  acquainted  with  almost  all    the  particulars 
that  r  have  mentioned  above.     Particularly  he  found  out  the 
people  who  had  witnessed  the  disembarkation  of  Ambrose   Guy 
and  his  heavy  effects,  and  had  lived  with  him  in  Guimar's  Hotel ; 
and  others,   again,  former  servants  of  Guimar,  testified  to  him 
that  the  deceased  Ambrose  had  desired  to  make  a  will,  nnd  also 
that  the  gardener  of  the  Jesuit  College,  whom  they  knew  very 
well,  had,  disguised  as  a  notary,  prepared  this  will.     Lastly,  he 
ascertained,  for  a  certainty,  as  to  how  and  by  whom  his  wife's 
grandfather,  with  all  his  treasures,  had  been  conveyed  into  the 
Jesuit  College,  and,  consequently,  the  whole  shameful  deed  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola  became  now  as  clear  as  daylight.     On  üiis 
account  Beranger,  on  behalf  of  his  wife,  demanded  from    the 
Brest  College  the  inheritance  belonging  to  her ;  and,  as  he  was 


refused,  he  accused  the  Jesuits,  on 'the   1 1th  of  August  1715, 
before  the  Court  of  Justice  of  Brest. 

In  this  manner  arose  the  great  scandal  trial  which,  under  the 
name  of  the  '*  Cause  c6l6bre  d' Ambrosius  Guy,''  occasioned  a  great 
sensation,  not  only  in  France,  but  among  all  civilised  peoples 
throughout  the  world ;  and  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  made  the 
affair  of  the  College  of  Brest  their  own,  proved  thereby  afresh 
how  well  it  understood  to  transform  the  most  crying  injustice 
into  a  legal  right.     They  acted  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  in 
regard  to  the  shameful  transaction  of  Rombault  von  Viane,  and 
in  the   Girard-Cadiere  case,  and  neither  money  nor  influence 
were  wanting  in  order  to  bring  over  the  judges  to  their  side. 
Especially   they   set    about,  with   success,    causing   dangerous 
witnesses  to  disappear,  and  Beranger  himself  found  that  his  life 
was  more  than  once  placed  in  danger  by  a  thrust  from  the 
dagger  of  a  hired  assassin.     In  short,  after  the  lapse  of  two 
years,  however  right  his  case  appeared  to  all  impartial  people, 
the  plaintiff  was  non-suited  by  the  Law  Court  of  Brest,  and  as 
he  possessed  no  more  means  to  prosecute  the  matter  in  a  higher 
court,  there  remained  nothing  else  for  him  to  do  but  to  betake 
himself  back   again  to  Marseilles.      Still,   with  this  the  cele- 
brated   cause  did   not    terminate.      Convinced,    on  the    other 
hand,  that  the  Court  of  Brest,  by  reason  of  Jesuit  money,  had 
decreed  an  erroneous  sentence,  and  fired,  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
cry  of  indignation  which  rang  throughout  the  whole  of  France, 
Chancellor  d'Argeausseau,  the  Procurator- General  of  the  Parlia- 
ment   of   Rennes,    the   capital   of    Brittany,   ordered   the  first 
Parliamentary  Councillor  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  said 
Parliament;   and  the  latter  formed  a  resolution,  on  the  7th  of 
March  1718,  to  despatch  the  First  Councillor  to  Brest,  in  order 
to  inform  himself  respecting  the  nature  of  the  case.     Thereupon 
the  sons  of  Loyola  experienced  a  deadly  panic,  as,  if  the  investi- 
gation were  to  be  conducted  with  impartiality,  their  villainy  must 
then  be  made  apparent ;  but  they  at  once  resolved  to  appeal  to 
the  couneil  of  the   King,  because   they  possessed,   indeed,   in 
d*Argenson,    Keeper   of    the    Great    Seal,  an   especially  good 
friend ;  they  were  successful,  too,  in  getting  a  decree,  dated  16th 
February  1719,  which  prohibited  the  Parliament  of  Rennes  from 
carrying  out  its  intended  resolution. 

The  case    once   more   languished,  when   Esprit    Beranger, 


84 


HISTOBr  OF  THE  JEBDITS. 


soTl?^'''  °*»'«r  descendants  ofA„,bro8e  Guy.  came  into 
year  1723.  to  the  Parliament  of  Brittany  with  a  petition  tl,«f 

interim  succeeded  to  the  nosition  nf  A'a, 

agreeable  than  CardinaT  Cv    the  i^'°^°'/''  ""'  '^'^ 
Louis  XV    »>,a»  »1.    r  ,^'  all-powerful   minister    of 

capital  of  Br  ttany.  should  be  appointed  as  the  Court  of  revision 
Everyone  „.,ght  now  easily  predict  how  the  case  wou  d  Z" 
out.  as  the  members  were  all  among  the  most  ZLlZf      a 
of  the  Order  of  Jesus;  and.   oonse'nXt^^^.TljT' 
regarded  as  a  wonder  if  the  sentenc^  of  thl'  Cou^ZeZl  ^Z 

t^ZXtü        't'  '""''^  '"•"^^  °"*  '°'°  «  perfect  stoS  ^f 
lor  ever     Jn  this,  however,  they  were  mistaken. 

and  sour  o7a.A'f'  ?'•'"  '^'''"^^^'  ""^  '>'«'  »---  ^e  life 
TooZ  Jl  '    '"°°"'  ""»"«"'res,  was  transferred   on 

.»oh  .naer.^in  this  Ät:rhrc:;st:c?z\^^^^^^^^^^^ 

Itdt-  'i!  "'"'^'  "'*''  '^"°'  *"«  Punishmen  s  wh    h 

awaited  him  in  the  next  world  for  his  infamoL  deeds.     Jwas 

anxious  to  make  compensation  for  them  as  far  as  could  be  done 
but  he  was  always  too  much  watched,  so  that  he  miZlt t 
an  opportunity  of  making  a  confession  before  the  Sw"^„tT 

toll'    fi7'/ ''""""  °'  meeting  with  death  when.  v?rre 
took  the  first  step  to  advance  this  nh^f^nt .  .  "«invtr  tie 

whole  course  of  the  affair.     He  prenared    tW»f      *"  P"?«»^  the 
inventory  of  all  the  riches  whierrbl^L;^^^^^^^^^^^ 
and    escnbed  everything  in  detail,  from  the  time  thev  had  li 
about  conveying  him  into  the  Jesuit  College      Tl.i.       T      ? 
testamentary  document  he  entrusted,  wealed        TJX 

W  >TJ  °°^  ''°"''  -^^P^"-^'  «"d  ^l'-  latter  promisd  1 
that  It  should  not  be  made  any  use  of  until  he  had  Zed  I 
eyes.     Scarcely  was  Chauvel  dead,  than  the  friend  hatned  to 


feÖBBEÜY  AND  THEi^T. 


m 


Marshall  d'Estnee,  with  whom  he  was  well  acquainted,  who  in 
turn  handed  over  the  packet  to  King  Louis  XV.  The  King 
read  it  with  astonishment,  and,  however  favourable  he  had 
hitherto  been  towards  the  sons  of  Loyola,  he  could  hardly 
restrain  his. indignation  on  this  occasion.  He  instantly  issued 
an  order  to  the  Jesuit  College  at  Brest,  wherein  he  charged  the 
same  either  to  restore  to  the  heirs  of  Ambrose  Guy  the  things 
they  had  stolen,  or  to  pay  over  to  them  8,000,000  francs ;  and 
this  order  was  couched  in  such  categorical  language  that  the 
Jesuits  were  seized  with  the  greatest  consternation.  Luckily  for 
them,  Louis  XV.  was  one  of  the  most  lazy,  most  stupid,  and 
most^profligate  of  any  rulers  France  ever  had,  and  it  was  for 
them  still  greater  luck  that  he  allowed  himself  to  be  governed  by 
the  above-mentioned  Cardinal  Fleury,  the  friend  of  the  Order  of 
Jesus.  The  Cardinal,' therefore,  induced  the  Kiog  to  allow  the 
Jesuits  time  to  collect  the  large  sum,  and  they  employed  this 
interval  in  order  to  come  to  favourable  terms  with  the  heirs  of 
Guy.  That  is  to  say,  instead  of  8,000,000,  they  paid  them  only 
one  half,  or,  as  stated  by  other  accounts,  only  200,000  franos ; 
and  thus  was  the  whole  affair  arranged  to  the  enormous  advan- 
tage of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  In  the  eyes  of  the  world,  however, 
this  fraternity  suffered  a  shock  which  for  ever  undermined  their 
existence,  and  estranged^them,  as  well,  from  many  of  those  who 
had  hitherto  been  their  best  friends. 

The  third  story  of  Jesuit  robbery  which  1  have  to  relate  to  the 
reader,  runs  as  follows. 

In  the  middle  of  the  Uth  century,  the  Jesuit  College  at  San 
Herminigilde,  in  Seville,  got  into  difficulties,  and  the  High 
Council  of  Castille  at  once  commissioned  the  President  of  the 
Government  of  öeville,  by  name  Don  Juan  de  Öantalices-Guevara, 
to  sequestrate  the  estates  and  revenues  of  the  College  for  the 
satisfaction  of  the  creditors,  and  also  especially  to  institute  an 
accurate  investigation  of  the  property  belonging  thereto.  Jn 
accordance  with  this  order,  Don  Santelices  at  once  seized  upon 
all  the  books,  accounts,  and  manuscripts  of  the  Seville  Jesuits, 
and  by  this  opportunity  found  a  manuscript  which  had  for  its 
title  Liber  Piorum  iSecretoruin  Oj)erum,  which  means  '*  The 
book  of  secret  good  works."  The  title  took  his  fancy,  and  he 
read  it  through  carefully;  he  found,  however,  notiiing  suspicious 
until  he  came    upon   a  page  containing  the  following  word»; 

23 


386 


HiSTOBt  Of   THE   JEÖÜItS. 


tc 


One  most  temporize  with  Don  Rodrigo  Barba  Cabenza  de 
Vaca  until  after  the  death  of  the  beneficiary,  Juan  Segnero  de 
Velasco ;  so,  too,  on  his  death,  one  must  slam  the  door  in  the 
face  of  Don  Rodrigo  Barba,  as  if  one  had  never  had  anything  to 
do  with  him.*'  Further  on  was  to  be  found  an  observation  to 
the  following  efi'ect :  "  No  one  except  the  Bailiff,  the  Rector,  the 
Provincial,  and  the  Counsellors  of  the  Province,  shall  have  any 
knowledge  either  of  this  book  or  of  the  estates  and  revenues  of 
the  College."  It  was,  therefore,  clear  that  there  was  something 
here  treated  of,  which  was  not  suitable  for  the  ears  of  everyone, 
and,  proceeding  on  this  idea,  Santelices  required  the  former 
Procurator  of  the  College,  Father  Andr6  de  Villar,  as  well  as 
Don  Rodrigo  Barba  and  Don  Juan  Segnero  de  Velasco,  to  come 
before  him,  each  separately,  in  order  to  interi'ogate  them  on  their 
oath.  Don  Rodrigo  at  once  stated  what  he  knew  of  the  matter, 
but  he  was  not  properly  acquainted  with  the  secret  itself.  The 
other  two,  on  the  other  hand,  were  perfectly  cognizant  thereof, 
and,  on  this  account,  faltered  in  their  assertions.  All,  at  length, 
however,  confessed,  and  the  story  ran  thus  : — 

Nine-and- thirty  years  previous  to  that  time  a  noble  gentle- 
man of  the  name   of  Juan   de    Monsalve  returned    to  Seville 
from  the  West  Indies,  where  he  had  lived  for  a  long  time,  and 
brought  with  him  great  riches.     He  now,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
found  many  good  friends,  for  he  had  remained  a  bachelor  during 
all  his  days,  and  was  thus  free  to  dispose  of  his  property ;  and 
this  fact,  also,  the  Jesuits  of  the  College  of  San  Hermenigilde 
especially  treasured  up  in  secret.     Still,   they  took  good  care 
Bot  to  allow  their  views  to  become  too  apparent,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  assumed  the  air  of  disinterestedness,  in  order  all  the 
better  to  gain  the  confidence  of  Monsieur  de  Monsalve.     It  now 
happened,  after  some  years  had  quietly  elapsed,   that  a  woman 
came  to  Seville  and  desired  to  be  recognised  by  the  old  rich 
gentleman  as  his  daughter.      He  had,  affirmed  the  individual 
in  question,  begotten    her   previous  to  his  marriage  with  her 
mother.       This    relationship    had,    however,     latterly    become 
legitimate,   as   her  mother  had  been  secretly   married   to  him 
betöre  his  departure  for  the  West  Indies,  and,  on  this  account, 
she  regarded  herself,  with  every  justification,  as  his  legitimate 
child,  as  well  as  the  future  heiress  of  all  his  possessions. 

This  was  pi-etty  well  what  the  damsel  asberied,  and  in  con- 


ROBBEKY  AND   THEFT. 


387 


firmation  of  the  same  she  had  brought  with  her  several  papers, 
bearing  external  evidence  which  showed  that  her  tale  could 
not  be  altogether  rejected.  Juan  de  Monsalve,  on  the  other 
hand,  repudiated  most  distinctly  all  and  every  relationship  with 
the  mother  of  the  woman,  and  declared  the  latter  to  be  an  arrant 
cheat.  With  this,  however,  tlie  afiair,  as  one  might  imagine, 
did  not  come  to  an  end,  but  the  person  lodged  a  complaint,  and 
a  law-suit  was  the  result,  which  caused  no  small  noise  in  the 
town,  more  especially,  indeed,  as  it  could  not  be  predicted 
what  would  be  the  end  thereof,  since  many  people,  among 
whom  were  some,  indeed,  learned  in  the  law,  affirmed  the 
right  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  female.  Juan  de  Monsalve  was 
greatly  incensed  at  this,  he  having  already  disposed  of  his  future 
succession  in  favour  of  his  two  nephews,  the  sons  of  his  deceased 
sister,  and  this  vexation  occasioned  him  a  tedious  sickness,  of 
which  he  afterwards,  in  fact,  died.  During  his  illness,  however, 
he  was  in  frequent  communication  with  a  Jesuit  from  the  College 
of  San  Herminigilde,  who  gave  him  advice  as  to  how  he  might 
be  able  to  defeat  the  intentions  of  the  detested  woman,  at  least 
in  regard  to  her  disgraceful  conduct,  in  desiring,  at  any  price, 
to  fasten  her  paternity  upon  him,  although  he  very  well  knew 
that  such  was  by  no  means  the  case. 

And  in  what,  now,  did  this  advice  consist  ?  Simply  in  this, 
that  the  patient  should,  quite  in  a  general  way,  so  that  no  one 
should  know  anything  about  it,  convert  into  ready  coin  all  his 
property,  so  far,  that  is,  as  it  did  not  consist  of  immovable 
estates,  and  that  this  cash  should  be  entrusted  to  the  Jesuit 
College. 

"  Should,  then,  the  law-suit,  after  the  death  of  Juan  de 
Monsalve,  terminate  in  favour  of  the  woman,  then  certainly  the 
landed  estates  would  fall  to  the  same  ;  as  to  the  sums  of  money, 
on  the  other  hand,  secretly  deposited  with  the  Jesuits,  she  would 
by  no  means  obtain  possession  of  them,  as  she  would  know 
nothing  thereof,  while  the  Jesuits  would  at  once  hand  over 
these  sums  to  the  two  nephews,  and  the  latter  would  thereby 
be  irrevocably  assured,  in  any  case,  of  at  least  part  of  the 
inheritance." 

Such  was  the  advice  given  by  the  Jesuit  to  his  confessant,  who 
went  into  the  thing  most  heartily.  He  only,  however,  made 
the  further  condition  that,  in  the  event  of  the  trial  terminating 

26  • 


ä88 


HISTORY   Ol*   T?Hß   JESUI'TS. 


favourably,  the  younger  of  his  two  nephews,  called  Don  Rodrigo 
Barba  Oabenza  de  Vaca,  should  succeed  to  the  whole  of  the 
ready  money,  while  the  elder  one,  in  this  case,  would  become 
heir  to  the  whole  of  the  landed  property  by  right  of  primo- 
geniture. After,  now,  that  all  this  had  been  regulated  in  the 
aforesaid  manner,  Juan  de  Monsalve  instantly  alienated  all  his 
movable  property,  and  the  Jesuits  assisted  him  in  this  with  such 
skill  that,  besides  themselves,  not  a  single  soul  in  all  Seville  was 
aware  of  what  had  happened.  The  sum  now  derived  from  this 
sale,  with  the  whole  of  the  capital  of  which  he  had  previously 
been  possessed,  amounting  in  all  to  55,000  heavy  pistoles,  he 
at  once  handed  over  to  the  Rector  of  the  College  for  safe  keeping ; 
and  on  this  occasion  no  one  was  present,  with  the  exception 
of  a  distant  cousin  of  his  of  the  name  of  Juan  Segnero  de 
Velasco,  who  had  long  before  given  over  his  whole  property  to 
the  College,  and  thereby  derived  from  it  a  yearly  benefice,  or 
pension,  of  several  hundred  pistoles.  Not  long  after  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  act,  Juan  de  Monsalve  died,  and  the  eldest  of 
his  nephews  now  bestirred  himself  to  bring  the  impending  suit 
to  a  favourable  termination.  He  succeeded  in  this  with  but 
little  trouble,  as  the  female  plaintiff  was  but  too  well  aware  that 
she  was  in  the  wrong,  and  showed  herself,  on  that  account, 
greatly  satisfied  with  an  acquittance  to  the  amount  of  10,000 
ducats. 

Consequently  the  so-called  patrimony  by  right  of  primo- 
geniture— that  is  to  say,  the  whole  of  the  landed  estates  which 
old  Monsalve  possessed — fell  into  the  hands  of  the  rightful  heir 
without  any  further  difficulty,  and  it  was  now  obligatory  for  the 
Rector  of  the  Jesuit  College  to  pay  over  to  the  younger  nephew 
the  55,000  heavy  pistoles.  But  how  could  it  ever  be  expected 
from  a  Jesuit  that  he  should  agedn  restore  anything  of  which 
he  had  once  obtained  possession  ?  And  then,  indeed,  such  a 
colossal  property  of  more  than  three  millions  of  francs — no,  that 
could  not  be  undef  any  circumstances !  Still,  it  was  true  there 
existed,  besides  the  sons  of  Loyola,  yet  another  person  who  was 
aware  of  the  secret,  and  that  was  the  beneficiary  Juan  Segnero 
de  Velasco ;  but  he,  indeed,  was  already  a  weak  old  man,  who 
was  animated  with  the  most  profound  veneration  towards  the 
Order  of  Jesus,  and  could,  moreover,  on  that  account  be  very 
«asily  brought  to  silence.     So  he  was  threatened  with  the  with- 


BOBBERY  AND  THEFT. 


389 


drawal  of  his  pension  in  the  event  of  a  single  word  about 
the  matter  escaping  from  him.  In  fact,  Juan  Segnero  readily 
promised  at  once  to  preserve  the  most  perfect  and  profound 
silence,  durino;  his  whole  existence ;  he  only  begged  that  his 
cousin,  Don  Rodrigo  Barba  Cabenza  de  Vaca,  should  not  be 
allowed  to  perish  from  hunger,  and  it  was  requisite  for  the  sons 
of  Loyola  to  pay  some  regard,  good  or  bad,  to  this  petition. 

Consequently,  they  accorded  to  the  cavalier  named  a  yearly 
gratuity  of  300  pistoles,  giving  out  that  this  was  derived  from  a 
fiind  which  had  been  instituted  by  a  forefather  of  Don  Rodrigo 
for  poor  nobility  ;  they  made  it,  however,  clearly  to  be  under- 
stood that  this  gratuity  was  only  to  be  continued  payable  as  long 
as  Juan  Segnero  was  alive,  and  this  accounted  for  the  words 
'•  one  must  temporise  with  Don  Rodrigo  Barba  Cabenza  de  Vaca, 
until  after  the  death  of  the  beneficiary  Juan  Segnero  de  Velasco." 
Still,  the  said  Segnero  did   them  the  favour  of  not  dying  for 
nine-and-thirtv  long  years— he  was  himself,  at  the  discovery  of 
this,  crime,  a  man  of  ninety  years  of  age,  and  still  robust— and, 
consequentlv,    the   Jesuits   had   to    pay,    by   degrees,    to    Don 
Rodrigo  nine-and-thirty  times  300  pistoles.     To  do  this,  how- 
ever, they  had  taken  nine-and-thirty  times  the  interest  of  4,2.50 
pistoles,   which,  with  the  original  capital  appropriated  by  them, 
represented  the  enormous  sum  of  240,000   pistoles.    A   truly 
colossal  theft,  indeed,  exceeding  even  that  of  Ambrose   Guy ! 
Atheft,  besides,  which  could  never  be  completely  compensated 
for,  as,  although   the  High  Council  of  CastiUe,  to  whom  Don 
Juan  de  Santilic6s  at  once  referred  the  business,  ordered  Don 
Rodrigo  Barba  Cabenza  de  Vaca  to  be  completely  indemnified, 
it  afterwards  turned   out  that   the  property  of  the  College  of 
Herminigilde  came  far  short  of  the  amount,   and,  consequently, 
Don  Rodrigo  had  to  be  content  with  only  a  part  of  the  whole 
Anything  better  than  nothing,  however ,   and.  besides,  he  had 
to  be  thankful  for  the  accident  by  which  this  piece  of  knavery 

had  been  discovered.  „    ,  , 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  perceived  how  well  the  sons  of 
Loyola  understood  the  art  of  thieving  and  robbery  from  confiding 
mankind,  and  it  must  occur  to  many  who  read  of  these  evil 
deeds  that  the  pious  Fathers  regarded  their  confessants  as 
lemons,  whose  juice  could  be  utilised  only  by  squeezing  them. 
It  would,  however,  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 


890 


HISTOBT  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


Jesuits  confined  themselves,  in  their  system  of  robbery,  to  their 
confessants  merely,   as  has  been   related,  or  only  among  the 
laity.     No ;  they  extended  the  same  to  their  colleges,  the  body 
of  the  clergy,  and  especially  nuns  and  monks  were  not  secure 
from  their  thievish  attacks.     Indeed,  one  might  boldly  assert 
that  they  directed  their  attention,  in  this  respect,  even  more  to 
their  conjreres  than  to  the  non- tonsured  portion  of  mankind,  and 
when  it  was  their  will  and  pleasure  all  cloisters  and  abbacies  might 
be  regarded  by  them  as  sources  of  income  to  their  colleges  and 
educational  institutions.    Thus,  for  example,  under  their  General 
Laynez,  they  knew  how  to  flatter  Pope  Paul  IV.  so  well  that  the 
latter  handed  over  to  them  a  large  cloister  in  Rome,  founded  by 
the  Marchioness  Orsini,  niece  of  Pope  Paul  IV..  and  the  sons  of 
Loyola  triumphantly  took  possession  of  the  same  in  the  year 
1660,  after  they  had  driven  away,  without  further  ado,  the  former 
occupants,  and  had  them  dispersed  among  other  female  cloisters. 
Less  forcible  but  all  the  more  villainous  was  the  conduct  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola  towards  the  Ursulines  of  Macon  in  France 
which,  according  to  the  legal  reports,  was  as  follows:- Late  in 
the   summer  of    Iß49,    Father  Forget,   Rector  of  the  Jesuit 
College  of  Metz,  was  put  in  possession  of  the  information  that 
the  Ursulines  of  Macon  contemplated  founding  a. branch  of  their 
cloister  in  Metz,  and  upon  this  news  he  determined  to  foist  upon 
them  a  house  belonging  to  the  College  in  that  town.     The  place 
was  small,  and  the  building  was  in  such  bad  condition,  that  the 
Jesuits    denved   from    the    same    no   more    than    150   francs 
of  yearly  rent.     There  was,  then,  no  wonder  that  they  gladly 
rehiyiuished  It.     But  they  desired  not  only  to  part  with  it.  but 
also  to  obtain  a  good  price  for  the  same,  and  with  this  object 
something  of  deceit  was  more  or  less  required.     One  among 
them,  a  skilled  mechanic,  drew  an  elegant  plan,  at  the  desire 
of  the  Rector,  m  which  the  house  appeared  to  be  in  the  best    " 
condition  being  from  the  ground-floor  to  thereof  beautifully 
sculptured  and  ornamented,  and  surrounded   by  a  large  fresh- 
looking  garden  full  of  flowers,  in  the  thick  brushwood  of  which  a 
whole  world  of  small  birds  sang  and  made  their  nests.     In  this 
plan  appeared  also  a  beautiful  church  with  a  Gothic  l.elfrv  and 
through  tue  open  window  of  the  chief  building  one  lookH  info 
large   fine    l.alls,    dining-rooms   and   bedrooms,    as   light   and 
roomy  as  could  be  wished     In  truth,  however,  the  small  miser- 


BOBBEBT  AND  THEFT, 


391 


able  appurtenance  was,  as  has  been  aboye  indicated,  felling  to 
pieces:  and  to  build  for  such  a  ruin  an  adjoining  church    or 
even  t^  form  a  place  about  it,  was.  indeed,  ridiculous.    Besides. 
H  appeared  very  doubtful  whether,  owing  to  a  shmy  tank  in 
the  neighbourhood,  it  would  be  advisable  to  live  in  ,t .  and  he 
iesuits  had  hitherto  never  been  able  to  «"^  a  purchaser  fo     he 
„ronerty  although  they  had  offered  the  same  frequently  for  lutle 
money     Nevertheless,  at  the  end  of  August  1649,  the  worthy 
Fathe^' Forget  boldly  betook  himself,  with  his  beautiful  plan  in 
hhpocket  tot,e  Superiorof  the  ursulines  of  Macon,  and  con- 
trived  bv  fair  words  to  make  such  an  impression  upon  her  that 
Sing  implicit  faith  to  the  worthy  Father,  and  m.s  ed  by  the 
beauTiW  plan,  she  concluded  a  contract  of  purchase  for  80  000 
MlfranL  which  was  equal  to  30.000  livres  of  Turnois.     This 
Metz  francs,  wmc  J  ^^^     ^^^^^^^  ^„„^y 

occurred  on  the  6*  S^-^J'  ;^     ^,^3  ,,,  ^one  without 

was  deposited  on  the  13th  0^     tenement,  and   the  Jesuits  were 

Milte"  as7i    sm  exceeded  the  actual  worth  of  the  objecj 

:;fmt  In  fourfold.     In  ^^^^^^X ^^1^ 

'''  '''t:^:l^!ZrX^^.  fe::n  hei;ts.how  were 
possession  of  the  charming  ^^^^  ^  ^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^ 

they  "f  7?^  J^^i^TLabitei,  and  the  plan  laid  before 
barrack,  which  could  never  b  ^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^^^^^ 

the  nuns  of  the  Holy  Ursula  was  i  ^ 

deceit.    Experts  were  now  called  upon   o  est  mate  .^^ 

and  those  stated  it,  at  the  most.  »«J^^J»;*  ^^n  ^f  an  over- 
Tournois.     There  was  now    consequently  a  question 

u-^r.  nf  ihe  OTOssest  description,  and  on  tnis  gruu, 
reaching   »/ ^he   gr^  J^  ^^^^„^^^  ,^,,  cancelment  of 

Supenor  of  the  Ursulines  a  however.  Fathor  Forget 

ehe  previous  P7^--;Xld  he  wa'  s^ported  therein  by  the 
would  not  accede  at  any  pnce  ana  i'j         ^^^^^  ^ 

Provincial.  Thorn.  ^  ^^rnolptinZ  and  a  law-suit  began, 
of  Jesus.    The  nuns  we  f  ^^^       .^,y   ^^^ 

which  lasted  d-ng  e  gh    yea^^  ^^^^  .^    ^^^^^.^^ 

'^''''''''''r'r^^^^rlZinü.e.oe.  At  length,  on  the 
of  -°7  -^  °V,"^7;p  Hinment  of  Metz,  the  last  court  of 
10th  of  May  '66'.;;«  ^''.  ...j,^,^  ^„tire  purchase  contract  « 
appeal,  gave  their  dec.s^on.P^  ^^  ^.^^^  ^^^^  ^^ 

null  and  void,  and  the  money  aep  ^^^ 

the  Ursulines ;  the  latter,  however,  shftll  be  bpwa       V-7 


893 


mSTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


Jesuits  18,000  Mefy   fi..« 

tl-e  house,  in  t^eTJ'ZVZlt  ^^  ■''  ""■^'■""^  ''''''  '^^ 
«"«••*     The    Parliau,eut  thereb  "  ^       7.  """'^"'^^  ''*''  *»•- 
reaching  was  to  the  extent  of  !^  «f  »«^'edged  that  the   over- 
to  68,000  francs :   and      if  .^^^^^Z/^f «'  Counting,  na^e,., 
account  of  which    anv  otier  Oh  "  ''^''^''  «^'"'l'''.   «n 

J-ned  to  ten  ,ears  in,pn  o I'enT  rr^;'''  '"'^:  '^^   -"" 
The  Jesuits,  however,    escaned    f.  t      "'"  "^  correction, 

whatever,  as  they  belong"    t'ol  hi    "    ""'  ""^  P""'«"-»* 
he  unimpeachabJe.  "'^  '°*"^'y  ^J^ich  was  held  to 

i—CT/alät.rnC^^oVth"-  "°^^  -^'-"^ '-"i-tice. 
towards  the   brethren  of  the  H  ivt^'T'"""'"  P"^*"^«'- 
congregation  of  monks  were  know    •    1    "'  ''•''  '''"■''''  "«-"e  « 
perpetration  of  this  injusti  e  thT    '"      '*  """"'^^  ''  "°d  '■"  the 
tbe  best  manner,  first,      ;:Zh;\:?  ^"""'^  ^"PP-^^-^ '"  ' 
«»thority.     In  the  year  [506X/"^r"''^ ''^  *''^  P«P«' 
•I..shon,  on  a  wonderfully  be«utff7ir""      ''f  '  "'"'P^'  '" 
the  congregation  of  monks  which  L,",,'  ""''  ^""^  ''  o^«--  to 
of  ^he  Holy  Rochus."     As  I  mtte  ";f  """  "  *'^  ^--«^''-'-od 
oomo,ned   with    considerable  """„,«    """'■'''•  '^'^  P'-««''"'  was 
accompanied    the   gift  „  I«r„/  ?         '    """"^    especially   there 

beautiful  garden.  wfi^h\;rbtr;heT"^-'-^ 
charming  tenement,  which  the  r1  ^  *»'«JTonse  of  God.     This 

-ssed    for   several  decade     of  yl;'",?"'^-''-''  "ad  pos- 
excted  from  the  commencement  1  Z'   "''^   '""''«"*-n. 

while  ,t  was  evident  that  they  wö,^d  „T^  ''  "^^  •^-•""t«  ''  <^-^ 
powerful  in  Portugal,  they  thus  ent.  T^  'f""  '''"  ''«^'""«  «"• 
^f '"  possession  of  it  with  ease  1„?"  ^"^''  ''  ''"'"^  •""« 
What  was,  then,  the  pretext  of     l."'  °°'  "'^''"«''  o«-  «''"ther 

they  suddenly  affirmed'tllJi't  ''?  ™"'^^  ^^  ^     ^•'' 
«velafon  from  God.  enjoining   „em'Tn"""'  ''^  '  -"-* 
the   Rochus   chapel    stood,    a    p  ol,  .     ''''  °"  ^''^  ^P"'  '^»'«■■e 
belonging  to  it,  „nd.  as  th  y  could  ifr''   ""'    '^^    ''^'-«'' 
'eyelation    they  hoped   that  the   Ro  1    "^  *°  ''''''  '^  ''>-"« 
w.thout  further  ado,  gjy^     '  ^t  .aM      "   ^''«"'-''ood   would, 
however,  the  latter  were  not  at  „„  ;'    .-""r"-^  '"  *''«'»•     This 
other  hand,  they  opined  they  had  .r.'  '"  ''"•  ''"''  ""  "-e 
Inspect  to  this  presumed  revel^T    5"""''' ^"^ '^""''^''"^ - 

mus,—     ihou    8j,3jj 


B0B6EBT  AND   THEFT. 


393 


not  steal."    This  hint  was  much  too  plain  for  the  Jesuits  not 
to    perceive    that   thev   would    not    be    able    to    attain   their 
end   bv    fair   means,    and   they,    therefore,    addressed    them- 
selves to  King  John  III ,  who,  as  T  have  pointed  out  in  the 
Third  Book,  had  given  himself  over  to  them  in  slavish  sub- 
mission.    The   affair  now  took   another  turn,   as  a  matter  of 
course,  as  the  weak   and  superstitious  John  would  have  con- 
sidered  it  to  be  a  crime  to  have  any  doubt  about  the  said  reve- 
lation,  and  would  have  at  once  certainly  hunted  the   Rochus 
Brotherhood  out  of  their  possession  had  he  not  recollected  that 
by  so  doing  he  was  destroying  the  work  of  his  father  Emanuel. 
Consequently,  it  occurred  to  him  to  send  Don  Pedro  Masca- 
renhas,  a  per'son  of  importance  at  his  Court,  in  order  to  smooth 
the  strife  between  them  and  the  Jesuits  ;  and  this  Mascarenhas 
who  was  at  the  same  time  a  zealous  patron  of  the  Order  of 
Jesus,  endeavoured  by  every  means  at  his  command  to  induce 
the  said  brethren  to  yield.     They  were,  however,  inexorable,  and 
declared   that -thev  would  not,  under  any  circumstances,  allow 
themselves  to  be  robbed  of  their  property,  as  the  whole  conduct 
of  the  Jesuits  was  nothing  else  than  a  miserable  dissimulation 
in  order  to  give  cover  to  an  act  of  theft.     Upon  this  declaration. 
Sascarenhas   allowed  himself  to   be  beguiled  by  the  Jesuits 
to  try  an   act  of  violence   against   the  Rochus  brethr  n,   and 
with  an   armed   band  to  storm  the  cloister  and  chapel.      But 
the  brethren  defended  themselves  desperately,  and  victoriously 
repulsed  the  attack.     The  affair,   however,  was  not  yet  at  an 
end     hut  it  came  to   a   law-suit,  in    which    the    Jesuits    were 
;iai;tiffs,  "  in  respect  to  refusal  of  property."    The  pdges  had 
Therefore,  to  decide  whether  it  was  to  be  allowable  in  Portugal 
0  rob  ones  neighbour  according  to  pleasure,  and  they  dec.    d 
-one  could  hardly  believe  it  possible  that   such  could  be  the 
case-in  favour  of  such'  a  proceeding.     The  end  of  the  story  was 
h  s  then  that  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Rochus  had,  on 
t'irength  of  an  instrument  »J  -slop,  to  suffer  J.e  renun 

.    ciation   of    their    property   for   «^^ .^^'/^^^V'^^iltes 
robberv  perpetrated  on  them   they  did  not  receive  the  slightest 
[„demnification.     The  sons  of  Loyola  at  once  pulled  down  the 
e" -r,  buildings,  and-in  place  th^f  e.cted  s    h  ,. 

cent  profess-house  as  there  was  hardly  the  Ute  in 
world. 


394 


HI8T0KY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Thus   was   the  before-mentioned   divine  revelation  realised 
although   certainly  in  a  fashion  by  which  a  blow  in  the  face 
was  given  to  the  justice  of  the  heavenly  universal  government 
But  even  this  was   not   enough,   for  one  sin  generally  begets 
another.     So  it  happened  that  the  garden  of  the  Jesuits  belong- 
ing   to    their  new   building    abutted    on   the    park   which  sur- 
rounded the  palace  of  the  Count  d'Almirante,  and  an  earnest 
desire  seized  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  possess  this  domain  also 
So  longing  were  the  glances  which  they  now  threw  day  by  day 
on  this  charming  property,  that  they  almost  succeeded  by  their 
machinations  in  obtaining  the  accomplishment  of  their  desires 
But  lo  and  behold  !  the  Count,  in  the  year  1612,  began  to  make 
preparations  to   erect   in    his   park    certain   buildings   for   the 
enlargement  of  his  palace,  and  now  the  thought  at  once  shot 
like  lightning  through   the  heads  of  the  sons  of  Loyola   how 
they  might  make  their  attack.     They  instantly  entered  a  'com- 
plaint  m  the  law  courts  against  the  erection  of  these  new  build- 
ings of  the  Count,  and  demanded  that  the  same  should  be  put 
a  stop  to,  while  they  maintained  that  his  park   was  nothing  else 
than  the  former  churchyard  of  the  Saint  Rochus  chapel      There 
was,  of  course,  no  truth  whatever  in  this  assertion,  and  as  the 
law  court  applied  to  the  Archbishop  ef  Lisbon  in  order  that  there 
might  be  an  official  explanation   of  the  matter,  the  latter  gave 
his  decision  that  the  disputed  circle  had  at  no  time  served  as  a 
burial-ground.     With  this  decision,   however,  the  Jesuits  were 
not    at   all   satisfied,   but    they   now    addressed   themselves   to 
the  Tribunal  of  Petitions,  and,  with  bold  assurance,  demanded 
justice.     This   action,    however,    did   not   succeed   in    the   way 
they  expected,  and  in  the  first  and  second  instance  the  Count 
obtained   permission  to    proceed    with    the   building,    ar^d   the 
petitioners  were  brought  to  silence  as  to  their  complaint.      The 
Fathers  now  appealed  to  Rome,   affirming  that  the  Pope  was 
supreme  over  all  kings  and  courts  of  law ;  and  Paul  V     who 
entirely  agreed    with  such    principles,    not   only   at  once'  pro- 
hibited    any    further  ^action   whatever  on  the   part    of  all    the 
Portuguese  tribunals,  as  regards  the  matter  of  contention  between 
the  Jesuits  and  Count  Almirante,  but  summoned,  besides,  the  said 
parties  before  his  own   Forum,  in  order  that  it  might  be  deter- 
mined by  his  own  holy  courts  what  was  right.     What  would  now 
have  been  the  consequence,  had  the  Count  obeyed,  may  easily  b? 


BOBBERT   AND   THEFT. 


395 


imagined;   but,   on   account    of    this  Papal  presumption,   he 
addressed    himself  to    Philip    II.,    who    at    that  time    reigned 
over  Portugal,  and  he,  well-disposed  as   he   was   towards   the 
Church,    forbade   the  interference   of  Rome  with   the   internal 
affairs  o.f  his  country,  with  such   energy  that  Paul  V.  found  it 
necessary   to    draw  in  his  horns.     Thus,  at  length,  the  Count 
managed  to  retain  possession  of  his  property,   and  the   sons  of 
Loyola  were  obliged  to  renounce  their  artfully  contrived  robbery. 
Precisely  similar  attempts  at  theft  the  sons  of  Loyola  made, 
as  regards' the  nuns  and  monks  of  other  countries,  as  had  been  • 
the  case  with  reference  to  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Rochus 
in  Portugal,  and  I  might  adduce  in  this  respect  a  great  quantity 
of  the  most  edifying  stories.    As  for  example,  at  Dantzig,  where, 
in  the  year  1606,  they  robbed  the  nuns  of  the  Holy  Order  of 
the   Brigittens  of   their   cloisters,  but  were    compelled    by   the 
magistrate    to  relinquish  their  robbery.     Thus,  too,  in  Thorn, 
where  Fathers  Lapas  and  Valentin  performed  a  similar  tyran- 
nical deed,  but  equally  met  with  punishment  on  this  account. 
The  same  kind  of  thing  took  place  at  Cracow,   and  in  many 
other  Europeans  towns.     The  reader  will,  however,  obtain  the 
deepest  insight  into  the  system  of  Jesuit  robbery  when  I  re- 
late how   the    sons   of   Loyola  plundered,    during    the  Thirty 
Years'  War,   as  they  never    at   any  time   carried  out  stealing 
operations  on  such  an  extensive  scale   as   during  that   period. 
True  it  is,  moreover,  that  there  never  existed  but  one  Ferdinand 
IL,  and   the  prodigal  liberality  of  this  Emperor  towards   the 
Order  of  Jesus,  as  also  the  immeasurable  weakness  with  which 
be  sanctioned  all  their  robberies,  was  never  afterwards  exceeded.» 
Before  everything,  the  sons  of  Loyola  sought  to  appropriate  for 
themselves  as  much  as  they  possibly  could  in  the  Empire  of 
Austria  itself,  and  they  made  a  beginningt  in  this  respect,  by 
demanding  the  University  of  Vienna  for  themselves.     In  seeking 
this,  however,   it  was   not  so    much   on   account   of  the  great 
material  advantages  to  be  derived  therefrom,  but  that  in  this  way 

•  The  Emperor  Ferdinand    appears,  towards   the  end    of   his  life   to 
have  discovered  that  he  had  far  overstepped  the  proper  measure  of  hber- 
aUtv-  otherwise  he  would  not  have  exclaimed  to  the  Fathers  m  1635 
ÄpHe    vos  Patres,  non  semper   habebitis  Ferdinan dum   Secundum " 
iAccevt,  ve  Fathers,  you  will  not  always  have  a  Ferdmand  ii.).  ^ 

•  ^  t  ReÄg  the  acquisitions  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  so^alled  Inner  AustrlJ^ 
previous  to  the  Thirt/Years' War,  I  have  already  called  attention  m  the 
Second  Book  of  this  work. 


396 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


• 

the  entire  higher  instruction  of  the  youth  would  fall  into  their 
hands    and  especially   hy  this  means   the  Protestant   element, 
which  had  at  that  high  school  ohtained  an  almost  preponderat- 
ing influence,  might  be  completely  exterminated.    As,  however 
these  designs  of  fhe  sons  of  Loyola  appeared  to  be  as  clear  as 
daylight,  the   professors  of  the  university  defended  themselves 
to   the   utmost,   and  the  students  also  protested,  unanimously 
against  the  amalgamating  of  the  high  school  with  the  Jesuit 
College.     But  what  did  that  matter  ?     After  a  couple  of  years 
•  of  irresolution,  the  Emperor,  -n   the  urgent  appeal  of  his  Con- 
tessor,  Father  Lamormain.  yielded,  and,  on  the  21st  of  October 
1682,   ordered  the    desired    amalgamation.      Even    this     how- 
ever, was  not  suflBcient,  but  he  must  needs  accord  as  well  the 
necessary  funds  in  order  to  build  an  enormous  and  truly  splendid 
CO  lege  with    church  attached  thereto,   because  the   apartments 
hitherto  allotted  were  insufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  all 
the  four  faculties.     There  was  not,  therefore,  a  single  material 
advantage  wanting  to  accompany  this  acquisition,  and  this  fact 
becomes  more  prominently  apparent  when  one  takes  into  con- 
sideration   that  now  the  entire  property  of  the  University    as 

regards  its  management,  passed  over  into  the  possession  of  "the 
oociety  of  Jesus. 

Much  more  important,  however,  was  an   acquisition  that  the 
sons  of  Loyola  obtained  for  themselves  about  that  time   in  the 
Austrian   Salzkammergute,  namely  the  Benedictine  nun  cloister 
of  Traunkirchen,  situated  in  a  charming?  solitude  of  rock  and  lake 
and,   at  the  same  time,  endowed  with   truly  princely  revenues' 
After  it  had  enjoyed  a  prolonged oxistence,  the  Emperor  Maximi^ 
lian  abohshed  the  same,  in  the  year  1573,  and  he  might  indeed 
have  had  good  grounds  for  so  doing;  by  means  of  the' Je.uits* 
however,  scruples  of  conscience  were  awakened  in  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand  II.  respecting  this  abolition,  and  at  length  he  arrived 
at  the   conviction,  by   the  insinuating  influence  of  his  Father 
Confessor,  that    th^   same  was  nothing  else  than    a  theft  per- 
petrated  on  the  Church.     He,  therefore,  determined  to  restore  to 
the  Church  the  rich  settlement,  and  the  Benedictine  nuns  now 
naturally  expected  nothing  else  than  that  they  should  again  obfRin 
possession  of  their  former  property.     It  was,  however,  a  sinister 
element  m  the  calculations  of  the  Jesuits  that  they  had  only 
aroused  the  scruples  of  conscience  in  Ferdinand  II.,  as  regards 


JOBBERY  AND   T?HEFi)» 


397 


the  matter,  in  order  to  obtain  Traunkirchen  for  themselves,  and    . 
on  that  account  they  now  made  use  of  every  lever  to  bring  the 
Emperor  to  such  a  way  of  thinking.     Their  great  patron,  the 
Archduke  Leopold,  the  Emperor's  brother  and,  at    the   same 
time,  Bishop    of  Passau,  was  induced  to  besiege  his  high    re- 
lative with  the  representation  that  it  would  only  prove  valuable 
in  the  hands  of  Loyolites,  because  they  alone  were  fit  to  make 
use  of  it  for  the  uprooting  of  Protestantism  in  the  country  of 
the  Ens,  and  he  finally  contrived  to  bring  the  matter  so  far, 
that  the  Emperor  at  length   definitively  assigned  the  charming 
settlement  to  the  Jesuit  College  of  Passau,  on  the  12th  of  July 
1624.    The  Benedictine  nuns,  it  is  true,  complained  to  the  Pope, 
representing  it  as  a  robbery  perpetrated  against  them,  and,  in 
this  respect,  they  were  also  undoubtedly  right.     Urban  VIIL, 
however,  took  the  part  of  the  Jesuits,  and,  consequently,  the 
latter  remained  in  undisputed  possession  of  their   rich  acqui- 
sition. 

With  no  less  covetous  hand  did  they  also  pounce  upon  every- 
thing within  reach  in  Silesia  and  Moravia,  wherever  they  could 
get  possession  of  aught ;  and  in  this,  also,  the  Emperor  Ferdi- 
nand IL,  their   high  patron,  most   willingly    supported   them. 
They  enriched  themselves  with  the  estates  confiscated  from  the 
Protestants,  and  not  only  obtained  their  colleges  of  Olmiitz  and 
Brunn  in  this  fashion,  but  acquired  besides  several  noble  estates, 
and,  on  the   1st   September  1622,  four  great  market-places,  Pol- 
lehradiz,  Rzeizkowitz,  and  whatever  else  may   be  their  names. 
Besides,    also,    another  brother  of  the  Emperor,  the  Archduke 
Karl,  who  was  at  the  same  time  Bishop    of   Breslau  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  county  of  Glatz,  as  well  as  of  the  Dukedoms 
of  Oppeln  and  Eatibon,  showed  himself  to  be  extremely  favour- 
able to.  them ;  and  if  he  approved  of  the  Order,  depend  upon  it 
the  remaining   clergy   did   not  remain  behindhand   with   their 

favours. 

Consequently,  they  succeeded  with  facility  in  gaining  for  their 
college  at  Glatz  the  estates  of  the  knights  of  Malta,  and  for  their 
college  at  Beiss  the  cloister  and  church  attached  thereto  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Cross ;  for  their  educational  institution  in  Glogau, 
however,  they  obtained  the  six  entailed  estates  of  the  Baron 
George  von  Schönaick,  at  Carolath -Leu then,  which  they  simply 
took  away  from  him  because  he  was  a  Calvinist ;  and,  as  a  not 


398 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


less  magnificent  acquisition,  they  got  for  themselves  the  Upper 
Silesian  lordship  of  Oldersdorf,  which  brought  in  an  annual 
income  of  50,000  dollars.  In  short,  the  Jesuits  went  at  it  in 
real  earnest,  and  the  rulers  of  the  day  testified  great  joy  when- 
ever  they  succeeded  in  some  great  robbery. 

All  this,  however,  appeared  but  paltry  in  comparison  with 
what  the  sons  of  Loyola  contrived  to  appropriate  for  themselves 
in  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia— the  same  territory  from  which,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  they  had  been  so 
ignominiously  expelled.     For  instance,  when,  in  consequence  of 
the  battle  of  Prague,  in  the  year  1620,  the  whole  of  the  country 
of  the  Czechs,  as  we  know,  was  unconditionally  surrendered  to 
the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.,  the  Jesuits  returned  thither  in  great 
hordes,  and  established  themselves  again  in  possession  of  their 
former  estates  and  colleges.     This  was,  however,  only  a  fore- 
taste   of  their  subsequent  operations,  as  they  at    once  placed 
themselves  at  the  head  of  the  Imperial  armies,  and,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  latter,  perpetrated  a  system  of  robbery  which 
had  never  before  been  witnessed. 

In  every  village,  in  every  market-place,  in  every  town,  where 
Protestants   or   suspected  Protestantism   existed,  the    sons    of 
Loyola  advanced  with  the  victorious  soldiery,  and  everywhere 
was  it  their  first  care  to  seize  upon  everything  that  the  heretics 
possessed.     It  is  true  it  was  ostensibly  not  for  themselves,  but  * 
for  the  Emperor,  who  bad  the  right  to  punish  his  rebellious 
subjects  in  this  manner ;  but  the  Emperor  showed  himself  to  be 
liberal,  and  assigned  to  the  sons  of  Loyola  fully  the  half  of  the 
forty  millions  of  florins  which,  at  the  smallest  calculation,  the 
confiscated  estates  realised.     Indeed,  he  handed  over  to  them 
the  greater  portion  of  his  own  Crown  lands,  so  that  the  pious 
Fathers  obtained  for  themselves  almost  the   .bird  of  the  whole 
revenues  of  the  country  ! 

Such  a  colossal  result  had  never  before  been  witnessed  in  any 
Christian  kingdom ;  indeed,  not  even  in  Portugal,  where  they 
had  reigned  almost  supreme  during  nearly  two  hundred  years, 
€Ould  they  boast  of  the  like.  But,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  sons 
of  Loyola  had  never  enough,  but  they  always  strove  to  gain 
more  and  more— the  best  proof  of  their  insatiableness  after 
further  acquisiüons.  More  especially  they  stretched  out  their 
greedy  hands  upon  the  University  of  Prague,  and  hoped  to  he 


ROBBERY  AND   THEfT. 


399 


able  to  take  possession  of  this,  the  richest  as  well  as  the  univer- 
sally celebrated  high  school  of  Germany,  and  the  proper  cradle 
of  Protestantism,  with  as  much  ease  as  they  had  acquired  that 
of  Vienna.      But  in   this    they   deceived    themselves,   as  the 
"Karohna,"  so  called  after  its  founder,  the  Emperor  Charles 
IV..  or,  in  other  words,  the  University  of  Prague,  did  not,  by 
any  means,  at  the  first  sound  of  alarm,  yield  to  the  "  Ferdi- 
nandeum,"  which  was  the  name  of  the  Jesuit  college,  founded 
in  the  year  1555   by   the  Emperor    Ferdinand  I.,    and  even 
dared   to   offer   resistance   to    the   all-powerful  dictate    of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  IL 

The  affair  happened  thus.  Immediately  after  the  re-conquest 
of  Bohemia  for  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  the  Jesuits  repre- 
sented to  the  latter  that  the  Karolina  had  now  become  a 
patroness  of  heresy,  and  that,  therefore,  if  it  were  desired  to 
keep  the  youthful  students  pure  from  this  poison,  it  was  neces- 
sary  to   hand  over  the  whole  management   of  the  University 

to  the  sons  of  Loyola. 

**  Only  they,  the  Jesuits,  from  their  first  institution  had  proved 
themselves  to  be  capable  of  educating  the  young  in  the  pure 
Cathoüc  faith ;  the  other  Catholic  teachers,  indeed,  had  shown 
themselves  to  be  deficient  in  this  respect  all  over  Christendom. 
Were,  then,  the  Karolina  to  be  allowed  its  independent  exist- 
ence  as  hitherto,  were  it  not  to  be  amalgamated  with  the  Fer- 
dinandeum-if,  in  short,  the  resoluüon  were  not  made  that  the 
Rector  of  the  Jesuit  College  at  Prague  should  at  the  same  time 
be  consututed  Rector  of  the  whole  University,  as  also  of  its 
subordinate  chanceUors— one   might  depend  upon  it  that  the 
professors  at  the  Karolina  would  not  teach  in  the  spirit  of  the 
only  saving  faith,  while,  under  the  protection  of  any  rector  or 
chancellor  of  a  different  spirit,  error  and  disbelief  would  always 
be  liable  to  creep  in." 

Thus  did  the  Jesuits  speak  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  IL, 
and  their  officious  creature,  the  Prince  of  Lichtenstein,  at  that 
time  Governor  of  Bohemia,  supported  their  representations 
with  all  his  power.  The  Emperor,  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
wavered  for  a  long  time,  because  it  appeared  to  him  that  he 
was  about  to  annihilate,  so  to  speak,  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  the 
ancient  privileges  of  the  Karolina;  but  it  is,  indeed  notorious 
how  he  could  be  brought  over  to  do  anything,  through  the  bug- 


400 


filSTOBY  ÖP  THE  JESUITS. 


bear  of  heresy,' and  thus,  on  the  Qfh  «»  *     ,. 
a  decree  in  which  he  oied  th!     ^  T^''  ^'^'''  ^'  "«"«d 
with  all  its  estates  andTrSe      „  ,7'     "  ''  ''''  ^"°"°«' 
the  whole  university  m'2be  a  """'  ''^  ^''^'^''  ^°  *hat 

-deu..     XhesaidÄUlthrr"*^'  ''''    '^^  ^-'^'■ 

Ferdinandian  C  Jlefe  oi  it   "°  ^'"^^'"^"y  '^"^  '''a'  of  th 

not  stand  in  the  way  of  a^  !»..  «'^algamation  shall 

aforesaid  Universirythor/  ^r"'""  P"^"^^^«  »^  'he 

nance,  destroy  an/^deye»  „7  !  '  '^"^'  ''^  P'«-«"  -<"■ 
to  the  an^algaUon  ordZ d'Ty  r  "^  "'^'^  '^  ^"'^^"'^ 
;t  is  our  will  that  the  present /ect";  of  ^rcX""  ''""^' 
according  to  the  statutes  of  the  S„nil      *  .  ^^'  «PPW^t^d 

sanie  time  Kector  of  the  whole  n^  ''  ''^^'^  ^^  "'  '^' 

externiinate  hereby  a^  Ii1,"T?"^'  ""'  "^  """''^'«'^  -^ 
n^aketothis  dignity  A^d  2  T  1  ^^""^  "^^^^  "^''-'^i«« 
the  aforesaid  BeC^ll  t';  ^^  ^  i  "  '"  "  "'^"""'^  " 
"pper  scliools  in  the  town  of  Prl  ;""'  "'  '^''°  «^^  °^"  'b« 

toioliow  the  orders  :fTe'Kr''o:"oft^r  '''''"'' 
appoint  to  yisit  the  schools  Bndl  ?         '"  ''^"'"  ^«  ^^^^ 

whatever  niade  by  him  ^  one  "T^^'  "'"^  ""^  '"^"J«'"«" 
Beotor  .n  writing  shT^l  bf  u  holTd tluT"'"  ''""^  '^^ 
m  whatever  Faculty  it  mav    "    °"!'"^  '°  ^°'"><'  any  new  school, 

aioresaid  Bector^h^ '  r^^Llrof'^  il "'  ^^  '"'^«^  '^'^ 
schools  and  colleges  as  w!ll  »      k  ""  P'"'""^'  established 

estabhshedthrougitTethr  L^rlT  ''^  ^"'"^  ''^ 
we  appoint  the  aforesaid  Sector  to   hi  ^^""'''-     '^'^'^^ 

of  heretics,  and  commit  to  C       ou'r  f- '"T'"  ^'  """'"^^    ■ 
^  the  censorship  over  all  h^ot^cr  JT^ p^l^ 

^^  aifd  tittTnot;:  sr Ä  '^  r  -^  »'•  -« 

of  former  PapflpriviWesr.rt'^^^^ 

chancellor  aiid  supr  mTht  d  o    th  T?  "" ''^^  ^----t 

heiore  right,"  thought  both  1  i^l  "^     "  ^^»'^^  «"- 

besides."  said  these  wortnies  tt  thelZ'^    '^""^  ^  "  ^^^ 

vueaiseives,     the  present  moment 


BOBBERY   AND   THEFT. 


401 


18  a  peculiarly  favourable  opportunity  in  order  to  carry  through 
the  said  dictatorial  decision."  The  Archbishopric  of  Prague  was, 
just  at  that  time,  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Archbishop  Johann 
Lobelius,  and  Count  Ernst  Adalbert  von  Harrack  had  been 
selected  to  fill  this  office,  who,  having  been  brought  up  in 
the  Collegium  Germanicum  in  Rome,  was  known  to  be  a  ^reat 
persecutor  of  heresy.  It  was  consequently  hoped  that  he  would 
not  be  so  strict  in  insisting  upon  his  archiepiscopal  privileges, 
but  that  he  would  rather  silently  acquiesce,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
usurpation.  Scarcely,  however,  had  Ernst  Adalbert  taken  pos- 
session of  his  see,  in  the  year  16Je3,  than  he  presented  to  the 
Emperor  a  written  complaint,  in  which  he  most  energetically 
protested  against  the  decree  that  had  been  issued,  and,  as  this 
document  was  productive  of  no  result  in  deterring  the  Jesuits 
from  forcibly  taking  possession  of  all  the  estates  appertaining 
to  the  University,  he  set  out  himself  for  Vienna,  in  order  per- 
sonally there  to  prosecute  his  case.  He  also  complained  to 
Pope  Urban  VIII.,  and  on  this  occasion  described  the  machina- 
tions of  the  Jesuits  in  such  bitter  terms  that  one  could  not 
sufficiently  wonder  at  his  action.  The  following  are  the  very 
words  he  employed  : — 

"  As  soon  as  they  (namely,  the  Jesuits)  observed  that  T  was 
determined  to  offer  an  earnest  resistance  to  their  presumptuous 
attempts,  then  they  at  once  commenced  to  attack,  partly  openly 
and  partly  secretly,  my  archiepiscopal  jurisdiction.  More  espe- 
cially they  set  about  spreading  abroad  everywhere  calumnies 
of  every  description,  and,  what  was  still  more  disgraceful,  they 
so  blackened  at  Court  the  characters  of  my  servants  and  sup- 
porters, through  anonymous  libels  and  lampoons,  that  I  could 
scarcely  find  anyone  who  would  venture  to  enter  into  my 
service,  or  to  stand  by  me  as  defender  of  my  archiepiscopal 
rights.  They  have  even  so  hounded  on  the  clergy  in  my  diocese, 
against  me,  that  the  latter  defiantly  deny  obedience  to  me,  and 
it  has  already  come  to  such  a  height  that,  in  verity,  the  Jesuits 
in  this  country  exercise  the  archiepiscopal  power,  I  holding 
nothing  more  than  the  mere  title  of  Archbishop.  May  it  not  be 
called  a  strange  contradiction  to  be  solved,  and  one  much  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  a  society  which  professes  the  glory  of  God  to 
be  the  sole  end  and  aim  of  its  efforts  should  be  so  eager  after 
worldly  power   and   worldly  possessions  that  they  hesitate  at 


402 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ROBBERY  AND   THEFT. 


403 


nothing  in  ordor  to  obtain  possession  of  both  by  their  strenuous 
exertions.     Indeed,  they  go  so  far  as  to  persecute,  with  the  most 
implacable  hatred,  all  who  do  not  bumbly  submit  themselves  to 
their  dictatorship,  and,  at  the  same  time,  prophesy  the  inevitable 
downfall  of  the  Catholic  Church  whenever  anyone  does  not,  with 
slavish  adoration,  cringe  at  their  feet  and  tolerate  their  usurpa- 
tions with  cowardly  submission  ?  *'    The  Archbishop  wrote  thus, 
with  other  like  expressions,  to  Pope  Urban  VIII.,  and  he  did 
not  express  himself  less  sharply  towards  the  Emperor  and  his 
ministers.     In  vain  did  Ferdinand  II.  endeavour  to  silence  him 
by  withdrawing  from  him,  in  the  year  1 620,  the  right  of  patron- 
age in  all  ecclesiastical  appointments  and  benefices  in  the  royal 
-     towns  of  Bohemia.     In  vain  did  the  Pope  nominate  him,  a  year 
later,  to  be  a  Cardinal,  in   order  to  induce  him   to  be  more 
yielding  and  amenable.     In  vain  did  the  Governor  of  Bohemia, 
Prince  Lichtenstein,  give  himself  all  possible  trouble  to  work 
upon  the  obstinate  opposition  of  the  ecclesiastical  prince.    Ernst 
Adalbert  would  not  be  conciliated,   either  by  compromise   or 
indulgence,  and,  as  he  had  perfect  right  on  his  side,  silence  could 
not  be  in  any  way  imposed  upon  him.     On  the  other  hand, 
however,  the  Emperor  would  not  retract  his  decree,  issned  in 
favour  of  the  Jesuits,  under  any  circumstances;  and  also  the 
Pope  did  not  dare  to  form  a  decision  inimical  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola.     His  Holiness  was,  indeed,  by  far  too  much  indebted  to 
this  Emperor  who  supported,  with  so  much  success,  the  declining 
authority  of  the  Roman  Court,  that  he  should  run  any  risk  of 
forfeiting  such  favour  for  any  question  as  to  rights  and  privileges ; 
and  thus  the  contention  lasted  during  fully  sixteen  years.-   It 
was  not,  indeed,  a  mere  contention,  but  an  open  veritable  war ; 
as,  besides  the  scurrilous  lampoons  which  were  launched  respec- 
tively on  both  sides,  it  frequently  cnme  as  far  as  broken  heads, 
if  the  adherents  of  the  one  party  happened  to  meet  those  of  the 
other  in  the  streets  of  Prague. 

Finally,  Ferdinand  II.  died,  and  now  the  Pope  had  no 
further  pretext  to  withhold  any  longer  his  decision.  He  deter- 
mined, then,  on  the  7th  of  January  1638,  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola  should  give  back  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  the 
Karolina  of  Prague,  with  all  its  estates,  illegally  acquired  by  a 
despotic  command  of  the  secular  power.     His  Holiness,  however, 


dare  not  by  any  means  deliver  it  over  to  the  Archbishop,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  nominated  a  secular  **  Protector  "  as  ruler  thereof. 
This  actually  took  place,  and  the  first  Protector  nominated 
by  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  III.,  Friedrich  von  Tallemberg, 
undertook  the  supreme  management  of  the  University.  But 
were  the  contending  parties  quieted  thereby  ?  No,  certainly 
not!  The  Jesuits  not,  because  what  they  were  desirious  of 
retaining  had  been  taken  from  them ;  and  the  Archbishop  not, 
because  that  to  which  hitherto  he  had  a  legal  claim  was  not 
restored  to  him.  On  this  account,  after  a  short  time,  the 
contention  arose  afresh,  and  once  more  there  abounded  libels 
and  galling  lampoons,  once  more  there  was  quarrelling,  with 
cudgelling  and  broken  heads.  It  would  be,  however,  too 
tiresome  for  the  reader,  were  I  to  describe  the  struggle  in 
all  its  details ;  consequently,  I  shortly  remark  that  after  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  in  the  year  1653,  a  satisfactory  com- 
promise was  at  length  brought  about  between  the  exasperated 
disputants — a  compromise,  moreover,  by  which  both  parties  were 
reconciled,  although  both  contended  that  they  had  gained  the 
day.  It  was  settled  that  for  the  future  the  Karolina,  amalga- 
mated with  the  Ferdinandeum,  under  the  title  of  "Karl- 
Ferdinand's  university,"  should  form  one  single  high-school, 
that  the  Jesuits  should  not,  however,  have  charge  of  all  the  four 
faculties,  but  only  those  of  theology  and  philosophy.  Further, 
that  to  the  Emperor  should  appertain  the  right  of  nominating 
even  laymen  to  professorial  chairs  in  jurisprudence  and  medicine, 
and  that  the  Kectorate  should  be  changed  every  year  in  this 
manner:  that  first  a  jurist,  then  a  theologian,  after  that  a 
medical  professor,  and  lastly,  a  philosopher,  should  be  nominated 
to  hold  that  office  out  of  the  whole  body  of  professors.  More- 
over, it  was  decreed  that  the  Senate  of  the  two  Secular  Faculties 
— those,  namely,  of  law  and  physic — should  be  in  sole  possession 
of,  and  have  control  over,  the  entire  revenues  of  the  old  Karo- 
lina,  and  that  the  Archbishop  of  Prague  should  hold  the  title 
and  dignity  of  Chancellor  of  the  united  "  Karl-Ferdinand*8 
Universität,''  sc  that  all,  including  even  the  Jesuits,  who  were 
desirous  of  acquiring  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  any  Faculty  what- 
ever, must  seek  permission  from  him.  That,  however,  he  should 
not,    as  formerly,  have   unlimited  power   over   the   university, 

2?  • 


404 


EISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


BOBBEBY   AND   THEFT. 


405 


there  was  appointed  a  secular  Government  plenipotentiary  with 
the  style  and  title  of  "  Superintendent,*'  without  whose  approval 
he  could  not  introduce  any  government  act  whatever.  These 
were  the  principal  conditions  of  the  compromise  arranged  in  the 
year  1653;  and  was  I  not  right  in  saying  that  hoth  parties, 
while  appearing  to  have  gained  thereby,  had,  however,  in  reality 
lost? 

The  Jesuits  were  not  so  narrow-minded  as  to  limit  their 
robbing  operations  to  Austria  only;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
extended  them,  indeed,  over  the  whole  of  Germany,  and  in 
order  to  be  enabled  to  effect  this  great  result  they  caused  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  IL,  who  in  the  year  1629  stood  at  the 
zenith  of  his  prosperity,  to  issue  the  uncommonly  ill-famed 
Restitution  Edict,  in  which  it  was  conjoined  that  all  ecclesiastical 
estates  of  which  the  Protestants  had  obtained  possession  since 
the  Treaty  of  Passau  in  the  year  1552,  and  that  all  the  abbeys, 
cloisters,  and  other  benefices  whatever,  which  since  the  time 
mentioned  had  been  abolished  and  secularized,  should  be  restored 
to  their  former  owners ;  and  as  the  Protestants,  at  that  time, 
were  completely  powerless  to  do  anything  against  the  Imperial 
weapons,  they  were  unable,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Catholics,  to 
render  any  considerable  opposition  whatever  to  the  carrying  out 
of  this  imperious  order.  I  said  "  to  the  great  joy  of  the 
Catholics ; "  I  should  have  said,  however,  to  the  great  joy  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  it  soon  appeared  that  the  Emperor  was  in 
no  way  disposed  to  restore  to  the  former  ecclesiastical  proprietors 
the  church  property  which  had  been  torn  from  the  Evangelical 
party,  but  that  his  view,  on  the  contrary,  was  to  retain  such 
property,  lor  the  most  part,  in  order  to  prosecute  the  war  that 
was  going  on,  and  to  leave  the  rest  as  a  reward  to  the  Jesuits  for 
their  faithful  services. 

So  the  Restitution  Edict  was  framed;  and  merely  in  order  that 
they  might  gain  booty  the  sons  of  Loyola  induced  the  Emperor 
to  issue  this  celebrated  decree.  Ferdinand  IL,  however,  who 
perceived  only  too  well  that  his  interest  went  hand  in  hand 
with  that  of  the  pious  Fathers,  allowed  himself  to  give  free 
consent  to  all  their  propositions,  and  formally  committed  him- 
self to  them  in  an  autograph  letter,  addressed  to  Father  Walter 
Mundhrodt  in  May  1629,  indicating  to  him  the  localities  and 


towns  in  which  new  settlements  and  enrichments  could  be  most 
acceptably  given  them.  And,  now,  when  such  was  the  case, 
could  it  be  well  imagined  that  the  good  Fathers  would  be  guilty 
of  showing  too  great  reserve  in  relation  to  their  desires  ?  Could 
it  be  imagined  that  they  would  not  at  once  grasp  everything 
that  there  was  to  seize,  in  place  of  waiting  humbly  until  some 
crumbs  fell  of  themselves  to  their  share  ?  No,  certainly  the 
sons  of  Loyola  cuuld  not  be  reproached  in  this  respect,  as  regards 
retaiuiug  for  themselves  everything  accorded  to  them  by  the 
Restituiion  Edict.  Byt,  unfortunately,  there  was  one  hindrance, 
and  one  which  could  not  be  so  easily  got  over ;  it  happened  to 
stand  recorded  in  the  Restitution  Edict,  in  order  to  give  it  an 
appearance  of  justice,  that  the  abbeys  and  cloisters  secularized 
since  löö2  should  be  restored  to  their  "former"  proprietors, 
and  these  in  the  persons  of  Benedictines,  Dominicans,  Fran- 
ciscans, Prsemonstrats,  Cistercians,  and  whatever  else  they  might 
be  denominated,  not  only  announced  themselves  as  such,  but 
sent,  without  delay,  the  Abbots  of  Uassenfeld  and  Kaisersheim 
as  a  de^  utation  to  Vienna  in  order  to  prosecute  their  claims  at 
the  Court.  This  did  not  at  ail  please  the  sons  of  Loyola;  they 
dissembled,  however,  and  Father  Lamormain,  the  Confessor  of 
the  Emperor,  more  especially  treated  the  two  deputies  with  as 
much  Üattery  as  was  possible.  Thereupon,  when  he  believed  that 
he  had  quite  succeeded  in  gaining  them  over,  he  gave  his  opinion 
that  it  would  be  lor  their  mutual  benefit  if  they  reciprocally 
came  to  an  agreement,  and  added  thereto  the  idea  that  they 
should  hand  over  the  nunneries,  and  some  of  the  monk- 
cloisters  also,  to  the  Jesuits,  for  the  erection  of  colleges,  and 
that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  give  its 
assurance  not  to  lay  claim  to  the  remainder  of  the  estates. 
But  to  this  the  two  abbots  could  not  permit  themselves  to  agree ; 
so,  declaring  that  they  were  not  empowered  to  conclude  such 
an  agreement,  they  thereupon  took  their  final  departure  from 
Vienna. 

What  did  Father  Lamormain  do  now?  As  soon  as  the 
abbots  had  gone,  he  hastened  to  the  Emperor  and  assured  him 
that  they  were  quite  ready  to  accept  the  proposed  agreement, 
so  that  nothing  in  the  least  stood  in  the  way  of  the  cession  of 
the  whole  of  the  nunneries  secularized  since  1552,  as  well  as 


^1 


406 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


the  said  couple  of  monk« cloisters.  The  Emperor,  of  course,  lent 
Lis  most  implicit  belief  to  this  assurance,  as  the  words  of  his 
Father  Confessor  were  as  good  for  him  as  the  solemn  utterances 
of  an  oracle,  and  consequently  an  ordet  was  immediately  issued 
to  General  Wallenstein,  and  to  the  Generals  under  him,  to  put 
the  Jesuits  in  possession  of  the  cloisters  in  question.  But  now, 
behold  !  the  two  abbots  protested  energetically  against  the  em- 
bezzlement effected  by  Father  Lamormain,  and  plainly  accused 
the  latter  of  a  premeditated  rascality.  The  same  was  done, 
although  in  mild  language,  by  the  Imperial  President  of 
the  Court  Chamber  and  Privy  Councillor,  Abt  Anton  Wolfradt 
von  Kremsmünster,  who  had  been  present  during  the  conversa- 
tion between  the  Father  Confessor  and  the  two  abbots,  and  it 
therefore  appears  tolerably  certain  that  the  reproach  was  justifi- 
able. Nevertheless,  Father  Lamormain  adhered  to  his  pretext, 
and,  of  course,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  obliged  to  him  for  doing 
80.  Thereby,  however,  a  most  violent  strife  at  once  arose 
between  the  older  Orders  of  monks  and  the  Jesuits,  and  both 
parties  contended  together  with  all  the  weapons  upon  which  they 
could  lay  their  hands.  More  especially  a  most  lively  paper  war 
developed  itself  between  them,  in  which  the  sons  of  Loyola 
were  principally  represented  by  the  Fathers  Paul  Laymann  and 
Lorenz  Forer,  professors  of  the  High  School  at  Dillengen,  as 
well  as  by  the  frequently-mentioned  Johann  Crusius  of  Bremen, 
while  the  older  monkish  Orders  found  elegant  and  eloquent 
defenders  in  the  Benedictine  Romanus  Hay  of  Ochsenhausen, 
and  in  the  celebrated  critic,  Kaspar  Scioppius,  better  known  as 
Schoppe. 

Ardently,  however,  as  the  combatants  couched  their  lances, 
and  much  as  the  Jesuits  distinguished  themselves  by  anonymous 
pamphlets,  by  insults,  by  calumnies,  and  by  pelting  their 
adversaries  with  dirt,  nothing  was  effected  by  all  this  war  of 
words.  Perceiving  this,  the  Jesuits  now  called  to  remembrance 
the  old  proverb,  ^^ Beati possidentes,'*  "Happy  are  they  who  are 
in  possession."  In  other  words,  they  did  not  wait  until  the 
strife  was  settled  as  to  the  point  "  to  whom  the  cloisters  were  to 
be  restored,"  nor  while  it  lasted,  but  strove  to  take  actual  pos- 
session of  the  disputed  objects,  and  mockingly  laughed  in  their 
sleeves  when  the  others  found  themselves  behindhand.     In  fact. 


EOBBEBY  AND   THEFT. 


407 


they  succeeded,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Imperial  commanders, 
in  occupying  very  many  of  the  cloisters ;  and,  with  the  view  of 
showing  the  reader  how  they  were  accustomed  to  go  to  work,  I 
will  enter  into  a  description  of  one  of  these  usurpations  more  in 
detail. 

In  the  year  1630,  the  Bishop  of  Osnabrück,  one  of  the  com- 
missaries entrusted  by  the  Emperor  with  the  carrying  out  of 
the  Restitution  Edict,  had  put  the  Bernhardine  nuns  again  in 
possession  of  the  cloister  of  Wöltingerode,  in  Lower  Saxony, 
which  had  formerly  been  seized  from  them  by  the  Protestants, 
and,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Abbot  of  Valenciennes,  they 
proceeded  to  re-occupy  the  place  with  all  due  solemnity.  This, 
however,  did  not  prevent  the  Superiors  of  the  then  neighbouring 
Jesuit  College  at  Goslar  from  reporting  to  Vienna  that  the 
cloister  in  question  was  completely  empty,  and  that  for  a  long 
time  past  it  had  not  been  laid  claim  to  by  anyone.  On  this 
account  the  Emp.ror  was  graciously  enabled  to  hand  it  over  to 
them  for  the  erection  of  a  novitiate.  The  Emperor  actually 
accorded  this  favour,  and  directed  the  fact  to  be  intimated 
to  the  Fathers  through  his  favourite  Lamormain. 

Upon  this  some  of  the  Jesuits  from  Goslar  immediately  pro 
ceeded  to  Wöltingerode,  and  kindly  represented  to  the  nuns  that, 
in  this  open  place,  they  would  be  subject  to  incursions  of  the 
soldiery,  it  would  be  much  better,  they  complacently  added, 
and  more  advisable,  to  take  refuge  in  the  more  secure  Goslar,  in 
the  meantime,  until  the  storm  of  war  had  passed  over,  and  they 
— the  Jesuits — would  take  the  trouble  of  providing  a  suitable 
lodging  for  them.  The  nuns,  not  anticipating  anything  deceitful, 
followed  this  advice,  and  were,  sure  enough,  safely  conducted 
by  the  sons  of  Loyola  into  the  cloister  court  of  Frauenberg. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  they  entered  this  asylum  than  the 
Provincial  of  the  province  of  the  Lower  Rhine,  Father  Hermann 
Gawinz,  accompanied  by  a  host  of  armed  men,  proceeded,  on  the 
29th  March  1031,  to  Wöltingerode,  and,  producing  the  Imperial 
document  which  referred  to  the  present,  seized  possession  of 
the  cloister,  compelling  the  servants  left  behind  by  the  nuns  to 
swear  fidelity  to  the  new  possessors. 

The  sons  of  Loyola  now  believed  that  they   had   won   the 
game;  this,  however,   was   not  so,  as   the   pious  women  had 


408 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESÖIT3, 


their  hearts  in  the  right  spot.  As  soon,  then,  as  they  became 
aware  of  the  deceit  practised  upon  them  by  the  Jesuits,  they 
secretly  disappeared  from  Goslar  under  cover  of  night,  hastened 
to  Wöltingerode,  and,  as  they  found  the  cloisters  shut  up, 
penetrated  into  the  choir  of  the  church,  and,  barricading  them- 
selves therein  with  chairs  and  other  utensils,  declared  to  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  next  morning,  that  they  would  only  yield  to 
force.  In  vain  now  did  the  Fathers  employ  every  means  of 
persuasion ;  in  vain  did  they  make  to  the  valiant  nuns  all  sorts 
of  fair  promises ;  in  vain  did  they  withhold  for  several  days  all 
means  of  subsistence,  in  order  that  they  might  be  reduced  by 
hunger:  the  women  held  out,  however,  6md  did  not  yield. 
The  patience  of  the  Loyolites  was  now  completely  exhausted, 
and  they  resolved  at  once,  on  the  12th  of  April,  to  proceed  by 
force.  They,  consequently,  made  a  requisition  for  a  number 
of  rough  soldiers,  penetrated  with  them  into  the  choir,  tore 
the  nuns  out  of  the  choir  chairs  to  which  they  clung,  and, 
finally,  threw  them,  stripped  of  everything,  into  the  street. 

Such  a  shameful  deed  of  violence  could  not,  however,  be 
beneficial  to  the  Fathers,  as  everybody  became  indignant  about 
it,  and  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  could  not  do  otherwise 
than  order  the  Society,  with  austerity,  immediately  to  re-establish 
the  nuns  in  the  possession  of  their  property. 

For  this  time  the  Jesuits  were  defeated,  but  in  most  of  the 
other  cases  they  succeeded  in  their  usurpations — to  wit,  in  the 
nunnery  of  Clarenthal,  near  Mayence,  and  in  that  of  Marieukron, 
near  Oppenheim,  as  well  as  in  the  priories  of  St.  Valentine  at 
Buffach  and  St.  Jacob  at  Feldbach;  also  at  the  Abbey  St. 
Morand,  in  Breisgau,  and  in  the  Provostships  of  St.  Ulrich  and 
EUenberg  in  Alsace,  as  well  as  in  a  number  of  other  cloisters 
too  numerous  to  be  mentioned. 

In  a  word,  they  prosecuted  matters  so  ruthlessly  that,  in 
March  1637,  the  Catholic  Imperial  Knighthood  of  the  Rhine 
country  and  of  Weiterau  tendered  a  petition  to  Pope  Urban 
VIJL,  full  of  the  most  bitter  complaints  as  to  the  insatiable 
avarice  of  the  Jesuits,  and  urged  him  in  the  most  earnest 
manner  to  frustrate  the  criminal  assaults  of  the  same  upon  the 
rightful  property  of  the  older  Orders  of  monks.  Indeed,  two 
years  and  a  half  later,  the  three  ecclesiastical  Electors  of  Treves, 


tlOBBERY  AND  THEFT?. 


409 


Cologne,  and  Mayence,  in  conjunction  with  Duke  Maximilian 
of  Bavaria,  who  was  certainly  no  enemy  to  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
tendered  a  collective  petition  to  the  Holy  Father  in  Home, 
and  assured  him  therein  that  the  enormous  thirst  for  gold 
and  property  which  animated  the  Jesuits  was  beyond  all  con- 
ception ! 

Can  it  be  necessary  to  cite  any  further  facts  ?     Can  it  be 
necessary  to  bring  forward  any  further  evidence  ? 


I 


i 


410 


filSTOBY  OF  THE   JEStJITS« 


CHAPTEB   m. 

JESUIT   COMMEBCE   AND   USURY,    COMBINED   WITH 
FBAUDULENT  BANKBUPTOY. 

No  single  Christian  Society,  no  single  Order  in  the  whole 
world,  boasted  so  much  of  the  extraordinary  results  of  its  con- 
version of  the  heathen  as  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  never  did 
any  institution  whatever  succeed  so  well  by  its  vaunting  in 
deceiving  a  confiding  world  as  did  this  institution  of  Jesuit- 
ism. But,  truly,  how  could,  this  be  otherwise?  In  their  so- 
called  "  Edifying  Letters  '*  the  sons  of  Loyola  spread  abroad 
the  most  gratifying  legends  as  to  the  progress  which  they 
made,  and  one  reads  therein  of  so  many  martyrs,  and  of  such 
numbers  of  wondrous  works,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the 
superstitious  part  of  the  people  to  have  any  doubt  about  the 
matter. 

It  happened,  too,  that,  concerning  foreign  nations  in  distant 
regions  of  the  world,  to  which  the  Jesuit  reports  rel'erred,  scarcely 
anything  was  known  through  other  travellers,  so  that  any  con- 
tradiction of  intelligence  communicated  by  the  Jesuits  could 
not  be  contemplated ;  and,  moreover,  the  Black  Fathers  passed 
among  the  common  men,  as  well  as  among  the  common  women, 
as  most  holy,  while  to  accuse  them  of  falsehood  would  be  con- 
sidered as  a  deadly  sin  I  Consequently,  one  long  heard,  as  a 
regular  matter  of  course,  the  loud  deafening  shout  that  the  sons 
of  Loyola  struck  up  as  to  their  apostolical  results,  while  with 
fervent  ardour  hundreds  of  different  volumes  of  tales  appeared 


W 


JESUIT  COMMEECB   AND   USTJEY. 


411 


in  which  black  was  proved  to  be  white,  so  that  there  could  be 
no  Christendom  either  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  America,  without 
Jesuit  institutions.  But,  did  the  whole  of  mankind  participate 
in  this  belief;  and  did  the  sensible  and  enlightened  acquiesce 
therein  ?  No ;  for  persons  soon  asked  themselves  whether  it 
was  possible  that  a  Society  which,  in  European  kingdoms, 
laboured  only  for  power  and  riches — merely,  that  is,  for  worldly 
advantages — that  a  Society  such  as  this  should  have  for  its 
single  and  sole  object  the  promulgation  of  Christianity  in  distant 
parts  of  the  world,  an  object  which  could  only  be  attained  by 
the  greatest  sacrifices,  and,  indeed,  in  some  oases  even  with 
martyrdom.  They  asked  themselves  this  question,  and  incredu- 
lously shook  their  heads.  The  proper  answer,  however,  they 
obtained  at  no  very  distant  date,  partly  from  the  writings  of 
the  Dominicans  and  Capuchins,  who,  from  personal  observation, 
became  acquainted  with  those  Jesuit  missions ;  partly,  also,  from 
the  documentary  testimony  of  pious  and  God-fearing  bishops, 
against  whom  the  sons  of  Loyola  violently  rebelled;  partly,  too, 
from  the  enactments  and  Bulls  of  the  Popes,  who  latterly  could 
not  but  oppose  powerfully  the  Jesuit  Christian  heathenism  in 
China,  Japan,  and  East  India;  and,  lastly, by  the  official  reports 
of  different  Governors  and  Prefects,  who  communicated  the  true 
state  of  matters  to  their  Governments. 

What,  then,  became  apparent  from  this  ?  Nothing  else  than 
that  the  real  object  of  Jesuit  missions  consisted  merely  in  the 
acquisition  of  power  and  riches.  It  is  true  enough  that  some 
of  them,  in  the  prosecution  of  this  selfish  object,  came  to  ruin; 
but  must  not,  then,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  "  soldiers  and  warriors 
of  Christ,*'  allow  themselves  to  be  placed  by  their  superiors  in 
situations  of  danger  ?  Moreover,  was  not  the  most  admirable 
consideration  to  be  obtained  for  the  Society  of  Jesus  when  the 
victims  of  selfishness  were  glorified  as  saints  and  martyrs; 
and  did  not  the  advantage  of  the  Society  demand  that  one 
should  allow,  every  couple  of  years,  a  member  to  be  sac- 
rificed ?  In  spite,  however,  of  everything,  the  halo  of  Jesuit 
mission  work  lost  its  sanctity  after  a  few  decades;  and 
when  the  naked  truth  became  self-evident  to  the  common 
people,  the  latter  were  much  horrified  at  the  abominations 
which  were  brought  to  light. 

It  must  already  have   become  apparent  to  every  observant 


412 


HISTOBY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


clear-sighted  person  that  the  pious  Fathers  only  deigned  to 
direct  their  Christianising  attention  to  such  countries  as  had 
been  endowed  by  Nature  with  great  riches,  while  poor  localities, 
in  which  nothing  was  to  be  gained,  were  treated  by  them  with 
sovereign  contempt.  But  how  so  ?  Why  did  they  merely  press 
forward  in  Asia,  Japan,  Chiua,  and  East  India,  and  why  not  also 
to  the  northern  regions  of  that  immense  continent  ?  Why  did  they 
not  rather  strive  to  obtain  a  lasting  footing  in  Africa,  instead  of 
abandoning  the  poor  blacks  to  their  heathen  blindness  ?  Why 
was  it  that  they  concerned  themselves  so  much  with  Central  and 
Southern  America,  with  Mexico,  Chili,  Peru,  Brazil,  and  what- 
ever else  these  countries  may  be  called,  without  troubling  them- 
selves at  all  about  the  idol-worship  ol  the  degraded  Indians  of 
the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  of  the  frozen  regions,  other  than  the 
fur-yielding  territory  of  Canada  ?  The  sagacious  Fathers  must 
have  had  a  reason  for  this  exceptional  conduct,  and  they,  doubt- 
less, paid  due  regard  to  the  difierent  capabilities  with  which 
Nature  had  endowed  the  various  countries  ?  * 


*  The  following  serves  as  a  proof  of  this.  In  regaxd^to  Cochin  China,  a 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Annam,  the  sons  of  Loyoia  for  a  long  time  gave 
tüemselves  no  trouble  at  all,  but  tney  left  it  entiiely  to  the  reaiaeut  Üianop 
and  suHragan  of  tlie  Arcnoisnop  ol  Groa  to  convert  the  inhabitants,  who 
were,  tor  tne  most  part,  Hmdoos.  As  ground  for  this,  they  gave  out  that 
they  had  more  important  matters  to  attend  to,  and  none  wonuered  at  their 
conimued  absence,  as  tne  laud  was  m  general  reckoned  to  be  very  poor.  \V  hen 
BUddeniy,  however,  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  pious  ±  »tuers  that  a 
salt  lake  existed  in  the  mterior,  m  which  pearls  of  the  nnest  water  were  to 
be  found  m  abundance,  and  when  it  was  lurtner  told  them  that  some  Jn'ortu- 
guese  traders  came  every  year  for  the  purpose  of  buymg  them  up  quite 
qmetly,  the  hearts  of  tne  sons  of  JLoyoia  now  became  most  vehemently 
movea,  and  they  declared  to  the  Bishop  of  Oochm  that  they  were  seized 
with  the  deepest  regret  that  the  poor  idolatrous  Mmdoos  had  been  so  long 
neglected  m  his  diocese.  They  now  wished  to  remedy  tins  as  much  aa 
could  be  done.  The  good  Bishop  was  qmte  delighted  at  this,  aud  the  pious 
Fathers  at  once  entered  into  Cochin  Cnma  in  order  to  proceed  with  their 
operations ;  they  showed  themselves  to  be  particularly  zealo  ab  among  the 
Hmdoos  residmg  near  the  said  salt  lake,  and  they  also  took  care  of  their 
temporal  good,  as  they  bought  up  the  pearls  at  a  *'  dearer  "  price  than  the 
Portuguese  traders  had  paid.  When^  the  latter,  then,  appeared  agam  in 
order  to  make  their  yeany  purchases,  they  no  longer  lound  any  pearls 
procurable,  and  had  to  withdraw,  leavmg  their  business  unaccomplished. 
The  next  year  the  Jesuits  repeated  this  manceuvre,  and  the  merchants 
thus  obtamed  nothing  for  a  second  time.  On  this  accoimt  they 
naturally  became  angry,  and  did  not  return.  The  sons  of  Loyola  now 
laughed  in  their  sleeves,  as  they  had  the  poor  Hindoos  in  their  power. 
They  at  once  proved  this,  too,  as  they  diminished  the  price  they  paid  for 
the  pearls,  to  the  extent  of  one  half,  and  their  proht  now  was  tnus  some- 
thing enormous.  Lastly,  they  caused  the  Portuguese  Viceroy  of  Goa  to 
make  them  a  present  of  the  lake  and  its  neighbourhood,  and  they  then 
treated  the  natives  exactly  as  slaves,  only  givmg  them  a  miserable  day's 
wages.    In  the  long  run,  however,  this  was  not  successful,  as,  enraged  bjr 


JESUIT   COMMEBCE   AND  USUBY. 


413 


It  must  not  the  less  strike  one  that  the  Jesuits  made  very  light 
of  the  reception  of  Christianity  by  their  converts,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  the  Second  Book,  that  they'  adapted  the  heathenish 
customs  of  China,  Japan,  &c.  so  well  to  Christian  teaching, 
that  the  differcmt  nationalities,  after  baptism,  did  not  leave  their 
Pagan  practices.  And  why  should  this  not  be  so  ?  Their 
Christianity  was  next  thing  to  it,  and  one  could  only  look  upon 
the  newly  converted  as  victims  to  be  offered  up.  The  pious 
Fathers  did  not  at  all  hesitate  to  demand  from  the  Roman 
Chair  the  promise  of  sanctification  for  this  or  that  deceased 
heathen  grandee,  provided  that  the  deceased  person  had  effected 
by  his  will  some  peculiar  service  for  the  advantage  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus !  I  believe,  however,  that  it  is  not  requisite  for  me 
to  treat  this  matter  in  greater  detail,  as  I  presume  that  the  reader 
has  already  taken  into  necessary  consideration  what  I  have 
related  respecting  Jesuit  Mandarins  and  Jesuit  Bonzes.  For 
the  most  part,  however,  suspicion  must  have  been  aroused,  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  most  vehemently 
opposed  the  entrance  of  other  Christians,  more  especially 
missionaries,  into  those  regions  in  which  they  had  settled 
themselves. 

Disguise  the  matter  as  they  might,  it  was  nothing  else  than 
this  :  "  We,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  require  no  third  person  to  con- 
test our  gains  with  us,  and  especially  we  need  no  one  to  come 
so  near  to  us  as  to  be  in  a  position  to  observe  accurately  our 
transactions."  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Dutch,  in  the  year  1655, 
sent  an  embassy  to  Pekin.  in  order  to  open  up  a  way  for  trade; 
and  while  this  embassy  contrived,  by  rich  presents,  to  win  the 
hearts  of  the  great  men  at  the  Court,  they  entertained  fair  hopes 
of  being  able  to  carry  throup^h  their  negociations  successfully. 
In  order,  now,  to  counteract  this,  the  Jesuits  ran  about  among 
the  Court  officials,  representing  the  Dutch  as  men  of  villainous 
character,  perjured  renegades,  and  heretics  in  religion,  and  as 
revolutionists  and  rebels  against  their  rightful  rulers. 


twenty  years  of  oppression,  the  embittered  Hindoos  rose  in  rebellion,  set 
fire  to  the  stores  of  the  Jesuits,  and,  chasing  them  out  of  the  country, 
did  not  allow  them  to  return.  This  affair  took  place  at  the  end  of  the 
17th  century,  and,  on  that  account,  it  became  apparent  why  the  sons  of 
Loyola  had  given  up  the  trade,  or  were  obliged  to  give  it  up.  At  that 
time  the  might  of  Portugal  was  already  quickly  disappearing,  and  the  Viceroy 
of  Goa  could  not  render  them  any  armed  assistance,  even  if  he  wished  it. 


m 


m 


:ll\ 


414 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


"Moreover,"  added  the  sons  of  Loyola  with  solemn  assur- 
ance, "  are  they  not  well  known  as  pirates,  who  have  no  con- 
sideration for  any  nation  whatever,  capturing  all  ships  which 
may  fall  into  their  hands,  heing  on  this  account  looked  upon  hy 
all  the  other  monarchs  of  the  world  as  the  most  horrible  plague 
which  could  insinuate  itself  into  a  State,  and  therefore  to  be 
avoided  with  the  greatest  disgust  ?  What  is,  however,  the  chief 
thing,  wherever  the  Dutch  penetrate  they  erect  fortresses  at  the 
mouths  of  the  great  rivers,  or  in  any  advantageous  situations, 
and  they  will  also  be  sure  to  do  the  same  in  China  at  the  exit 
of  the  great  rivers,  whence  they  will  be  enabled  to  command  the 
whole  country  with  their  cannon." 

The  sons  of  Loyola  thus,  among  other  ways,  expressed  them- 
selves regarding  the  Dutch ;  and  their  Superior,  the  Mandarin 
Father  Adam  Schott,  made  a  long  representation,  with  a  similar 
object,  to  the  Emperor,  who  lent  to  him  implicit  belief.  Could 
it,  then,  fail  to  happen  that  the  embassy,  notwithstanding  all  the 
presents  which  they  had  made,  were  sent  home  again  with  their 
business  unaccomplished?  and  their  formidable  rivals  were  thus 
SQCcessful  for  this  time.  The  sons  of  Loyola,  moreover,  allowed 
themselves  to  indulge  in  still  greater  calumnies  and  slanders,  as 
well  as  in  deeds  of  violence  and  cruelty,  when  members  of  any 
other  Christian  Order  presumed  to  approach  their  preserves  as 
missionaries ;  and  the  Dominicans,  Fransciscans,  Lazarists,  and 
Capuchins,  at  the  end  of  the  IGth,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  17th 
century,  who  were  daring  enough  to  attempt  this,  could  relate 
wonderful  tales.  Six  Fransciscan  monks,  in  the  year  1597,  were, 
without  any  further  ado,  handed  over  to  death  at  Nagasaki, 
because  they  wished  to  preach  the  Gospel  on  the  island  of  Kiu- 
Siu.  Nor,  certainly,  through  the  direct  agency  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  but,  for  appearance  sake,  by  the  secular  authorities; 
still,  it  was  through  the  instigation  of  the  former,  who  were 
loudly  jubilant  in  regard  to  it,  and  shouted,  **  Thus  may  it 
happen  to  all  who  desire  to  rob  us,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  of  the 
glory  of  our  missions."  In  a  similar  manner  had  the  Dominican 
Francis  Capillas  to  suffer  the  death  of  a  martyr  in  Nanking, 
according  to  the  order  of  a  Mandarin,  who  was  displeased  that 
a  Dominican  should  severely  snub  the  Jesuits  on  account  of 
their  indulgence  as  to  the  employment  of  the  heathen  form  of 
worship. 


JESUIT  OOMMEBCE  AKD  USTIB7. 


415 


r 

\ 


Did  not  Father  Martini,  after  becoming  court  astronomer  and 
Mandarin  of  the  first  class  in  Peking,  advise  the  Emperor  Yong- 
Tsching  to  send  all  non-Jesuit  Christians  and  monks  over  the 
frontiers  of  the  Empire,  as  they  were  of  no  other  use  but  to 
seduce  ipfnorant  people  by  erroneous  doctrine,  and  thus  to  bring 
about  dissensions  among  his  subjects  ?     Did  not  the  Society, 
again,  succeed  in  obtaining  from  Pope  Gregory  XIIT.  a  Bull, 
in  which  everyone  was  prohibited,   under  penalty  of  the  great 
excommunication,  from  proceeding  to  Japan,  without  the  ex- 
press permission  of  the   Holy  See,  in  order  to  exercise  there 
any    ecclesiastical   function    whatever — a    Bull   which.   Father 
Collin   testified,   the   Society   of  Jesus   had   secured   in    order 
to  exclude  other  religious  Orders  from  the  islands  of  Japan  ? 
Was  not,  indeed,  the  Capuchin  monk,  Michael  Ange,  quite  right 
when  he  shortly  expressed  himself  as  regards  the  sons  of  Loyola 
and  their  missionary  efforts   thus:  **  The  worthy  Fathers  had 
everywhere   the   peculiarity    of  tolerating   no   one   near  them, 
wherever  they  were,  and  by  this  peculiarity  they  had   already 
acquired  too  much  money  and  property  "  ?* 

They  certainly  had  no  wish  to  tolerate  anyone  near  them,  in 
order  that  they  might  have  the  pastures  all  to  themselseves,  and 
more  especially  that  no  one  might  see  how  they  grazed.  They 
wished  to  appropriate  for  themselves  alone  the  foreign  regions  of 
the  world,  exactly  like  those  commercial  companies  who  pos- 
sessed a  monopoly  from  their  respective  Governments.  Viewed  in  a 
proper  light,  they  were,  indeed,  nothing  else  than  a  great  company 
which  carried  on  commerce  all  over  the  world,  and  their  different 
mission-houses  in  Japan,  China,  East  India,  Mexico,  Brazil, 
Chili,  Peru,  and  Buenos  Ayres,  might  be  considered  as  just  so 
many  counting-houses  and  warehouses.  But  why  not  ?  Every 
important  power  in  Europe  endeavoured  to  win  for  itself  the 
treasures  of  the  East  and  West  Indies  in  the  16th  and  1 7th  cen- 
turies ;  should,  then,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  who,  indeed,  formed 
one  of  the  greatest  powers  in  the  world,  hold  back,  owing  to 
narrow-mindedness,  and  simply  because  they  were  a  religious 
Order?  No;  such  an  idea  would  have  been  a  folly,  and  the 
sons  of  Loyola  would  rather  be  guilty  of  sin  than  stupidity. 
Thus  were  they  traders,  not  retail  but  wholesale  ;  and  in  regard 

•  The  particulars  regarding  the  reUgious  and  other  disputes  of  the  Jesuita 
ar^  to  b«  read  i&  the  Fifth  Book. 


li 


416 


HISTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS« 


to  the  manner  in  which  they  carried  on  their  operations,  an 
ofiBcial  report  of  Monsieur  Martin,  Governor-General  of  the 
French  possessions  in  India  in  the  year  1697,  will  give  ur  hy 
far  the  hest  insight : — 

"It  is  an  established  fact,"  says  M.  Martin,  in  this  his  report 
to  the  French  Government,  *'  that,  after  the  Dutch,  the  Jesuits 
carry  on  the  most  extensive  and  most  valuahle  trade  with  East 
India,  and  they  surpass  in  this  respect  the  Danes  and  French, 
as  well  as  the  English  and  even  the  Portuguese  themselves,  hy 
whom  they  were  brought  into  the  country.  I  will  readily  admit 
that  individuals  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  came  to  East  India  from 
purely  religious  motives,  and  it  is  chiefly  by  them  that  the 
work  of  conversion  is  carried  on  among  the  heathen  by  the 
Society ;  but  their  number  is  in  any  case  very  inconsiderable, 
and  certainly  they  do  not  belong  to  those  who  possess  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  the  Order.  They  are  simply  mis- 
sionaries, but  not  further  initiated.  On  the  other  hand,  again, 
there  are  others  among  them  who  do  not  seem  to  be  Jesuits  at 
all,  because  they  do  not  wear  Jesuit  but  secular  clothing,  and 
on  this  account,  in  Surat,  Agra,  and  Goa,  or  wherever  else 
they  may  establish  a  domicile,  they  are  taken  for  what  they 
profess  to  be,  namely,  merchants.  I  know,  however,  that 
they  are  Jesuits,  and  deeply  initiated,  too,  in  the  know- 
ledge of  even  the  closest  secrets.  It  is,  moreover,  evident  that 
they  have  been  selected  from  different  nations,  and  there  are 
even  Armenians  and  Turks,  who  devote  themselves  purely  to 
the  interest  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  These  Jesuits  in  disguise 
mix  among  all  classes,  and  have  the  most  accurate  knowledge 
of  where  and  in  what  stores  the  most  beautiful  wares  are  to 
be  found,  and  by  what  merchant  the  best  selection  may  be  had. 
Also,  from  the  secret  correspondence  which  they  carry  on  quite 
quietly  among  themselves,  they  become  accurately  informed  as 
to  what  articles  are  to  be  found  in  a  particular  place,  and  for 
which  there  is  the  best  sale;  on  this  account,  they  not  only 
know  what  ought  to  be  purchased,  but  also  where  the  various 
goods  ought  to  be  exported,  in  order  to  derive  the  best  profit ; 
they  thus  obtain,  by  their  trade,  truly  immeasurable  advantages 
for  their  Society.  And  the  credit  which  they  en^'oy  is  still 
further  marvellous,  as  to  all  appearance  they  are  not  at  all 
inspected,  and  keep  accounts  with  no  one,  as  some  Fathers  do, 


JESUIT   COMMERCE   AND   USURY. 


417 


while  they  wander  about,  quite  harmless  and  in  poor  clothing, 
from  one  town  in  India  to  another.  These  Fathers,  however, 
are  most  important  persons,  and  possess  the  fullest  confidence 
of  the  General  and  Superiors  in  Europe,  obtaining  from  the 
said  Superiors  the  necessary  instructions  by  which  the  dis- 
guised Jesuits  have  to  be  guided.  This  takes  place  without 
any  diflBculty  whatever,  and  with  the  greatest  preciseness; 
simply,  indeed,  on  this  account,  [because  those  in  disguise, 
besides  the  ordinary  vow  of  obedience,  are  required  to  take  a 
still  more  strict  oath  that  they  never  will  betray  anything  to 
anyone  who  is  not  initiated,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  they 
will  strive  with  their  utmost  endeavour  for  the  profit  and  gain  of 
the  Society.  In  order  that  there  can  never  take  place  any  inter- 
change between  the  initiated  and  'uninitiated,  a  secret  sign  has 
to  be  given  which  must  be  recognised,  and  in  this  way  every- 
one knows  whether  he  has  a  brother  before  him  or  not.  I  may 
still  add  to  this  that  they  are  all  governed  on  a  thoroughly  sys- 
tematic plan,  although  they  may  live  distributed  throughout  the 
whole  interior  of  India,  and  their  number  is  by  no  means  small, 
so  that  the  proverb,  *  Many  heads,  many  minds,*  has  here  no 
application  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  the  spirit  of  the  Jesuits 
remains  always  the  same,  and  it  has  never  at  any  time  been 
found  to  be  inconsistent,  especially  so  far  as  trade  is  con- 
cerned. With  gain  in  East  India  itself,  however,  the  Jesuits 
are  by  no  means  satisfied,  but  they  make  a  still  greater  profit  by 
sending  from  their  missions  quantities  of  wares  to  Europe  under 
different  false  pretences.  They  do  not,  however,  usually  forward 
them,  to  their  local  colleges  and  profess-houses,  but  rather  to 
other  disguised  Jesuits  who  have  established  commercial  houses, 
and  the  profit  which  can  be  made  on  these  goods  is  all  the 
greater  than  if  disposed  of  first  hand.  Meanwhile,  how- 
ever important  and  considerable  this  kind  of  trade  was,  the 
Jesuits  knew  how  to  keep  it  secret,  and  thereby  brought  it 
about  that  no  one  troubled  himself  about  it.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  a  fact  that  the  trade  of  other  nations  suffered  great  loss 
thereby,  and  more  especially  was  this  the  case  in  France,  or 
rather  as  regards  the  French  East  India  Company.  I  have 
often,  on  this  account,  written  to  this  latter  Society,  and  my  state- 
ments were  always  as  ample  as  they  were  truthful.  But  this 
still  came  far  short  of  making  the  directors  of  the  Company  more 

27 


*i 


418 


HISTORY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


careful  to  check  these  hurtful  abuses ;  but.  on  the  other  hand, 
time  after  time,  have  I  received  express  orders  to  favour  the 
Jesuits  in  every  way,  and  accord  to  them  everything  they  may 
demand  of  me,  and  even,  indeed,  to  supply  them  with  money. 
Of  this  latter  favour,  in  fact,  in  many  cases  they  made  the  most 
unlimited  use,  and  Father  Tachard  alone  became  indebted  to 
the  Company  to  the  amount  of  150,000  piastres,  that  is,  750,000 
livres,  without  its  being  considered  necessary  for  him  to  give 
security  for  it,  or  even  a  written  acknowledgment  of  the  debt. 
But  now,  however,  to  return  to  the  subject  regarding  the  course 
of  the  Jesuit  trade.  In  the  large  squadron  of  ships  which  sailed 
from  France  to  Asia  in  the  year  1690,  there  were  fifty  heavy 
bales,  the  least  of  which  was  larger  than  the  largest  bale  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  none  of  these  packages  contained 
rosaries,  relics,  Agnus  Dei,  or  other  similar  mission  articles  No, 
they  consisted  entirely  of  beautiful  and  costly  mercantile  wares, 
for  which  it  was  known  there  was  a  good  demand  in  East 
India,  and  scarcely  any  ship  arrived  from  France  or  Europe  that 
had  not  a  freight  on  board  for  the  Jesuits.  Further,  I  must  not 
forget  to  state  that  there  were  many  secret  Jesuits,  who  went  about 
the  country  with  those  idolatrous  Indian  merchants  who  bear 
the  name  of  Banians,  in  order  to  search  for  diamonds  and  pearls  ; 
and  this  description  of  Jesuits  not  only  caused  great  harm  to 
the  French  East  India  Company,  but  did  their  best  to  dis- 
honour the  Christian  name.  These  individuals  dress  them- 
selves precisely  like  Banians,  speak  their  language,  eat  and 
drink  with  them,  and  observe  exactly  the  same  customs. 
Indeed,  whoever  does  not  know  them  would  necessarily 
take  them  for  true  Banians,  as  they  offer  up  sacrifices  to  the 
heathen  deities,  just  as  the  natives  do.  It  is  true  that  all 
this  happened  under  the  deceitful  pretext  that  they  desired  to 
convert  them ;  but,  in  truth,  they  only  went  about  with  them 
in  order  to  trade  with  them,  and  at  the  same  time  to  conceal 
through  their  Society  their  transactions.  It  need  hardly  be  told 
that  they  never  on  any  occasion  converted  a  single  Banian,  the 
actual  fact  being  that  these  merchants  have  but  little  to  do  with 
religion  during  their  tours.  I  was  also  assured  by  one  of  the 
latter,  who  had  made  continual  journeys  with  the  Jesuits 
during  three  long  years,  that  throughout  the  whole  time  they 
had  not    spoken     a    single   syllable   about   Christianity,   and 


JESUIT  COMMERCE  AND  USURY. 


419 


still  less  had  made  any  attempt  at  conversion.     What  further 
proof  can  be  required  ?" 

Such  was  the  evidence  given  by  the  French  Governor-General 
in  East  India,  in  relation  to  the  commerce  carried  on  by  the 
Jesuits,  and  as  he  had  resided  for  a  long  term  of  years  in  Pon- 
dicherry,  the  capital  of  the  French  possessions  there,  as  well 
as  made  frequent  excursions  in  the  neighbouring  country,  it 
may  well  be  imagined  that  he  must  have  been  accurately 
informed  in  regard  to  the  traffic  carried  on  by  the  Jesuits.  He, 
however,  was  not  the  only  one  who  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
Government,  or  rather,  who  endeavoured  to  do  so  (as  the  Father 
Confessor  of  the  Court  took  consummate  care  that  those  of 
the  King  and  his  Ministers  should  again  be  shut  as  soon  as 
possible) ;  for  at  the  end  of  the  1 7th  and  beginning  of  the  18th 
centuries  a  number  of  other  reports  streamed  in  which  testified 
to  the  same  thing,  and  even  in  much  more  severe  expressions. 
Moreover,  it  was  known  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  their  own 
counting-houses  in  all  the  large  seaports  of  Asia,  Europe,  and 
America,  as  in  Madras,  Goa,  Pondicherry,  Canton,  Nankin, 
,  Marseilles,Genoa,  Lyons,  Lisbon,  Seville,  Martinique  and  Buenos 
Ayres,  as  well  as  in  a  great  many  other  towns,  and  with  the 
most  of  the  same  were  conjoined  large  banking  concerns  in  order 
to  discount  bills  of  exchange. 

Not  less  important  was  their  home  trade ;  they  had,  for 
instance,  in  Rome  attracted  to  themselves  the  whole  bread, 
grocery,  and  wine  trades,  while  great  commerce  in  pearls,  rubies, 
and  diamonds  was  carried  on  in  Venice  almost  exclusively  by 
them.  In  Pekin,  as  well  as  in  other  places  where  ready-money 
was  scarce,  they  devoted  themselves  to  usury,  and  25  and  even 
50  per  cent,  was  of  common  occurrence  in  their  daily  trans- 
actions. With  this  object  they  established  regular  banks,  and 
did  not  in  the  least  deny  these  facts,  but  rather  declared  them- 
selves to  be  justified,  as  other  money  usurers  took  just  as 
much.  They  had  for  sale,  in  almost  all  their  colleges,  oil, 
cotton,  and  grocery  wares ;  and  wherever  this  was  not  the  case, 
they  erected,  close  at  hand,  shops  and  stalls,  over  which  one 
of  them  held  supervision.  They  especially  busied  themselves  in 
the  sale  of  drugs,  and  their  apothecary  shops  in  Lyons,  Paris, 
and  elsewhere,  furnished*  the  whole  of  the  small  dealers  with 
treacle,  Peruvian  bark,  herbs  from  Paraguay,  calomel,  and  what- 

27  * 


I 


420 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ever  other  remedies  might  he  wanted.  In  short,  their  trade 
was  everywhere  extensive,  and  hetween  the  different  seaports  a 
numher  of  ships  plied  which  were  alone  freighted  with  their 
goods.  They,  also,  did  not  at  all  hesitate  to  conjoin  to  their 
trading  considerable  smuggling ;  and  as  a  proof  of  this  assertion 
I  will  produce  two  examples. 

Father  Tambin,  general  agent  of  the  Jesuits  for  the  trade 
between  Genoa  and  Lisbon,  employed  a  ship-captain  during 
five-and-twenty  years  for  the  transport  of  Jesuit  wares,  and  this 
captain,  during  the  year,  ordinarily  made  six  voyages  back- 
wards and  forwards,  it  being  observed  that  the  chief  freight 
from  Lisbon  consisted  always  of  bags  of  coffee.  Now,  the 
Eepublic  of  Genoa  issued  a  strict  prohibition,  in  the  year  1 725, 
as  to  the  importation  of  gold  bars,  and  every  shipowner  who 
transgressed  this  prohibition  rendered  himself  liable,  not  merely 
to  a  severe  punishment,  but  also  to  the  confiscation  of  the 
whole  cargo.  It  may  be  well  imagined,  then,  that  the  captains 
of  merchant  ships  went  to  work  from  this  time  forward  with 
great  circumspection,  and  this  was,  of  course,  the  case  as  regards 
the  captain  in  question.  It  happened  on  one  occasion,  how- 
ever, that  among  several  other  wares  committed  to  his  care  in 
Lisbon  by  secular  merchants,  and  for  which  he  was,  of  course, 
responsible,  there  were  a  good  number  of  bags  of  coffee  delivered 
by  the  local  Jesuits,  which  presented  a  somewhat  suspicious 
appearance,  and  he,  therefore,  caused  them  to  be  put  in  a  space 
apart.  Still  he  made  no  further  remark,  but  took  his  bill  of 
lading  and  set  sail.  However,  on  getting  into  the  open  sea,  he 
was  careful  to  make  an  investigation,  and  had  each  of  the  bags 
opened  one  after  the  other ;  and  what  did  he  then  find  ?  In  each 
of  them  was  carefullv  concealed,  under  the  coffee,  one  or  two 
gold  bars  !  He  took  them  all  out,  landed  them  at  some  secure 
harbour  on  the  way,  and  delivered  them  for  safe  keeping  to  a 
trustworthy  mercantile  house.  Having  arrived  in  Genoa,  he 
immediately  advised  Father  Tambin  that  he  had  wares  for  him, 
and  when  he  came  with  his  people  to  receive  them,  he  made 
over  to  him  all  the  bags  of  coffee,  exactly  as  they  stood  indicated 
in  the  open  bill  of  lading.  The  Father,  finding  everything  in 
order,  tooM  his  departure  with  his  packages ;  he  returned  the 
next  day,  however,  and  taking  the  captain  aside  demanded  of 
him  what  had  become  of  the  gold  bars.     The  captain,  being 


JESUIT   COMMEKCE   AND   USUBY. 


421 


a  man  of  honour,  at  once  acknowledged  the  whole  truth ;  but 
what  he  told  his  inquirer  may  be  readily  imagined,  as  the 
Jesuits,  by  this  deceitful  smuggling  transaction,  had  brought  him 
into  great  danger  of  losing  not  only  his  whole  cargo,  but  his 
liberty  besides,  together  with  his  entire  property. 

The  other  example  of  Jesuit  smuggling,  of  which  I  have 
promised  to  make  mention,  sounds  even  still  more  edifying,  and 
relates  to  a  ship's  captain  who,  in  the  year  1760,  sailed  from 
Cadiz  to  the  same  towii  of  Genoa  which  I  have  already  named. 
He  had  already  completed  his  freight,  when  two  Jesuit  Fathers 
came  to  him  and  begged  him  to  take  a  small  chest  containing 
church  ornaments,  together  with  some  few  pounds  of  chocolate. 
•'  He  ought  to  do  this,"  they  said,  "  for  the  love  of  God,  as 
they  were  very  poor,  and  their  brother  in  Genoa  not  the  less 
so."  I'he  captain,  a  good-natured  man,  consented,  and,  taking 
their  chest,  stowed  it  away  in  the  lowest  compartment  of  the 
ship.  Thereupon  they  delivered  to  him  the  bill  of  lading,  in 
which  the  chest  was  described  as  being  packed  with  church 
ornaments,  and  the  ship  sailed  next  day  under  a  favourable 
wind.  Unfortunately  for  the  Jesuits,  however,  this  did  not 
long  continue,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  changed  into  a  storm, 
BO  that  the  waves  came  all  over  the  deck,  and  penetrated  into 
the  innermost  parts  of  the  ship.  The  captain  now,  naturally 
enough,  became  afraid  that  the  church  ornaments  would  be 
spoilt,  and  ordered  the  chest  to  be  brought  up  in  order  that  it 
might  be  put  in  a  more  favourable  place.  The  order  was  carried 
out,  but  behold,  in  spite  of  its  small  compass,  its  weight  was 
found  to  be  so  great  that  it  could  scarcely  be  lifted  by  four 
strong  men.  This,  of  course,  aroused  the  suspicion  of  the 
captain,  who  directed  it  to  be  placed  in  his  own  cabin,  in  order 
that  it  might  be  opened  in  the  presence  of  the  ship's  company. 
What,  then,  was  found?  A  very  considerable  quantity  of 
coined  money,  that  was  artfully  concealed  among  the  orna- 
ments !  Thereupon  the  captain  became  uncommonly  irate,  as, 
although  it  was  not  forbidden  to  import  coin  into  Genoa,  it  was 
still  necessary  to  declare  the  amount,  under  the  penalty  of  con- 
fiscation; and,  moreover,  a  higher  freight  was  paid  for  gold 
coin  than  for  any  other  wares.  He,  consequently,  could  not 
have  the  smallest  doubt  that  the  pious  Fathers,  with  their  false 
story  of  poverty,  only  wished  to  cheat  him  of  his  freight,  so  ho 


II 


422 


filSTOBt  OB*   TSE   JESUITS. 


took  out  the  money,  without  in  the  least  disarranging  the 
ornaments.  After  landing  in  Genoa,  a  Jesuit  at  once  made  his 
appearance  with  a  couple  of  servants,  in  order  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  chest  of  which  he  had  been  already  advised,  and  the 
captain  gave  it  to  him,  both  having  previously  compared  the 
bill  of  lading  and  found  it  to  be  correct.  Two  hours  afterwards, 
however,  the  Jesuit  again  made  his  appearance,  and  showed 
himself  very  agitated,  because  he  had  not  found  in  it  all  that  his 
brother  in  Cadiz  had  advised  him  of. 

"  How  ?  "  exclaimed  tbe  ship-captain,  "  are  any  of  your  choco- 
lates or  Church  ornaments  wanting  ?  " 

"  Not  so,"  rejoined  the  son  of  Loyola ;  "  but  my  brethren 
wrote  to  me  that  the  several  alms  that  they  had  collected  from 
benevolent  persons  had  been  enclosed." 

"  They  have  lied,"  replied  the  captain ;  '*  but  you  wished  to 
cheat  me,  a  poor  ship-captain,  of  my  freight,  and  placed  me 
in  the  greatest  danger,  instead  of  acting  honestly.  Still,  you 
can  have  your  money,  all  told,  only  deducting  the  freight,  of 
which  I  cannot  make  you  a  present  this  time." 
I  Thus  did  the  sons  of  Loyola,  in  this  case  also,  obtain  their 
money  again,  because  the  captain  was  too  honourable  a  man  to 
cheat  them ;  but  would  the  pious  Fathers  have  acted  towards 
him  in  this  way  had  he  been  in  their  place  ?  One  would  still 
wish  to  know  to  what  amount  the  trade  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
reached,  and  what  sums  it  procured  for  them ;  but  this  remains 
a  secret  among  the  Superiors,  and  certain  information  as  to 
this  never  penetrated  so  far  as  the  laity.  There  could  not, 
however,  be  the  shghtest  doubt  that  the  profit  was  some- 
thing enormous,  as  their  dominion  of  Paraguay  alone  gave  them 
annually  over  four  millions  of  ducats,  as  is  shown  by  an  official 
report  of  the  Portuguese  Governor-General  of  the  town  of 
Potosi,  Don  Mathia  de  Anglöse  Gortari,  written  in  the  year  1731, 
The  said  Governor,  who  had  received  from  his  Government 
orders  to  make  the  most  minute  investigation  on  all  sides,  found 
the  country  to  be  divided  into  thirty-six  parishes,  or  reductions, 
and  each  of  these  comprehended  in  itself  10,000  famihes ;  in  all 
of  them,  however,  there  existed  so  great  a  surplus  of  stores  and 
produce  that  a  single  reduction  was  alone  in  a  condition  to 
supply  six  others  for  the  whole  year.  Even  the  smallest  of  their 
reductions  possessed  their  40,000  or  00,000  head  of  oxen  and 


JESUIT   COMMEKCE   AND   USURY. 


423 


cows,  and   the  larger  and  richer  ones  of  them   not  jless  than 
double  that  quantity. 

In,  consequence  of  this  the  Jesuits  were  enabled  to  export 
yearly  to  Spain  about  300,000  hides  of  cattle,  each  of  which 
was  sold   for  six    piastres  or   more,   and  the  trade  in  leather 
brought  in  even  as  much.     The  fields  proved  to  be  very  pro- 
ductive, and  all  kinds  of  grain  were  grown  upon  them,  as  well, 
especially,  as  tobacco,  sugar,  and  .cotton,  which  latter  the  Indian 
women  were  required  to  spin  and  weave ;  all  these  articles  were 
likewise  transported  to  Europe,  and  cotton  stuffs  alone  yielded 
an  annual  profit  of  100,000  heavy  piastres.     Everywhere  were 
to  be  observed  well-appointed  workshops,  and  the  Indians  manu- 
factured therein  most  beautiful  gold  and  silver  wares.     More- 
over, there  were  numbers  of  locksmiths*  shops,  and  forges  and 
foundries  even  were  not  wanting,  in  which  cannon,  mortars,  and 
the  like  might   be  cast.      However,  the    latter    manufactories 
were  designed  not  so  much  for  trade  as  for  internal  use ;   and 
the   same    remark   also    holds    good   as   to   manufactories    of 
arms. 

A  particularly  extensive  commerce  took  place,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  the  so-called  Paraguay  herb,*  and,  as  there  was  sale 
for  it  almost  all  over  the  world,  it  indeed  brought  a  profit  which 
was  certainly  as  great  as  the  gold  and  silver  mines  in  other 
American  countries. 

In  short,  the  Jesuits  derived  from  their  trade  in  Para- 
guay truly  immense  sums,  and  these  were  dutifully  taken  into 
keeping  by  the  Superiors  of  the  missions.  Every  six  years, 
however,  the  general  Procurators  came  into  the  provinces  and 
sent  the  proceeds  to  Borne,  either  in  bills  of  exchange  or  wares. 

*  This  vegetable  is,  according  to  the  description  of  the  Jesuit  Father 
Francis  Xavier  de  Charlevoix,  tue  leaf  of  a  tree  about  the  size  of  a  middle- 
sized  apple  tree,  and  has  the  shape  of  an  orange  leaf.  It  is  met  with  in 
commerce  in  a  dried  condition,  almost  converted  into  powder,  and  Peru 
alone  formerly  required  lüü.üüÜ  arobens  of  it  (the  arobe  may  be  calculated 
at  about  twenty-üve  pounds).  When  infused  in  boiling  water  and  then 
drunk  cold,  its  action  is  purgative  and  diuretic ;  a  strong  dose,  however, 
taken  at  once,  acts  as  an  emetic,  and  afterwards  as  a  promoter  of  sleep. 
On  account  of  these  excellent  properties  it  was  formerly  never  to  be  found 
wanting  in  any  apothecary's  shop,  more  especially  in  America ;  later  on, 
however,  as  Paraguay  became  closed  completely  to  the  foreign  world  it  fell 
into  disuse,  and  as  in  the  meantime  medical  men  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  other  drastic  remedies,  it  never  again  attained  its  former  renown,  even 
after  the  country  again  became  open.  On  account  of  its  harsh  taste,  it  also 
got  the  name  of  "  Yerba  Mate,"  and  the  soientiüo  term  for  the  tree  or  shrub 
on  which  it  grows  la  ''  Ilex  Mate." 


il'l| 


424 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


It  was  also  to  be  remarked  that  in  every  parish  considerable 
store-houses  existed,  in  which  the  wares  and  land  produce  were 
stored  until  they  could  be  conveyed  to  the  great  market-places 
of  Santa  F6,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Tacumau,  either  for  sale  or 
exportation,  and  from  this  it  will  be  seen  how  exceedingly  well 
the  Jesuits  understood  the  draining  of  their  dominion  of 
Paraguay. 

Thus  did  Don  Mathia  de  Anglose  Gortari  report  concerning 
the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay,  and  he  calculated,  as  already  remarked, 
the  amount  of  their  commercial  trade  at  even  more  than  ten 
^/  millions  of  hard  dollars  annually,  while  he  at  the  same  time 
added  that  what  the  maintenance  of  the  Indians  cost — I  mean 
their  eating,  drinking,  and  clothing— made  but  a  slight  deduc- 
tion. Not  the  less  magnificently  did  the  Jesuits  come  out  by 
degrees  in  Mexico,  through  their  intrigues;  and  the  equally 
honest  and  truthful  as  unfortunate  Archbishop  of  Mexico  and 
Viceroy  of  Spanish  America,  so  severely  persecuted  by  the 
Jesuits,  Don  Juan  de  Palafox,  submitted  a  copious  report  on 
the  subject  to  Pope  Innocent  X.  In  this  document,  among 
other  things,  the  following  statements  are  made : — 

"  I  find  almost  the  whole  wealth  of  Central  America  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  property  they  hold  in  herds  of 
cattle  and  sheep  is  something  truly  enormous.  Thus  1  am 
acquainted  with  two  of  their  Colleges,  each  of  which  numbers 
800,000  sheep,  and  another  commands  more  than  60,000  oxen 
in  their  pasturages.  Whilst  the  secular  clergy,  together  with 
all  other  religious  Orders,  have  only  three  sugar  refineries,  and 
those  very  small,  the  Jesuits  possess,  in  the  province  of  Mexico 
alone,  in  which  they  have  no  fewer  than  ten  Colleges,  the  six 
largest  manufactories  that  there  are  throughout  the  whole  of 
Central  America,  and  each  of  them  represents  a  value  of  from 
half  to  a  whole  million  of  dollars.  Indeed,  some  of  them  bring 
an  annual  net  profit  of  more  than  100,000  dollars,  and  the 
smallest  clears  at  least  25,000  to  30,000.  Moreover,  they 
also  possess  tracts  of  land  which  frequently  extend  for  several 
miles,  and  these  territories,  which  they  farm,  as  they  belong  to 
the  most  productive  regions,  bring  them  in  an  immense  quantity 
of  maize,  tobacco,  and  other  produce.  Also  very  rich  silver 
mines  belong  to  their  Colleges,  and  they  have  succeeded,  in  a 
yword,  to  bring  to  such  a  height  their  power  and  riches  that  the 


JESUIT   COMMERCE   AND   USUBY. 


425 


secular  clergy  will  soon  be  compelled  to  beg  their  bread  from 
the  Jesuits." 

Thus  did  Palafox  write,  and  his  statements  were  only  too 
amply  confirmed  from  other  quarters.  From  this  it  became  clearly 
evident  that  the  Loyolites  had  secured  for  themselves  almost 
the  entire  traffic,  and  that  they  were  even  not  ashamed  of 
being  usurious.  Among  other  things,  a  gigantic  traffic  was 
instituted  by  them  from  Carthagena  to  Quito,  and  in  order  to 
procure  the  necessary  means  of  doing  this  cheap,  the  worthy 
Fathers  annually  sent  some  ships  to  Angola,  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  where  it  was  easy  to  procure  a  number  of  black  slaves 
for  little  money.  Indeed,  in  order  to  save  expenditure  they  con- 
trived to  sell  a  part  of  the  human  cargo  to  the  Mexican  planters, 
as  by  this  means  the  cost  of  the  ships  employed  in  slave-catching 
was  completely  covered,  and  they  had,  so  to  speak,  gratis  and  for 
nothing,  the  labourers  and  porters  that  they  required.  It  is 
true  that  in  this  way  they  gained  not  a  few  enemies  for  them- 
selves, more  especially  among  their  competitors,  that  is,  those 
hitherto  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  same  business ;  and,  on  one 
occasion,  the  same,  with  their  servants,  broke  in  pieces,  during 
the  night,  the  greater  part  of  the  Jesuits'  carts.  The  pious 
Fathers,  however,  did  not  permit  themselves  to  be  terrified 
thereby,  but  continued  to  go  on  with  the  thing  just  as  be- 
fore, unöT  at  length  the  ^High  Council  of  Castile  issued  a 
prohibition  against  this   trade,   so  unsuitable   for  priests   and 

missionaries. 

Quite  in  the  same  flourishing  condition  was  the  trade  which 
the  Jesuits  carried  on  in  Japan,  while  Europe  could  not  suffi- 
ciently admire  the  many  wares  derived  therefrom.  Hundreds  of 
ships  were  freighted  therewith,  and  the  only  thing  wanting  was 
that  the  sons  of  Loyola  did  not  hoist  a  flag  of  their  own.  It 
was  then  expressly  remarked,  too,  by  the  noted  author  Navarette, 
who  made  his  personal  observations  on  the  spot,  that  the  sons 
of  Loyola  never  neglected  to  place  a  shop  or  booth  close  to 
every  church,  and  the  Jesuits  were  afterwards  compelled  to  admit 
this  to  be  the  case.  For  a  long  time  not  a  word  was  heard  from 
them  as  to  their  doings,  and  Fathers  Cevico  and  Tellier,  when 
interrogated  by  the  Roman  See,  merely  accounted  for  the  annual 
shipment  to  Europe  of  fifty  bales  of  silk  ;  but  the  most  practical 
confession  lay  in  the  orders  issued  by  their  own  General,  Thyrsus 


426 


filSTOHY   OP   THE   JESUITSt 


I 
if 


Gonzalez,  under  pressure  from  Pope  Clement  XL,  in  the  year 
1 702,  when  he  directed  that  the  Japanese  Fathers  should  give 
up  their  ships,  as  whoever  possessed  vessels  must  also  have, 
naturally,  freight  and  goods  for  the  same.  Enough,  then,  of 
such  matters,  although  I  could  adduce  a  great  number  of  others. 

But  there  is  still  another  question,  How  did  it  come  about 
that  the  Catholic  Church,  and  more  especially  the  leaders 
of  it,  put  up  with  such  unpriestly  conduct  as  that  of 
the  Jesuits?  Did  the  representatives  of  Christ  approve 
of  it,  or  did  they  condemn  it  ?  Now,  the  first  was  only 
done  by  one  single  Pope,  the  latter,  however,  by .  a  whole 
series  of  Pontifls.  That  single  one  was  the  Pontifex  Gregory 
Xlll.,  who  reigned  from  1572  to  1585,  and  who  showed 
himself  during  the  whole  of  that  period  to  be  blindly  de- 
voted to  the  sons  of  Loyola.  The  Jesuits  represented  to  him 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  maintain  their  several 
colleges,  seminaries,  and  other  houses  in  the  far  distant  regions 
of  the  earth,  if  they  were  not  allowed  to  carry  on  a  little 
trade  and  business,  and  the  Pope,  believing  this,  permitted 
them  to  embark  in  transactions  utterly  unworthy  of  priests  and 
missionaries. 

As,  however,  the  whole  of  Christendom  was  amazed  at  the 
scandal,  and,  especially,  as  the  different  universities  (more 
particularly  that  of  Paris  in  the  year  1594),  as  well  as  the  whole 
of  the  secular  and  monkish  clergy,  together  with  the  Bishops 
and  Archbishops,  frequently  protested  against  it,  the  successors 
of  Gregory  expressly  withdrew  this  permission ;  and  the  Popes 
Urban  VllL,  Clement  IX.,  Clement  X.,  and  Benedict  XIV., 
besides,  prohibited,  in  special  Bulls,  the  priests  Irom  engaging 
in  any  kind  of  trade  whatever. 

For  instance,  in  a  Bull  of  Benedict  XIV.,  dated  25th  February 
1741,  it  is  stated  as  follows: — 

"  We  forbid,  of  our  own  motion  and  of  our  supreme  power, 
all  ecclesiastical  persons  from  following  commercial  pursuits, 
even  in  the  case  when  a  trade  has  not  been  established  by  them, 
but  by  lay  people.  We  forbid  ecclesiastics  and  monkish  Orders 
doing  this,  as  well  in  the  case  when  the  objects  thereof  are  in 
their  own  domains  as  when  they  happen  to  be  in  the  estates  of 
their  coadjutors  and  secular  associates.  We  forbid  them  to 
oarry  it  on,  be  it  in  their  own  name  of  ecclesiastics,  in  the  name 


JESUIT   COMMERCE  AND   USURY. 


427 


of  their  Society,  or  in  the  name  of  secular  persons  who  may  be 
dependent  upon  them." 

Precisely  the  same  was  atfirmed  by  Urban  VIII.  (1625)  ;  and 
if  in  this  case  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  not  expressly  named,  it 
was  still  apparent,  from  the  words  employed,  that  they  alone,  as 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  were  alluded  to.  But 
what,  then,  did  the  Jesuits  answer  to  this?  They  rejoined 
nothing,  but  continued  to  carry  on  their  trade  as  before,  not 
troubling  themselves  in  the  slightest  degree  about  the  Papal 
Bulls. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  university  of  Paris,  in  the  year  1664, 
brought  to  light  a  contract  which  was  entered  into  in  the  town 
of  Dieppe  by  Notary  Thomas  le  Vasseur  and  his  partner  Een6 
Bense,  and  it  was  apparent  from  this  contract  that  the  worthy 
Fathers  carried  on  a  trade  with  Canada  in  partnership  with  the 
whaling  outfitters  of  Dieppe,  sharing,  indeed,  profit  and  loss. 
The  contracting  parties  were  Carl  de  Biencourt  and  M.  de  St. 
Just,  of  Dieppe,  with  Thomas  Eobin  and  M.  de  Calognes, 
of  Paris,  on  the  one  part,  and  on  the  other  the  Fathers  Biard 
and  Ennemont  Mass6,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus;  the  deed 
runs  thus :  — 

**  The  said  present  and  covenanting  parties  acknowledge 
that  they  ^de  in  common  on  account  of  the  cargo  of  the  ship 
Grace  of  God,  and  the  worthy  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse,  who 
have  signed  in  the  name  of  their  Order,  give  this  combination 
the  right  to  the  half  of  all  kinds  of  wares,  especially  to  the 
half  of  the  cargo  of  the  ship  Grace  of  God," 

Thus  it  stands  in  the  contract,  and  is  not  this  sufficient 
evidence  of  what  I  have  affirmed  ?  But  1  will  allow  still  other 
witnesses  to  speak — witnesses  which  excited  the  greatest  attention 
throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom,  because  they  proved  the 
Jesuits  to  be  not  only  merchants,  but  also  common  usurers  and 
fraudulent  bankrupts. 

In  the  year  1689,  there  prevailed  a  severe  famine  in  the 
island  of  Malta,  and  it  caused  the  then  Grand  Master  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  by  name  Laskaris,  unspeakable  trouble  how 
best  to  alleviate  the  general  distress  by  the  importation  of  meal 
and  fruit  from  the  neighbouring  less  indigent  localities.  Among 
those,  now,  who  appeared  to  suffer  more  especially  from  want,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Jesuit  College  were  particularly  remarkable, 


428 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


JESUIT   COMMERCE   AND   USURY. 


429 


and  the  worthy  Fathers  never  neglected  to  fetch,  in  person,  their 
regular  allowance  of  the  portions  which  were  distributed.  As  it 
happened  that  one.  among  them,  Father  Cassia,  committed  an 
equally  grave  as  common  crime,  the  judicial  authorities  of  the 
Grand  Master  sent  to  arrest  him.  He  took  flight  into  the 
college  of  his  Order,  in  the  hope  of  there  finding  safety ;  but 
the  police  followed  after  him,  and,  behold  !  what  did  they  there 
discover?  The  college  itself,  as  well  as  the  buildings  and 
storehouses  attached  thereto,  were  actually  filled  to  overflowing 
with  corn  and  meal,  as  well  as  other  necessaries  of  life ;  and 
there  was  thus  abundant  proof  that  the  worthy  Fathers  merely 
retained  these  stores  in  order  that,  when  the  famine  had  reached 
its  height,  they  might  issue  them  at  an  enormous  price.  The  rage 
of  the  people,  naturally,  knew  no  bounds,  and  the  whole  of 
the  Jesuits  would  undoubtedly  have  fallen  victims,  had  not 
Laskaris  at  once  packed  them  into  a  felucca,  just  as  they  were, 
and  despatched  them  over  to  Sicily.  Of  course,  the  whole 
of  their  property  was  then  conflscated,  and  all  that  had  been 
latterly  obtained  by  them  was  of  no  avail. 

The  bankruptcy  of  the  Jesuit  College  at  St.  Herminigiide,  in 
the  Spanish  town  of  Seville,  caused  much  more  sensation.  This 
bankruptcy  is  the  one  of  which,  by  the  way,  I  have  already 
made  mention  in  the  Second  Book,  and  it  took  place  under  the 
lollowing  circumstances. 

About  the  year  1640,  Brother  Andre  de  Villar,  Procurator  or 
temporary  administrator  of  the  said  college,  one  of  the  richest 
in  the  whole  of  Spain,  being  a  man  of  much  capacity,  formed 
the  resolution,  in  common  with  the  fellow-members  of  his  com- 
munity, to  double,  if  not  to  treble,  their  riches  by  an  extended 
industry  and  trade.  In  order  to  efl'ect  this  he  required  ready 
money,  and,  in  truth,  very  much  of  the  same,  iiö  addressed 
himself,  then,  to  the  credulous  souls  of  Seville,  and  begged  from 
them  a  loan  for  "  pious  purposes."  To  everyone  who  was  dis- 
posed to  be  generous  he  promised  the  most  substantial  heavenly 
reward ;  he  did  not  the  less,  however,  hold  out  the  prospect  of 
good  interest  in  order  to  arouse  the  avarice  of  worldly  men, 
and,  moreover,  he  knew  how  to  speak  pathetically  of  the  security 
aflbrded  by  the  Jesuit  Order  for  the  borrowed  money.  His 
words  had  the  desired  efl'ect,  and  a  number  of  Sevilhans,  espe- 
cially   small   capitalists,    widows,   and  guardians   of  orphans, 


/ 


pensioned,  officers,  and  such  like,  hastened  to  entrust  their  ready 
money  and  deposit  their  valuable  securities  with  the  procurator. 
In  this  manner  Andr^  de  Villar  collected,  in  a  short  space  of 
time,  not  less  than  600,000  ducats,  and  with  this,  for  those  days, 
enormous  sum  of  money  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  carry  on  a  some- 
what profitable  trade.     He  at  once  bought  several  large  landed 
estates  with  immense  herds  of  cattle  on  them  ;   caused  manu- 
factories and  mills  to  be  erected  ;  instituted  stores,  which  he 
filled  with    all  sorts  of  wares ;  built  ships,  which  he  freighted 
with  iron,  linen,  and  other  European  wares,  and  sending  them 
out  to  the  Spanish  colonies,  brought  back  the  productions  of 
the   East   and    West  Indies.      In    short,    he   became    a    great 
trader  in  the  fullest  acceptation  of  the  term,  and  the  firm  of 
Villar  &  Co.  for  several  long  years  did  an  immense  business. 
All  at   once,  in  the  vear  1644,  as  several  important  bills  of 
exchange  became  due  the  procurator  declared  that  he  was  not, 
under  present  circumstances,  in  a  position  to  meet  them,  and,  as 
in  consequence  of  this  not  a  few  other  creditors  became  very 
pressing  in  their  demands,  he  legally  announced  his  insolvency. 
The  panic  of  the  people  who  had  deposited  their  capital  with 
the  house  of  Villar  &  Co.  can  now  well  be  imagined,  and  as  they 
amounted  in  all  to   about  300,  their  exclamations  brought  the 
whole  of  Seville  into   a  state  of  commotion.     But  exclamations 
in  such   matters  are    ordinarily  hut  unproductive,   and,  conse- 
quently,  the   sons   of  Loyola   did   not   give   themselves   much 
trouble  about  the  matter,  but  simply  allowed  things  to  take  their 
course,    and    resigned   themselves   to    the    circumstances.      At 
length,  at  the  end  of  a  year,  the  investigation  as  to  the  property 
had  been  so  far  proceeded  with,  that  a  general   meeting  of  the 
creditors  was  called,  on   the  9th  of  March  1645,  in  the  profess- 
house  of  the  Jesuits  of  Seville,  and  the  Provincial  of  Andalusia, 
Father  Pierre  de  Avilas,  suddenly  came  forward  with  an  ofi'er  of 

50  per  cent. 

•*  Andr6  de  Villar,"  he  stated,  *' had  completely  exceeded  his 
powers  as  Procurator  of  the  College  at  St.  Herminigiide,  and 
had  simpW  traded  on  his  own  account,  so  that,  properly  speak- 
ing, the  Order  of  Jesus  was  under  no  obligation  whatever, 
but,  out  of  special  consideration  for  the  number  of  widows  and 
other  poor  creditors,  the  worthy  Fathers  wished  to  be  liberal, 
and  therefore  ofi'ered  them  50  per  cent." 


i 


I 


480 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


He   firmly  believed  that  the   creditors  would  agree  to  this, 
and  on  that  account  he  had  brought  a  notary  along  with  him 
in  order  to  draw  out  immediately  the  necessary  deeds.     Still  the 
creditors  unanimously  hesitated,  and  made  out  that  the  entire 
Society  was  responsible  for  the  payment,  so  that  the  meeting 
dissolved  without  effect.    The  Father  Provincial  now  took  another 
course,   and   caused    Father  Villar  to    be  thrown  into   prison, 
because,  without  the  permission  of  his  Superiors,  and  against 
the  principles  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  he  had  carried  on  a  trade 
on  his  own  account.     At  the  same  time,  however,  that  this  took 
place,  they  did  not  neglect,  also,  to  treat  privately  with  some  of 
the  individual  creditors,  in  order  to  bring  about  some  abatement 
by  means  of  fair  promises.     The  Provincial  in  this  way  actually 
attained  some  results,  as  some  few  of  the  creditors  agreed  to  his 
proposals;  the  majority  of  them,  however,  with  Juan  Onufre  de 
Salazar  at  their  head,  immediately  addressed  a  petition  to  King 
Philip  IV.,  and  prayed  for  justice.     Of  course  some  time  must 
naturally  elapse  before  an  answer  could  be  obtained,  and  the 
Jesuits  knew  how  to  take  the  best  advantage  of  this  interval. 
They   won   over  the  commissary  charged   with   the  sequestra- 
tion  of  the  estates,  so  that  he   advised  the  creditors  rather  to 
submit  to  a  compromise   than  to  enter  into  a  law-suit ;   and  as 
now  very  many  of  the  creditors,  indeed  the  most  of  them,  found 
themselves  in   great  straits  from  the  cessation  of  the  payment 
of  interest,  nearly  a  hundred  of  them  followed  his  advice.  '  Con- 
sequently, all  these  at  once  received  50  per  cent,  of  the  original 
capital  in  ready  money,  or  exchanged  their  claims  for  a  mort- 
gage.    Thus  the  number  of  creditors  was  diminished  more  and 
more  daily,  and  hope  began  to   be   entertained  that   at  length 
the  whole   debt   of  450,000    ducats  might  be  paid   off  with   a 
sum    of   half  that    amount.     Suddenly,    however,    things    took 
a  different  turn,  when  the  Kings  replv  arrived,   and  the   Pre- 
sident of  the  Government  of  Seville,  Don  Juan  dc  Santelices 
was  entrusted  with  the  investigation   of  the  case.     The   latter 
being  an   impartial   man,    who    did   not   allow    himself   to   be 
blinded  with    Jesuit   gold    or  talked   over  by   Jesuitical  suada 
(sweet  words),  at  once  removed  the  partisan  commiss^rv   then 
set  at  liberty  the  imprisoned  Villar,  and  caused  him  to  make  a 
full   circumstantial    confession  as  to  how    the   bankruptcy  had 
been  brought  about.     It  now  came  out  that  the  Jesuits  had  no 


41 


JESUIT   COMMERCE   AND   USURY. 


481 


other  view  in  contemplation,  from  the  very  beginning,  than  to 
relieve  themselves  of  their  debt  for  the  half  of  the  money,  and, 
in  fact,  several  letters  of  the  Father  Provincial  were  forthcoming 
which  proved  this  only  too  clearly.     Juan  de  Santelices  would 
have  by  far  preferred  to  have  sold  at  once  all  the  estates  belong- 
ing to  the  College  of  St.  Herminigilde,  so  as  to  have  fully  satisfied 
the  creditors  out  of  the  produce  ;  but  the  sons  of  Loyola  asserted 
that  the  greater  part   of   these  estates  were  ecclesiastical  pro- 
perty, and    consequently  could   not  be  sold   under    sequestra- 
tion.     Upon  this  ground  the  law-suit  continued  to  follow  its 
course  during  a  series   of   years,  and   during   this   long   time 
many  of  the  creditors  were  unable  to  hold  out  on  account  of 
poverty,  and  voluntarily  begged  for    a  compromise.     In  short, 
these    sons   of   Loyola     succeeded    tolerably    well    in    gaining 
their   end,  although  the  final  decision  in  the  year  1652  went 
against   them ;    and  by  the  sale  of   the    remaining    territories 
and    other    estates,    the    rest   of  the    creditors   were   satisfied 

in  full. 

The  public  of  Seville,  however,  now  knew  how  to  estimate  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  the  indignation  raised  against  it  could, 
on  that  account,  be  no  longer  restrained. 

A  worthy  parallel  case  to  this  Seville  scandal  was  the  noto- 
rious bankruptcy  of  Father  La  Vallette  at  Martinique,  and  I 
cannot  refrain  from  making  mention  of  it  in  conclusion. 

Brother  La  Vallette  was  sent  as  missionary  to  the  island  of 
Martinique,  by  his  chiefs,  in  the  year  1742,  and  first  of  all 
laboured  in  the  small  parish  of  Carbet,  only  a  couple  of  miles 
distant  from  the  town  of  St.  Pierre.  This  spot,  however,  was 
soon  too  small  for  him,  as  he  was  at  that  time  a  man  of  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  and  of  a  very  enterprising  character,  as 
well  as  of  great  intelligence  and  activity.  It  consequently  came 
about  that,  in  the  year  1717,  he  was  nominated  to  the  post  of 
Procurator  of  the  Profess-house  of  St.  Pierre,  and  he  at  once 
entered  upon  this  important  office  with  the  design  of  being  as 
useful  as  possible  to  his  Order.  The  profess-house  of  St.  Pierre 
had  deteriorated  very  much  through  bad  management,  although 
it  still  possessed  extensive  properties,  or,  if  one  would  rather  call 
them  so  plantations,  and  there  was,  therefore,  a  large  sphere  of 
action  open  for  a  capable  manager  ;  but  in  order  to  accomplish 
worthily  what  was  required,  much  was  needed— much  courage. 


%\ 


4 

!"| 


f 


432 


HISTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


•    much  intelligence,   much  knowledge,  much    speculation.      La 
Vallette  commenced,  accordingly,  bv  purchasing  a  strong  body 
of   negro   slaves,    in  order  to  be  able   to    form    better  planta- 
tions    than    formerly,    and    at   the     same    time    he    acquired, 
experienced   overseers,  who  were    entrusted   with   the  manage- 
ment of  the  slave  work.     For  this  purpose  he  required  money, 
however,    and,    indeed,    no    inconsiderable    amount.      Further 
cash    was    needed,    too,   for    the    acquisition    of    more    exten- 
sive  lands,   for    which    there    occurred   just    at    that   time   a 
peculiarly  favourable  opportunity,  which    he   was   anxious  not 
to  let  slip,  because  these  lands  might  afterwards  be  converted 
likewise,  with    ease,    into    charming  plantations,   adapted    for 
sugar,  tobacco,  and  cotton.     But  whence  was  this  money  to  be 
obtained  ?     Being  shrewd  in  mind  and  well  versed  in  commer- 
cial matters,  he  weighed  the   thing  well  in  its  every  aspect  and 
after    long  consideration  a  wise  thought  struck  him   at   last 
which  he  at  once  brought  into  operation.     France  at  that  time 
treated   her   colonies  most  cruelly,  on  which   account  it  hap- 
pened that  whoever  was  obliged  to  send  money   from    Marti- 
nique to  the  mother  country,  lost  almost  a  fourth,  if  not  even 
a  third.     In  other  words,  if   a  person  in  Martinique   had    to 
pay  20,000  francs  in    Paris,   or  say  anywhere  else  in  France 
he  was  compelled   to   spend    28,000   francs   or   80  000    francs 
in  order  to  liquidate  the  sum  ;  and  it  may,  then,  well  he  imagined 
how  severely  the  mercantile  community  of  Martinique  suffered 
from  th,s  oppression.     La  Vallette  now  declared,  in  a  circular 
addressed  to  the  merchants  of  the  Antilles,  "  that  he  was  in  a 
position,  through  the  assistance  of  his  Order  in  Lyons  to  pay 
in  full  moneys  entrusted  to  him.  without  any  loss  or  deduction 
with  this  condition,  however,  that  the  payments  were  not  to  take 
place  till  after  thirty  to  thirty-six  months."    He  at  the  same 
time  offered  "  to  give  for  all  sums  entrusted  to  him  as  remit- 
tances  safe  bills  of  exchange ;  of  course,   however,  bills  pay- 
able after  the  long  sight  of  two  years  and  a  half  without  interest 
dunng  the  whole  of  that  time."     The  mercantile  people  of  Mar- 
tinique considered   this  offer,  and  found  the  same  to  be  very 
advantageous  for  their  money-bags,  taking  it  for  granted  that 
the  signature  of  the  worthy  Father  would  be  at  once  honoured 
But  why  should  they  have  any  doubt  about  it,  as,  indeed,  the 
profess-house  at  St.  Pierre  possessed  a  large  property  in  landed 


JESUIT  OOMMBBOB  AND  USUKT. 


433 


estates  ?     Money  was  therefore  entrusted  to  him ;  at  first,  it  is 
true,  in  small  sums  only,  but  later  on  in  larger  amounts,  as  it  was 
found  that  prompt  repayment  was  always  forthcoming;  then, 
indeed,  still  larger,  and,  at  last,  very  important  moneys,  became 
available  for  him.  The  first  object  of  La  Vallette,  then,  was  only  to 
get  into  his  hands  very  large  sums  of  ready  money,  and  thus  after 
a  few  years  he  attained  his  object,  and  then,  of  course,  land  could 
be  bought  with  borrowed  money  and  converted  into  plantations. 
This  was  not  sufficient  for  him,  however,  but  he  acquired,  partly 
in  Martinique  itself,  partly  in  the  islands  of  Du  Bent  and  San 
Domingo,  a  number  of  other  plantations,  and,  with  the  help  of  his 
negroes,  planted  thereon  such  quantities  of  sugar,  coffee,  tobacco, 
indigo,  and  cotton,  that  no  inhabitant  of  the  Antilles,  not  even 
the  richest  of  them,  could  any  longer  compete  with  him.    In 
addition  to  this,  he  bought  up  the  produce  of  other  planta- 
tions, and  erected,  besides  his  head  establishment  in  St.  Pierre, 
several    other    counting-houses,    as,   for   instance,   at   St.  Do- 
mingo, Maria  Galanda,  Santa  Lucia,  and  St.  Vincent.    Still, 
however,   the   stores  in  his  magazines   never   accumulated,  as 
might  have  been  supposed,  to  anything  enormous,  but  as  much 
as  he  bought  he  again    immediately  sold;  'naturally,    indeed, 
not  in  the  Antilles  or  elsewhere  in  America,  but  in  France, 
Spain.  Italy,  and  Germany.     On  this  account,  he  at  once  put 
himself  in  connection  with  the  first  commercial  houses  in  Europe, 
that   is,    in   the   towns    of   Marseilles,  Nantes,  Lyons,    Paris 
Lisbon,  Cadiz,  Lesrhom,  Amsterdam,  and  elsewhere.     In  con- 
sequence of  these  operations,  conducted  with  as  much  skill  as 
success,  the  business  of    the  house  of  La  Vallette  &   do. 
aissnraed  such  dimensions,  after  less   than  five  years,  that  the 
whole  trade  of  Martinique  became,  so  to  speak,  a  monopoly 
in  its  hands ;  and  now,  of  course,  the  remaining  local  mer- 
chants and  plantation  proprietors  could  no  longer  conceal  from 
themselves  how  foolish  they  had  been,  as  in  entrusting  him 
with    their   money   they    had    contributed   their    aid   to    en- 
able this  Black  Cloak  to  found  a  business.    As  mnnnurings, 
however,  brought   no   relief,    they   complained   to   the   French 
Government,    on    account    of   the    prejudice    to    their  trade, 
and   the   authorities  at   once  gave    a   hint   to   Father    Sacy, 
the  Procurator-General  of  the  Jesuit  Missions,  to  set  some 
hounds,  at  least,  to  the  speculative  spirit  of  his  brother  .lesuit  in 

28 


f 


434 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


JESUIT   COMMEECE   AND   USUEY. 


435 


Martinique.     Sacy  promised  to  do  so,  but  without,  however,  any 
intention  from  the  very  first  of  keeping  his  promise,  and  conse 
quently  the  complaints  of  the  merchants  and  plantation- owners 
were  renewed  more  than  ever. 

The   Government  now,  at  length,  saw  themselves  obliged  to 
take  action,    and  consequently  the    French  Governor  of  the 
Antilles  received  an  order,  at  the  end  of  the  year  1753,  to  send 
Father  La  Valletta  to  Paris  for  the  vindication  of  his  pro- 
ceedings.    The  Father  took  his  departure ;  not,  however,  before 
causing  the  favourable  evidence  of  the  Governor,  and  those  high 
in  office  whose  confidence  he  fully  possessed,  to  be  adduced ; 
and  when  he  arrived  in  Havre,  in  January  1754,  he  was  received 
in  tnumph  by  his  fellow  brethren,  especially  by  the  Fathers 
Sacy  and  Forestier,  his  chief  correspondents  in  France.     Still 
more  gratifying  was  his  reception  at  the  College  in  Paris,  and 
the  Jesuits  sang  his  praises  everywhere,  more  especially  among 
the  influential  at  Court.     His  vindication  became,  then,  an  easy 
matter ;  or,*  rather,  it  was  made  easy  for  him,  and  people  lent 
belief  at  once  to  his  assurances,  that  he  carried  on  nothing  but 
ft  'Me^itimate  ••  trade.     And  how  could  it  be  otherwise,  seeing 
that  he  brought  with   him  such  excellent  certificates  in  con- 
nection with   his  recall  ?     He    possessed,  indeed,   credentials 
from  M.  Bompas,  Governor  of  Martinique,  who  was  bound  to 
know  what  was  goin?  on  in  the  island !     Thus,  certainly,  the 
good  Father  La  Vallette  was  a  perfectly  innocent  man,  who 
busied  himself  entirely  with  the  extension  of  the  mission  and  the 
conversion  of  the  savages ;  and  if,  when  there,  he  sent  over  at 
times  sugar  and  coffee,  he  did  so  merely  tobe  enabled  to  meet 
the  exigences  of  the  Mission.     He  also  exported  nothinsr  but 
the  sugar  and  coffee  which  the  profess-house  had  produced  on 
its  own  estates,  and  this  could  not  be  calledHrading,  more  than 
that  of  a  peasant  who  brings  his  com  to  market. 

Thus  was  Father  La  Vallette  pronounced  to  be  not  guilty, 
and  the  Government,  therefore,  did  not  see  themselves  in  a 
position  to  find  anv  fault  with  him ;  and  althousfh,  certainly, 
proofs  to  the  contrary,  brought  by  his  opponents,  were  not 
wanting,  still  they  could  not  be  taken  as  convincinpr.  He  was 
allowed,'  therefore,  the  followinsr  vear,  to  return  to  his  post  at 
Martinique,  but  still  under  the  distinct  promise,  given  on  oath, 
I  hat  he  would  not  in  future  afford  any  occasion  to  the  mercantile 


peope  to  complain  of  him,  and  that  he  would^engage  himself 
simply  and  solely  in  the  service,  of  his  religious  duties.     When 
however  was  ever  a  promise  given  by  a  son  of  Loyola,  even  if 
conjoined  with  an  oath,  to  be  kept  ?     Scarcely  had  La  Vallette 
then,  arrived  again,  in  May  1 755,  in  St.  Pierre,  than  he  not 
only  afresh  took  in  hand  the  old  business,  but  he  commenced  a 
new  one,  inasmuch  as  that  he  established  a  bank,   instituted 
manulactories,  and  the  like.    His  commercial  undertakings,  then, 
flourished  even  more  than  ever,  and  the  General  of  the  Order 
Ignatius   Visconti,   on   account   of  this  fortunate   result,   was 
induced  to  promote  the  good  lather  Procurator  to  be  General 
Superintendent  and  Apostolical  Prefect  of  the  Jesuit  Missions 
of  the  Antilles.     Indeed,  no  one  knows  what  further  would  have 
happened,  had  it  not  been  that  some  evil-disposed  Englishmen 
played  the  poor  innocent  La  Vallette  a  very  sorry  trick,  which 
materially  interfered  with  his  calculations. 

Among  the  European  banking-houses  with  whom  the  Father 
did  business,   one   of  the  most  considerable  was  that  of  the 
"  brothers  Lioncy  and  Gouffre,"  in  Marseilles,  and  at  the  end  of 
the   year  17öö  he  became    indebted  to  that  lirm   for  bills  of 
exchange  drawn  on  them  to  the  extent  of  more  than  a  million 
and  a  half  of  livres.     As  a  matter  of  course,  the  brothers  Lioncy 
and  Goutfre,  as  substantial  merchants,  did  not  give  this  large 
credit  to  the  house  of   La  Vallette  &  Co.  without   having   a 
sufficient  guarantee,  and  this  consisted  in  colonial  wares,  worth 
about  two  millions,  which  La  Vallette  had  promised  to  send 
to  the  brothers  Lioncy  and  Gouffre,  in  two  merchant  ships,  in 
the  autumn  of  I7öö.     The  wares  were  duly  despatched,   and 
on  their  arrival  in  Marseilles  both  parties   would    have   been 
satisfied;  but,   unfortunately,  in  the  spring  of  17ÖÖ,  war  had 
broken   out   between    England    and  France,  and   the    wicked 
Enghsh  captured  those  two  merchant  ships.     As  a  matter  of 
course,   the    brothers   Lioncy  came   thereby   into  the  greatest 
difficulties,  as  how  were  they  to  meet  those    bills  when  they 
became  due  ?     They  immediately  sent,  therefore,  their  partner 
Goufl're  to  Father  Sacy  in  Paris,  in  order  to  request  him,  as 
the  correspondent  hitherto  of  La  Vallette,  and  as  he  who  had 
made  him  Procurator,  to  step  into  the  breach.     The  Father, 
indeed,  actually  made  some  remittances,  but  very  insufficient; 


436 


HISTOEY   OP   THE   JESUITS« 


JESUIT   COMMEBOE   AND   USURY. 


437 


on  the  other  hand,  he  promised  to  report  the  matter  forthwith  to 
Eome,  in  order  that  what  was  wanting  might  be  supplied  them. 
He  did  so ;  but,  unfortunately,  just  at  that  time  the  General, 
Visconti,  died,  and  in  the  interim,  until  a  new  General  was 
elected,  all  affairs  of  importance  remained  in  abeyance.     This 
was  bad,  and  especially  so  for  the  brothers  Lioncy  and  Goufire, 
as  when  the  bills  for  the  miUion  and  a  half  were  presented, 
they  were  under  the  necessity  of  declaring  themselves  insolvent 
on  the  19th  February  1756.     They  conducted  themselves,  more- 
over, under  the  circumstances,  in  a  perfectly  honourable  way,  and 
gave  up  all  their  property  to  their  creditors,  as  they  preferred 
rather  to  be  beggars  than  cheats.     The  investigation  respecting 
the  condition  of  the  property  required  a  long  time.     After  the 
space  of  a  year,  however,  the  affair  was  so  far  advanced  that  the 
debit  and  credit  could  be  accurately  ascertained,  and  the  syndic 
of    the    committee   of    creditors   entered   a   complaint   at    the 
Consulate  in  Marseilles   against  the  two  Fathers  La  Vallette 
and  Sacy,  the  former  in  his  capacity  of  chief  of  the  Jesuit-house 
in  St.   Pierre,    and   the  latter   as   Procurator- General   of   the 
Missions  in  the  Antilles.     The  Consulate  did  not  allow  a  long 
time  to  elapse  before  pronouncing  its  sentence,  but  came  to  a 
decision  on  the  19th  December  17Ö9.     It  ran  thus,  that  Sacy 
and  Vallette  together  had  to   payi,the  sum  of  1,502,236  livres, 
and  that  each  was  jointly  and  separately  liable.     The  creditors 
were  jubilant,  but  too  quickly  so,   as  La  Vallette  had,  by  this 
time,  long  taken  his  departure  from  this  world,  and  Sacy  entered 
an   appeal   against   the    sentence,    declaring   that   La   Vallette 
was    alone    liable,    as   he    had    been    acting    completely    on 
his   own    account,    and,   indeed,    contrary    to   the  wishes    of 
his  superiors.     In  the  meantime  the  law-suit  attracted  so  much 
attention  in  France,  that  the  rest  of  the  banking-houses  with 
which  La  Vallette  was  in  connection  believed  themselves  to   be 
right  in  advancing  their  claims,  and,  with  the  firm  of  **  Widow 
Crocc    &  Son"    at   their   head,    addressed   themselves  to    the 
Provincial   of  the  Jesuit  Order  in   Paris,  calling    upon    him, 
as  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  Profess-house  of    St.  Pierre   at 
Martinique.     The  Provincial,  however,  would  not  at  all  admit 
4his,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  firm  of  Crocc  &  Son 
instituted  an  action.    It  did  not,  however,  make  its  complaint 


at  Nantes,  but  urged  it  at  the  Consulate  in  Paris,  holding  that 
aU  easting  houses  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  territorL  of 
the  King  of  i  ranee  must  be  held  liable  for  the  debts  of  La 
Vallette.  The  verdict  of  the  Consulate  of  Paris  followed  in 
January   1760,    and   completely   granted    the  petition  of    the 

piaintifl.     The  decree  ran  thus : 

"  That  the  whole  of  the  Jesuits  existing  and  residing  in 
France,  tn  curpore,  were  held  liable  lor  the  payment  of  the 
capital  borrowed  by  La  Vallette.  together  with  interest,  and  that 
the  creditors,  in  the  case  of  delay  in  payment,  might  sequestrate 
the  whole  of  the  effects  and  property  of  the  Order  throughout 
all  the  territories  of  France." 

Against  this  the  Provincial  at  once  protested,  and  in  this  he 
was  joined    by  the  rest  of  the  Provincials   of  Prance,  as  well 
M  by  those  of  Champagne,    Guyenne,  Toulouse,    and  Lyons 
They  all  peremptorily  declared  it  to  be  thoroughly  unjust  to 
make  a  whole   Society  liable  for  the  error  of  one  of  its  indi-  ' 
Tidual  members;  they  appealed,  at  the  same  time,  to  their  con- 
Bütutions,  in  which  the  principie  is  distinctly  expressed   that 
each  individual  was  made  responsible  for  his  own  dealings,  and 
set  aU  their  pens  in  motion  to  induce  the  King  to  lay  the  'whole 
matters  at  issue  before  his  own  i'orum,  the  contention  as  well 
between  the  creditors  and  the  house  of  Lioncy  &  Goulfre,  and 
also  that  of  Widow  Crocc  &  Son. 

"It  was  a  question  now."  said  they,  "no  longer  in  re- 
gard  to  the  debts  of  La  Vallette  merely,  but  as  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  who  had  to  pay,  in  the  case  of  an  individual  member  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  incurring  debts,  and  this  all-important 
quesüon  could  only  be  decided  by  the  highest  law-court  of 
France." 

The  High  Council  of  the  King  acknowledged  this  to  be  so,  and 
by  a  decree  of  J  7th  August  1760  placed  the  matters  in  question 
before  the  High  Court  of  Parliament  of  Paris,  as  the  highest 
law  tnbunal  of  the  whole  of  France.  A  scrupulous  investiga- 
tion  was  then  commenced,  the  Procurator- General,  Monsieur 
Le  Peüetier  du  San  Fargeau,  being  a  man  of  the  highest  rectitude, 
who  took  into  consideration  all  the  proofs,  for  and  against^ 
three  times  before  coming  to  a  decision.  First  of  all,  he  was 
desirous  of  accurately  informing  himself  as  to  what  law  regu- 


438 


HISTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


lated  the  estates  of  the  Jesuits,  and  while  the  P'O^«'-'^!^  ^f 
their  petition  to  the  King  had  in  this  matter  appealed  to  their 
statutes,  he  demanded  the  production  of  these  latter     Father 
Montigny,  Procurator  of  the  Professhouse  in  Pans  oheyed  the 
order  and  laid  before  him  a  printed  copy  thereof;  but  this  was. 
indeed,  the  most  stupid  proceeding  of  which  a  son  of  Loyola 
waa  ever  guilty,*  and  he  bitterly  repented  it  a  few  days  alter- 
wards.     In  the  said  statutes,  forsooth,  was  to  be  read,  in  large 
Gothic  characters.  "  that  all  the  estates  of  the  Jesuits  formed 
the  common  and  inseparable  properly  of  the  Society    ;  it  was 
further  to  be  found  in  them  that  no  individual  Jesuit-house, 
neither  a  Profess-house.  College,  nor  any  other  institution  oi  the 
kind,  could  possess  the  smallest  porUon  of  property  tor  i  salt, 
it  was  therein   recorded,  too,  that  the  supervision  of   all  t&e 
enormous  possessions,  distributed  all  over  the  world,  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  Superiors,  and,  without  the  consent  of  the 
General  in  Kome,  the  most  inconsiderable  trifle  could  not  be 

alienated.  .     ^t    ,  •        .i,  . 

What,  then,  was  the  consequence  of  all  this  7     Nothing  other- 
wise than  this,  that,  as  the  chief  of  a  Jesuit-house  was  to  be 
regarded  merely  as  a  commissary  of  the  General  in  Kome,  the 
undertakings  of  i^aVallotte  were  by  no  means  to  be  viewed  as 
private  speculations,  but  as  appertaining  to  the  Order;  nothing 
else,   to  wit,   than   this,   that    the  plantations   in  Marumiue 
belonged  neither  to  La  Vallette.  nor  to  the  Profess-house  at 
St.  Pierre,  but  to  the  Society  ol  Jesus,  and  that,  consequenüy, 
the  enure  Order  must  be  held  to  be  responsible  for  the  debts 
incurred  by  the  house  of  La  Vallette  &  Co.     Such  was  the 
proposiuon   of   the  Procurator-General,  and    accordingly    the 
Parhament  pronounced  with  the  greatest  solemnity  its  decision, 
on  the  8th  of  May  1761,  before  an  immense  assembly.    The 
verdict  was  to  the  eflect  that  the  whole  of  the  iienoh  Jesuits 
were  liable  as  well  for  the   bills   drawn  upon   the    house  of 
lioncy,  with  an  extra  charge  of  50,000  livres,  as  for  the  claims 
of    Widow    Crocc   &   Son,   and   must   pay,    accordingly,    the 
whole  of  the  debts  contracted  by  La  Vallette,  amounung  in 

•  The  extraordinary  results  which  this  production  of  «»e  constitution  rf 
tte  Order  had,  as  regards  its  stabiUty  in  Irance,  wiU  come  to  be  treated  ot 
in  the  Sixth  Book  o{  this  work. 


JESUIT  COMMEECE   AND  ttaaBT. 


43d 


all  to  nearly  three  millions,  but  that  the  possessions  at  Mar- 
tinique remained  to  theJOrder. 

Thus  ended  this  notorious  bankruptcy  case;  and  when  the 
result  became  known  to  the  public  there  broke  forth  an  enormous 
storm  of  applause,  as  the  love  of  the  people  to  the  Jesuits  had 
by  this  time  become  converted  into  thorough  hatred. 


.\ 


••' 


)  )      >  > 


(  li  III  lllllv 

t     t  1 1    •    I  I      '1         ) 

•  I    J   >   «     >  t     I      >  } 

•  II»»*  »"       ' 

til       1    >  i         i  t    .    1 


t 

1 1 

I 


I  J 


1        I 

I    > 

1  > 

I 

• 


LONDON ; 
PKINTKD    BT    W.    H.    ALLKN    AND    CO..    13    WATKRI.QO    TT.XCT., 


•       .5 


-  •■  ■         t    t    vi  ,   •         >  o  • 


•>    *     »     •         • 


•  • 


,       •  •        •  t 


•         »  »    % 


f 


932.5' 
G373 


If *""  ■' " — 

Gate  1 3 


CO: 

lU: 


»CM 

EO 
ICD 
eCNJ 


«   f 


^ 


M  ob~3^6'3? 


tn 


o 


REPLACEf^cNT  CINDERED 


GA 


ic    i 


AUG  16  1965 


""ify^f^-y 


■^^ 


LIBRARY 


PURCHASED  PROM 
THE 

WILLIAM  C.  SCHERMERHORN 
MEMORIAL  FUND 


V 


I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS 


nr-iiii  Ml  nil 


THE  JESUITS 


COMPLETE   HISTORY 


■      >       •     • 
*  (        • 

1  «        • 


•  • 


*  t        •  • 

•  »       •  •"• 

.      •  •       •  » 

•i*       •»•       •»»  ••  » 


•  »  • 

•  * 

» »» 


•  •  • 


•  •       •    ■ 


••••••      ** 


»•••••    .••    •    •  •  •  •     • 


TffÄl}Ri'<:i^liy\*4M^!SMCREJr  PROCEEDINGS 
FROM  THE  FOUND  A  TlOff^  QF,  THE  ORDER  TO  THE 
•       '   •  •:  ki^E:^S^^^  TIME 


■  •  • 


•*•••     *••     » 


TOLD  TO  THE  GERMAN  PEOPLE 


BY 


THEODOR  GRIESINGER 


VOL.    II. 


NEW  YORK 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

27  &  29  WEST  23D  STREET 
1883 


\^tJkiLH/1lV^ 


J 


• « 


•         k     ■ 
t      t 
•    « 


*  • 
••  • 

•  • 
••• 


•  •  • 


•  • 


•  • 


•   • 


•  •  •  •  • 


•  •  •  •    « 

«  •   • 
•  •  •  • 
•   •  • 

•  •  •    • 


•_  • 


•  •      »         4    •    < 


f: 


•  ■ 


J7-Z^Z^^ 


D3X,  5 


•  X 


/ 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK    V. 

THE   PROBITY   OF   THE   JESUITS,  OK  THE    SONS   OF   LOYOLA 

IN  THEIR   TRUE   ASPECT. 

* 

CHAPTER  I.  p^G£ 

The    Everlasting    Conflict    of    the   Sons   of  Loyola 

WITH   THE    EeST    OF    THE    CaTHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS  ,  3 


CHAPTER  II. 

The     Repulsiveness    of    the    Jesuit 
Doctrine,  and  Teaching     . 


Constitutions, 


33 


v 


CHAPTER  III. 

Increasing   Enlightenment,    and     the     Storm    which 

AROSE   out   op   their   OWN   MIDST 52 


BOOK    VL 

THE    BENEVOLENCE   OF   THE  JESUITS,  OR   THE   PERMISSIOlJ 

TO   MURDER   AND   ASSASSINATE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Jesuit  Attempts  in  Germany    . 


Q7 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


CONTENTS. 


Vll 


II 


k 


CHAPTER  II.  i*^«« 

The  Gunpowder  Plot  in  England,  and  the    Political 

Intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  in  that  Country     .        .      7d 


CHAPTEE  III. 
The  Attempts  on    the  Lives  of  Princes  William  and 
MoRicE  OF  Orange 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Great  Commotion  at  Paraguay,  or  Don  Sebastian 
Joseph  Carvalho  e  Mallo,  Count  of  Oeyras  and 
Marquis  de  Pombal     . 

CHAPTER  V. 

Bon  Pedro  Pablo  Abaraca  de  Bolea,  Count  of  Aranda, 
OR  THE  Abolition  of  Jesuit  Nests  in  Spain  . 


104 


115 


147 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Regicides  in  France 


.    157 


BOOK     VIL 

THE   APPARENT    DEATH    OF   JESUITISM,  AND  ITS  TERllIBLE 

REVIVIFICATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Abolition  of  the  Jesuit  Order  by  Pope  Clement 
XIV.      . •       •       • 

« 

CHAPTER  n. 

The   Re-establishment   of  the  Jesuit  Order,  or  the 
Nullification  of  the  Bull -Dominus  ac  Redemptor 

Noster"        .        •        •        *        •        *        *        *  .     * 


189 


2ÜÖ 


CHAPTER  III. 

The   Jesuits  in  the  First  Half   op   the   Nineteenth 
Century         ,        , 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Development    of  Catholicism  into  Jesuitism,  or 


PAGE 


224 


THE  Jesuit  Papal  Infallibility 


•        • 


.    272 


BOOK    V. 


THE    PEOBITY    OF    THE     JESUITS; 


OB, 


THE  SONS  OF  LOYOLA  IN  THEIB  TRUE  ASPECT. 


YOU  U« 


8 


MOTTO : 

Ich  hab'ß  Euch  g'sagt,  Ihr  habt's  gehört ; 

Wir  sind  gewesen  lang  bethört; 

Dass  Lug  und  Trug  so  breit  sich  macht,  * 

Die  Schwarzröck'  haben's  dahin  gebracht, 

Denn  Wahrheit  mögen's  leiden  nit, 

Ist  wi^er  ihren  Brauch  und  Sitt. 

Vivat  Ignatius 

Wo  sich  der  Teufel  steckt  ein  Ziel, 

Da  han  die  Schwarzröck'  Hand  ihm  Spiel, 

Und  wo  man  ihn  mit  Spott  und  Hohn 

Ersäuft,  da  laufen  sie  davon; 

Denn  Wahrheit  mögen's  leiden  nit, 

Ist  wider  ihren  Brauch  und  Sitt. 

Yivat  Ignatius! 

Auf  Landsknecht  gut  und  Beiters  Muth, 
Auf,  haut  ent2wei  die  schwarze  Brut  1 
Erst  müss  sie  treffen  göttlich'  Bach', 
Soll  oben  stahn  die  gute  Sach', 
Die  Wahrheit  mögen's  leiden  nit, 
Ist  wider  ihren  Brauch  und  Sitt. 

Yivat  Ignatius ! 

Altes  Soldatenlied. 


CHAPTEE   I. 

THE   EVEBLASTING   CONFLICT   OF   THE    SONS   OP   LOYOLA 
WITH   THE   BEST   OF   THE    CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 

The  immoral  excesses  to  which  many  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
were  addicted,  and  especially  the  refinement  to  which  they 
carried  their  pleasures,  produced,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  Third 
Book,  deep  effects  as  regards  the  outer  world.  The  boundless 
thirst  and  eagerness  of  desire  after  the  money  and  property  of 
other  people,  in  which  they  did  not  refrain  from  the  meanest  of 
crimes,  as  long  as  these  might  enable  them  to  attain  their 
object,  injured  them  still  more.  Especially,  however,  the  war 
footing  on  which  they  stood  with  the  rest  of  the  Catholic  eccle- 
siastics and  monkish  Orders  led  to  their  overthrow  as  much  as 
anything  else,  as  there  arose  an  almost  irreconcileable  hatred 
between  them,  and  neither  party  rested  until  one  or  the  other 
was  annihilated. 

Whence,  now,  was  this  constant  state  of  warfare,  and  why 
these  eternal  feuds  among  the  priestly  colleges  ?  The  blame 
rested  solely  and  entirely  with  the  sons  of  Loyola,  because 
they  considered  themselves  to  be  servants  of  the  Lord  much 
superior  to  the  rest  of  those  ordained.  Naturally,  they  were, 
as  their  name  itself  indicated,  associates  of  Jesus.  Naturally, 
then,  was  He  in  direct  command  of  His  combatants  and  warriors 
as  supreme  Ruler.  Naturally,  then,  had  He  entrusted  the  prin- 
cipal keys  of  the  gates  of  heaven  to  ihem.  His  favourite  and 
chosen  ones ;   or  rather  bad  Peter,  the  porter  of  heaven,  received 


4  HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 

■ 

orders  from  Him  not  to  give  admittance  to  the  Hall  of  Eternal 
Happiness  to  anyone  who  had  not  heen  provided  with  a  pass- 
port from  the  sons  of  Loyola !  That  was  the  principle  upon 
which  the  Jesuits  proceeded,  and  since  upon  that  account  they 
looked  upon  all  other  priests,  especially  of  the  monkish  Orders, 
as  troublesome  competitors,  they  must  necessarily  fight  with 
them,  as  without  a  struggle  no  victory  could  be  obtained.  One 
need  not,  however,  on  that  account  at  all  suppose  that  the 
Fathers  from  the  very  beginning  commenced  to  bring  to  the  fore 
any  bellicose  intentions,  to  which  they  endeavoured  firmly  to 
adhere ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  always  sly  enough,  wherever 
they  made  their  appearance,  to  sHow  the  most  coy  modesty,  the 
most  obsequious  humility,  as  well  towards  the  secular  as  towards 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  Once  firmly  planted,  however,  once 
they  had  contrived  to  bring  the  bishops  and  princes,  or  other 
great  people  of  the  land,  to  stand  by  them  and  to  support  them 
in  the  founding  of  an  establishment,  they  then  began  with  their 
operations,  and  quite  quietly  the  magistrates  of  the  land  were 
imbued  with  the  conviction  that  the  Jesuit  Order  possessed 
decidely  peculiar  advantages  over  the  other  Orders. 

**  We  alone,"  whispered  they  to  the  men  of  high  standing, 
"  we  the  Jesuits  alone  follow  the  right  way  as  to  the  instruction 
of  youth  ;  we  alone  can  bring  them  into  a  properly  submissive 
frame  of  mind ;  we  alone  can  instil  into  them  that  veneration 
for  religion  and  for  the  State,  that  can  thereby  cause  the  Popish 
priesthood  and  royal  despotic  power  to  prosper ;  wherever,  how- 
ever, our  colleges  and  seminaries  do  not  flourish,  wherever 
hitherto  instruction  has  been  entrusted  to  religious  bodies  other 
than  ourselves,  there  has  appeared  the  poison  of  heresy,  and 
with  this  the  spirit  of  political  disturbance,  the  essence  of  con- 
spiracy and  of  rebellion  itself." 

With  such  utterances  did  they  endeavour  to  render  tractable 
persons  of  distinction  and  those  in  power,  and  in  most  cases, 
also,  they  were  successful. 

Still  more  easily  were  the  pious  Fathers  able  to  bring 
the  credulous  multitude  to  the  opinion  that  the  Order  of  Jesus 
far  outshone  the  whole  of  the  remaining  religious  communities 
and  institutions  ;  indeed,  that  it  united  in  itself  everything  good 
and  useful  in  all  other  communities  and  institutious. 

Then  the  old  Order  of  monks  at  the  time  of  the  establishment 


CONFLICT   WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS.  5 

of  Jesuitism,  as  we  have  already  seen  in  the  First  Book,  had 
suffered  immensely  in  the  esteem  of  the  people,  and  the  sons  of 
Loyola  did  not  scruple  to  increase  this  injury  by  insinuations, 
evil  defamation,  and  calumnies  of  every  description.  They,  the 
Jesuits,  must  necessarily  profit  thereby  if  the  other  monks  lost 
ground ;  why,  therefore,  should  they  not  make  out  these  latter 
to  be  bad,  why  should  they  not  disclose  all  their  shortcomings, 
why  not  even  attribute  to  them  other  faults  which  they  did  not 
really  possess  ?  When  their  rivals,  however,  exposed  these 
calumnies,  and  the  Jesuits  commenced  to  defend  themselves,  and 
indeed,  to  repay  like  with  like,  they  then  pushed  forward  with 
cannon,  sword,  and  lance,  and  smote  and  thrust  until  the  enemy 
was  beaten  to  death,  and  could  no  longer  move  tongue  or  any 
other  member. 

Thus  did  the  Jesuits  hold  to  their  colleges,  and  I  could  fill 
whole  volumes  with  the  disputes  which  they  maintained,  partly 
with  the  secular  clergy,  especially  university  doctors  and  bishops, 
and  partly  with  monkish  brethren ;  as,  for  instance,  with  the 
Dominicans,  the  Capuchins,  the  Benedictines,  and  every  other 
denomination  of  monks ;  but  such  narratives  would  but  little 
interest  the  reader,  and,  consequently,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  allow- 
able for  me  to  describe  the  three  chief  wars  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
those  merely  in  a  summary  way  and  not  in  detail.  What  were 
now,  however,  those  three  great  contests  ?  Firstly,  the  war 
in  the  colonies,  lasting  more  than  a  hundred  years;  secondly, 
that  with  the  Sorbonne,  extending  almost  still  longer ;  thirdly, 
the  frightful  contention  with  Jansenism.  I  have  already 
described,  in  the  Second  Book,  how  easily  the  sons  of  Loyola 
caused  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  to  come  over  to  Christianity; 
in  other  words,  the  Christianity  introduced  into  China  and  Japan, 
by  the  Jesuits,  was,  properly  speaking,  nothing  else  than  the 
old  Chinese  and  Japanese  paganism,  under  a  somewhat  different 
form,  and  some  few  inoffensive  innovations. 

"  In  order,"  thought  the  good  Fathers,  **  to  get  proselytes  by 
whom  one  might  be  able  to  attain  to  power,  riches,  and  domi- 
nion, one  must,  when  there  is  really  necessity,  shut  one  eye, 
or  even  both,  indeed;  why,  then,  deny  to  the  people  their  ancient 
usages  and  customs,  as,  lor  instance,  the  lantern  feast,  the 
feast  of  Phelo,  the  adoration  of  Confucius,  and  such-like  ? 
Truly,  if  we  did  not  act  thus,  it  would,  indeed,  go  badly  with 


6 


HISTORY   OF   tHE   JESUITS. 


our  conversions,  and  soon  should  we  be  obliged,  with  the  utmost 
haste,  to  leave  this  charming  country,  where  there  are  such  good 
pastures  for  us." 

Such  were  the  leading  principles  of  the  Jesuits  at  the  eastern 
extremity  of  Asia,  and  on  this  account  they  did  not  scruple  to 
graft  Christian  names  upon  heathenish  customs,  and  sanctioned 
even  mandarin  clothed  priests.  Especially  they  did  not  fail  to 
render  to  Confucius  the  same  divine  honour  as  men  of  distinction 
among  the  Chinese  accorded  him,  seeing  that,  so  the  pious 
Fathers  argued,  this  great  philosopher  and  founder  of  religion 
was,  as  the  morality  taught  by  him  proves,  to  be  regarded  as 
nothing  else  than  a  forerunner  of  Christ,  and  therefore  deserving 
of  a  first  place  in  the  Christian  heaven  ! 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  Asia,  but 
as  the  Order  obviously  took  good  care  that  nothing  of  their 
peculiar  methods  of  conversion  should  become  known  in  Europe, 
no  one,  naturally,  took  any  offence.  On  the  contrary,  the  Fathers 
obtained  all  the  greater  praise  on  account  of  their  extraordinary 
progress,  and  they  were  esteemed  throughout  the  whole  of 
Catholic  Christendom  as  the  only  efficient  priests  for  missionary 
enterprise. 

In  the  year  1633,  however,  with  the  permission  of  their  supe- 
riors, Johann  Baptist  von  Morales,  the  Dominican  Father,  as 
well  as  the  Capuchin  monk  Anton  von  Sancta  Maria,  set  off 
for  China,  in  order  to  make  neophytes ;  and,  in  spite  of  the 
Jesuits,  who,  as  soon  as  they  got  news  of  the  thing,  threw  all 
conceivable  obstacles  in  their  way,  they  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing an  entrance  into  the  Celestial  Empire.  Indeed,  their  un- 
tiring efforts  led  them,  although,  truly,  ^not  until  the  lapse  of 
several  years,  into  the  vicinity  of  localities  where  the  Jesuits 
possessed  houses,  and  they  very  often  had  the  opportunity  of 
speaking  with  the  Chinese  Christians  converted  by  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  as  well  as  of  attending  at  the  Jesuit  Christian  worship 
of  God.  They  were  not  a  little  astonished,  then,  when  they 
observed  that  the  Jesuit  Fathers  allowed  their  converts  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  heathenish  practices — when  they  convinced 
themselves  that  the  Black  Cloaks  bestowed  divine  honour  on 
Confucius,  and  even  offered  to  him  oblations  with  their  own  hands ! 
This  was  a  horrible  abomination  in  their  eyes,  and  consequently 
they  greeted  the  Jesuits  on  that  account  with  the  most  bitter 


CONFLICT   WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESUSTICS.  7 

reproaches.  The  latter,  however,  affirmed  that  they  acted 
entirely  according  to  the  precepts  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and 
ridiculed  with  all  their  sharp-wittedness  the  scrupulous  orthodoxy 
of  the  monks.  Thus  many  months  were  occupied  in  angry 
controversy,  and  they  even  made  use  of  the  pulpit  to  vilify 
one  another.  It  appeared,  also,  as  clear  as  day,  that  the  two 
parties  became  irritated  against  each  other  more  and  more 
the  longer  the  strife  lasted,  and  there  was  never  the  slightest 
question  of  any  reconciliation,  either  on  the  one  hand  or  on  the 
other. 

The  Dominican  Morales  now  resolved  to  claim  the  assistance 
of  the  Pope,  and  set  off  forthwith  for  Rome,  in  the  year  1643; 
not,  however,  without  previously  collecting  all  the  vouchers  most 
minutely,  relative  to  the  grievous  offences  which  the  sons  of 
Loyola  had  committed  against  the  Christian  Church.     Those 
documents  he  delivered  to  the  Holy  Father,  Innocent  X.,  imme- 
diately on  his  arrival  in  Kome,  and  gave,  at  the  same  time,  such 
an  impressive  description  of  the  desecration  of  the  Christian 
altar  in  China,  that  his  Holiness  was  seized  with  the  greatest 
indignation.     On  this  account,  a  Commission  of  Cardinals  was 
entrusted  with  an  investigation  into  the  matter,  and  as  it  came 
out  beyond  question  that    the  Jesuits  were  frightfully   in  the 
wrong,  a  Papal  decree  was  issued  in  the  year  1644,  in  which  the 
Fathers   were   strongly   urged   not   to   tolerate   for  the   future 
the  slightest  remnant  of  heathenish  superstition,   be  it  ever  so 
trilling,  or  ever  so  innocent,  but  to  preach  the    statutes  and 
ordinances   of    the  Catholic    Church  in    all    their  purity    and 

fulness. 

With  this  decree  in  his  pocket.  Father  Morales  set  off 
again  for  China  the  year  following,  and  at  once  published  the 
same  with  triumphant  assurance,  naturally  thinking  that 
the  sons  of  Loyola  would,  with  all  humility,  submit  themselves 
to  the  declarations  of  the  Holy  See.  In  this  respect,  however, 
he  was  bitterly  deceived.  Certainly,  indeed,  the  Superiors 
of  the  Order,  that  is  to  say,  the  Father  Mandarins  in  Peking, 
the  President  of  the  Tribunal  of  Mathematics  at  their  head, 
declared  that  *' as  far  as  they  could"  they  would  render 
obedience  to  the  Pope ;  on  the  other  hand,  however,  they  added 
that  an  error  clearly  existed  on  the  side  of  the  Pope,  regarding 
which  they  would  not  fail  to  instruct  his  Holiness,  and  in  th« 


HISTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


meantime,  until  the  issue  of  the  matter,  all  must,  of  course,  re- 
main for  the  present  in  statu  quo,  that  is,  as  it  had  been  "  of  old." 
In  fact,  they  in  due  course  sent — not  sooner,  however,  than  the 
year  1654 — the  brother  Martini,  with  the  necessary  instructions, 
and  especially  with  the  necessary  gold,  to  Eome,  and  his  task 
was  nothing  less  than  to  convince  the  Holy  Office,  with  the 
Pope,  that  the  Dominican,  through  ignorance  and  stiff-necked 
envy,  had  slandered  and  calumniated  the  Order  of  Jesus.  It 
was  certainly  a  difficult  task,  but  the  sly  leather  succeeded  in 
it  perfectly,  as,  just  at  that  time,  in  the  year  1655,  Pope 
Innocent  X.  died,  and  his  successor,  Alexander  Vll.,  had  such 
a  predilection  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  that  he  would  not  allow 
them  to  be  defeated.  Father  Martini  received  thus  a  most 
favourable  answer,  and  not  only  was  the  decree  of  Innocent  X. 
revoked,  but  it  was  also  expressly  permitted  to  the  Order  of 
Jesus  to  accommodate  itself  to  the  peculiar  customs  of  the 
Chinese;  besides,  the  Pope  reprimanded  the  Dominicans  for 
their  conduct,  and  recorded  his  expectation  that  they  would  not 
trouble  the  Jesuits  any  more  for  the  future.  It  thus  appeared 
that  the  matter  had  been  arranged  in  favour  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  but  such  was  by  no  means  the  case.  The  two  Orders 
of  Dominicans  and  Capuchins  felt  themselves  to  be  highly 
insulted  by  the  decision  of  the  Pope,  and  through  other  members 
of  their  Orders,  whom  they  sent  to  China,  collected  over  again 
proot  upon  proof  in  order  to  unmask  the  Jesuitical  heathendom 
before  the  Porum  of  publicity.  The  Jesuits,  however,  showed 
themselves  not  to  be  idle,  and  entered,  in  corpore,  on  their  part 
into  the  combat ;  and  there  soon  showered^  from  their  side,  such 
a  deluge  of  lampoons  and  accusations  of  heresy  against  their 
opponents,  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  discern  what  was 
true  and  what  false. 

On  this  account  was  it  that,  after  the  death  of  Alexander, 
both  parties,  on  several  occasions,  sent  deputations  to  Kome  in 
order  to  demand  a  new  verdict  of  Papal  infallibility,  so  that 
this,  the  infallible  »Senate,  saw  that  there  was  nothing  else  for  it 
but  to  appoint  a  court  of  arbitration,  constituted  from  among 
the  most  noted  theologians, — the  so-called  "Congregation  tor 
the  Settlement  of  the  True  Jb  aith,"  which  now  took  the  matter 
up  with  remarkable  zeal.  Nevertheless,  no  formal  decision  was 
urnved  at,  either  under  the  Popes  Clement  iX.,  Clement  X., 


CONFLICT   WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 


d 


or  yet  under  Popes  Innocent  XI.,  or  Alexander  VIII.,  and  the 
strife,  therefore — thanks  to  the  Jesuit  gold,  which  the  divinely- 
learned  Cardinals  could  not  withstand— continued  to  rage,  with 
undiminished  strength,  up  to  the  year  1691.  In  the  last  men- 
tioned year  Innocent  XII.  ascended  the  Papal  throne,  and  he, 
a  man  of  firm  determination,  gave  his  decision,  after  a  minute 
examination  of  the  pros  and  cons,  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  were 
entirely  in  the  wrong.  Accordingly  he  sent  the  Cardinal  Carlo 
Maigrot,  as  his  vicar,  to  China,  armed  with  a  decree  to  this  effect, 
and  the  latter,  in  the  year  1693,  proclaimed  that  henceforth  all 
heathenish  customs  which  had  been  allowed  by  Pope  Alexander 
VII.  were  prohibited  under  the  most  severe  ecclesiastical  penalty. 
Especially  the  pagan  Confucius  should  no  longer  be  worshipped 
as  a  god,  but  whoever  did  so  would  incur  everlasting  punishment 
for  himself,  as  well  as  the  Papal  curse  in  addition.  This  was 
plain  speaking,  and  had  the  Jesuits  kept,  only  partially  even,  their 
fourth  vow,  implicit  obedience  to  the  Pope,  the  strife  had .  now 
come  to  an  end.  But  it  was  far  otherwise.  The  sons  of  Loyola, 
resident  in  China,  met  the  communication  of  the  Papal  Vicar 
with  an  edict  to  the  contrary,  in  which  they  termed  his  conduct 
as  heretical,  godless,  and  unwise ;  and  not  satisfied  even  with 
this,  they  cursed  him  from  their  pulpits  as  a  deceiver,  who  had 
falsely  represented  himself  as  an  ambassador  from  the  Pope. 
Lastly,  they  applied  themselves  to  the  Court  of  Pekin,  where 
everything  done  by  them  was  approved,  as  we  have  learned 
before,  and  did  not  rest  until  Maigrot,  formally  expelled  out 
of  the  whole  celestial  Empire,  saw  himself  necessitated  to 
tiy  to  Goa,  in  the  East  Indies,  whence  he  forwarded  a  report 
to  the  Pope  regarding  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  the 
Jesuits. 

What  was  now  the  consequence  of  this  violence  ?  Did  not 
Innocent  Xii.  visit  the  European  Jesuits  with  his  righteous  dis* 
pleasure,  and  did  he  not  demand  satisfaction  from  the  General 
of  the  same  in  home  ?  Oh  no,  he  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  as 
the  Courts  of  Madrid  and  Paris,  in  which  the  sons  of  Loyola 
were  at  that  time  all-poweriul,  mixed  themselves  up  in  the 
quarrel,  and  restrained  his  Holiness  from  adopting  repressive 
measures.  Indeed,  these  Courts  showed  such  party  spirit,  that 
all  the  writings  which  the  opponents  of  the  Jesuits  published 
were  publicly  burnt  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  while  the 


10 


HISTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


CONFLICT  WITH  CATHOLIC  ECCLESIASTICS.' 


11 


sons  of  Loyola  obtained  full  liberty  to  bespatter  their  antagonists 
with  scorn,  derision,  and  insult ! 

Thus  the  dispute  continued,  during  several  years,  without  the 
disgraceful  fight  being  brought  to  any  termination,  until  at 
length  Pope  Clement  XL,  who  obtained  the  tiara  in  1700,  was 
resolved  to  act,  under  all  circumstances,  in  the  right  way,  and, 
if  necessary,  to  bring  Papal  omnipotence  into  play.  In  the 
year  1702,  he  sent,  therefore,  the  titular  Bishop  of  Antioch, 
afterwards  Cardinal  Charles  Thomas  Maillard  de  Tournon,  from 
Goa  to  China  in  the  quality  of  a  "  Nuncias  a  latere,"  with  the 
most  unlimited  powers,  in  order  to  investigate,  at  its  source,  the 
origin  of  the  unholy  strife,  and  to  act  according  to  circumstances; 
and  he  especially  empowered  him  either  to  approve  or  condemn 
the  heathenish  customs  which  had  been  hitherto  introduced  into 
Chinese  Christianity — to  condemn  them  if  thoroughly  unchristian, 
to  approve  of  them  if  they  could  be  brought  in  any  way  into 
harmony  with  Christianity  without  too  much  scandal.  Every- 
one praised  this  selection  of  the  Pope,  as  it  was  known  that 
de  Tournon  was  no  great  friend  and  patron  of  the  Order  of 
Jesus  ;  but  it  was  not  the  less  acknowledged  that  the  purity  of 
Christian  faith  and  teaching,  as  well  as  the  honour  attached  to 
the  Papal  See,  lay  infinitely  at  his  heart,  as  also  that  his  probity 
rendered  him  proof  against  any  attempt  at  bribery.  It  was  thus 
calculated  that  he  would  enter  into  the  matter  with  the  greatest 
impartiality,  and  this  was  the  ground  upon  which  the  Pope  had 
entrusted  him  with  this  highly  important  commission.  Let 
this  be  as  it  may,  Tournon  set  off  for  China,  and  was  received, 
even  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  in  an  almost  more  than  complaisant 
manner.  They  did  not  in  the  least  change  this  demeanour 
towards  him  for  a  long  time,  but,  on  the  conuary,  did  every- 
thing in  order  to  win  him  over,  and  he  displayed,  often  and 
often,  unfeigned  tokens  of  his  adherence  to  the  Order  of  Jesus 
and  its  interests. 

However,  after  a  years  careful  investigation,  he  discovered 
that  the  Jesuitical  Chinese  Christianity  was  nothing  else  than 
heathenism  adorned  with  some  slight  admixture  of  Koman 
Catholic  Christianity,  and  as  he,  in  consequence,  proceeded  to 
repress  fundamentally  such  an  abomination,  then  the  sons  of 
Loyola  at  once  threw  off  the  mask,  and  his  hitherto  submissive 
friends  now  became  most  bitter  and  malignant  enemies.     There 


was  then  no  fault  that  they  did  not  impute  to  him,  that  of  heresy 
and  infidelity  being  among  the  least.  As,  however,  in  spite  of 
all  this,  he  persisted  in  condemning  the  Chinese  Christianity  as 
heathenish  and  godless,  they  induced  the  Emperor  to  be  so  dis- 
pleased with  him  that  His  Majesty  caused  the  pious  zeaiot  to  be 
brought,  by  force,  into  the  local  Jesuit  College  of  Macao,  in 
the  year  1710,  and  there  the  sons  of  Loyola  constituted  them- 
selves his  keepers  and  jailers.  Even  this  was  not  sufficient  for 
them ;  but,  in  order  to  render  it  quite  impossible  for  him  to 
return  to  Europe,  to  explain  to  the  Pope  and  the  whole  of 
Christendom  the  doings  of  the  Order  in  China,  they  adminis- 
tered to  him  a  deadly  poison,  in  a  cup  of  chocolate,  and  thus, 
by  force,  got  rid  of  their  most  dangerous  opponent.* 

It  did  not  fare  much  better  with  the  Nuncio  Cari  Ambrose  de 
Mezzabarba,  whom  Clement  XL  sent  as  his  plenipotentiary  to 
China,  in  the  year  1719,  as  the  Jesuits  at  once  brought  the 
Emperor  Kang-hi  to  be  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  in  the 
highest  degree  inexpedient  to  allow  a  foreign  European  Power, 
let  it  be  even  that  of  the  Pope,  to  exercise  any  kind  of  juris- 
diction within  the  Celestial  Empire;  and,  therefore,  Mezzabarba, 
after  he  had  had  five  audiences  in  the  highest  place,  was  not 
only  compelled  to  withdraw  entirely,  leaving  matters  unacoom* 
plished,  but  was  told  by  the  Emperor  to  his  face  that  the  Popes, 
with  their  contradictory  decrees,  only  produced  hatred  and  con- 
fusion among  the  Chinese  Christians.  Upon  this  ground,  he 
prohibited  any  further  interference  of  the  Roman  Senate  in 
Chinese  affairs;  and  his  successor,  Yong-tching,  went  even  still 
further,  as  he  caused  all  Christian  missionaries  to  be  conveyed 
over  the  frontiers  of  his  Empire,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Jesuits,  who,  as  mathematicians  and  calendar-makers,  proved 
themselves  to  be  useful  to  the  State.  *'  He  wished  to  have 
peace  in  his  country,"  said  he,  **  and  by  means  of  Dominicans 
and  Capuchins,  or  whatever  else  they  may  be  called,  nothing  but 
disturbances  had  as  yet  been  occasioned ;  and,  moreover,  it 
appeared  to   be  the  intention  of  the  non -Jesuitical  monks  to 

*  The  particulars  about  this  are  to  be  found  in  Mdmotres  HistonqUes  pr4' 
senUs  en  1724  au  Souverain  Fonti/e  Benoit  XIV.,  sur  les  Missions  des  Feres  Jesuites 
aux  Indes  Orientates^  par  K  F.  Norbert.  In  vol.  iii.,  pp.  99-148,  authentic 
proofs  are  given  by  Canon  Angelita,  of  St.  Peter  in  Caroere,  who  waa 
an  eye-wituess  when  the  poisoned  chocolate  was  administered  to  the 
Cftrdinal. 


/V 


lä 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


CONFLICT  WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 


13 


make  Europeans  out  of  the  Chinese,  and  this  intention  he  must 
strenuously  oppose.** 

Thus  was  China  henceforth  left  to  the  Jesuits  alone,  and  they 
maintained  themselves  there  up  to  modem  times;  for  instance, 
Father  Hallerstein,  a  Suabian,  was  still  active  in  Pekin  in  the 
year  1780,  as  Mandarin  and  President  of  the  great  Mathematical 
Tribunal.  One  can  now  well  imagine  that  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
by  their  conduct  in  China,  made  deadly  enemies  of  the  Domini- 
cans and  Capuchins,  and  it  is  equally  self-evident  that  the  latter 
took  hold  of  every  opportunity  to  injure  the  Order  of  Jesus  and 
its  godless  un-Christian  conduct,  as  well  as  to  attack  with  the 
most  heartfelt  satisfaction  its  immeasurable  violence  in  sub- 
jugating the  whole  world.  They  succeeded,  too,  in  their  object 
throughout  a  great  part  of  Christendom,  and  the  Jesuits  began 
to  be  regarded  as  people  who  hunted  to  death  everyone  standing 
in  the  way  of  their  missions,  or  daring  to  oppose  them  in  any 
respect.  The  Fathers  defended  themselves,  indeed,  in  the 
warmest  manner  against  any  such  insinuation,  or,  as  they  ex- 
pressed it,  calumny  ;  but  with  every  ship  that  arrived  from  Asia, 
new  facts  became  known  which  were  fully  confirmed  by  the 
affirmations  of  the  Dominicans  and  Capuchins ;  and,  lastly,  pre- 
cisely the  same  thing  was  ascertained  respecting  their  missions 
in  America.  Indeed,  the  cruelty  with  which  they  proceeded 
against  Bishops  Cardenas  and  Palafox,  in  the  New  World,  sur- 
passed even  their  proved  villainy  in  the  struggle  with  Cardinal 
Tourman,  and  1  cannot  do  better  than  give  a  short  description 
of  these  two  alfairs,  at  least. 

In  the  year  lö4l  the  Pope  nominated  the  Franciscan  priest, 
Bernardm  de  Cardenas,  to  be  Bishop  of  Paraguay,  with  his  bee 
at  Assumption,  and  he  occupied  this  position  during  three  years 
quite  unopposed.  He  now,  however,  caused  jl  to  be  made 
known  that  it  was  his  intention  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  parishes  of 
the  Provinces  of  Parana  and  Uruguay,  in  which,  as  we  know,  the 
Jesuits  ruled  as  lords;  and  now,  although  such  a  visitation  was 
imperative  on  the  Bishop  as  his  bounden  duty,  the  sons  of 
Loyola  made  at  once  a  terrible  stir.  It  was  most  necessary 
for  them,  indeed,  to  keep  concealed  from  the  world  their 
proceedings  in  their  dominion  of  Paraguay,  and  not  to  allow 
anything  to  be  made  known,  either  respecting  their  trade  or  their 
ötate   constitution.-      They  therefore    endeavoured,  at   first  by 


flattering  speeches  and  bribery,  to  dissuade  the  Bishop  from  his 
intention ;  as,  however,  he  held  to  it  steadfastly,  they  at  once 
disputed  the  right  of  his  episcopal  power,  and  loudly  proclaimed, 
from  all  their  pulpits,  that  Cardenas  had  arrogated  to  himself 
his  alleged  dignity,  and  that,  therefore,  no  obedience  need  be 
given  to  him.  Up  to  this  time,  however,  no  real  injury  had  been 
done  to  the  Bishop,  as  this  could  only  happen  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  secular  power,  and,  consequently,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
strove  to  bring  over  to  their  side  the  Spanish  Governor  of 
Assumption,  by  name  Don  Gregorio  de  Hintrosa.  This  they 
succeeded  in  doing  with  the  aid  of  30,000  dollars  in  gold,  and 
the  consequence  was  that  the  Governor  caused  the  Bishop  to 
be  put  into  a  boat,  which,  being  committed  to  the  mercy  of  the 
wind  and  current,  floated  down  the  Paraguay  river  for  upwards  of 
eighty  miles  from  Corientas.  Here  Cardenas  remained  during 
several  years,  naturally  not  withou't  the  necessary  steps  being  taken 
for  his  re-establishment  by  the  Koyal  Government  of  La  Plata. 
This  authority  actually  decided,  in  the  year  1646,  that  Cardenas 
was  the  lawful  Bishop  of  Assumption  and  Paraguay ;  but  as  the 
reappearance  of  the  same  where  the  Jesuits  were,  in  some 
measure,  all-powerful,  might  'lead  to  regrettable  scenes,  the 
Bishop's  See  was  transferred  to  Popayan,  and  he  was  requested 
to  betake  himself  there  as  shortly  as  possible. 

With  this  Cardenas,  however,  did  not  comply,  as  Popayan 
lay  at  least  a  thousand  miles  distant  from  Assumption,  and,  to 
a  man  of  the  Bishop's  advanced  age,  such  a  journey  might 
readily  become  dangerous.  He  continued,  therefore,  to  remain 
in  Corientas,  and  thence  again  endeavoured  to  have  his  right 
accorded  to  him.  His  eflbrts  were  crowned  with  success  in  the 
year  1648,  when  the  then  Governor  of  Assumption,  Don  Gregorio 
de  Hintrosa,  was  recalled  and  replaced  by  Don  Diego  Escobar 
de  Osorio.  Upon  this,  Don  Bemardin  de  Cardenas  set  off  imme- 
diately for  Assumption,  and  was  there  not  only  received  by  the 
new  Governor  in  the  most  friendly  manner,  but  also  immediately 
established  in  his  Bishopric. 

The  strife  now  seemed  to  have  been  finally  settled ;  but  in 
reality  it  was  not  so.  The  sons  of  Loyola  possessed  such 
influence  at  the  Spanish  Court  that  no  royal  servant  dare  to 
go  against  their  interests  with  impunity  or  without  injury. 
Indeed,  as  soon  as  he  acted  so  he  might  be  certain  that  the 


.»^»»;— —  ^^ 


14 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


OONFLIOT  WITH  CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 


16 


'/■ 


ruling  brethren  in  Madrid,  having  the  ear  of  the  King,  would 
never  rest  until  he  was  overthrown ;  and  Don  Diego  de  Osorio 
could  expect  nothing  better  if  he  continued  to  favour  Cardenas 
at  the  cost  of  the  sons  of  Loyola.  Consequently,  he  shortly 
went  over  into  the  Jesuit  camp,  and  the  old  game  was  again 
recommenced.  Indeed,  it  went  so  far  that  the  Bishop  was 
literally  besieged  by  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  his  own  church  during 
fifteen  days,  with  the  approval  of  Don  Osorio,  and  was  within  an 
ace  of  being  starved  to  death  !  Then  Don  Osorio  died  sud- 
denly, and  now  everything  took  a  different  turn.  Because 
Cardenas  was  much  beloved  by  the  people  of  Assumption,  while 
most  of  the  citizens  highly  disapproved  of  the  violent  conduct 
of  the  Jesuits,  there  arose,  on  the  death  of  Don  Osorio,  a  kind 
of  revolution,'and  the  result  was  that  Cardenas  was  appointed,  in 
a  great  meeting,  to  be  Governor  and  Cap  tain -General  until  the 
King  of  Spain  should  nominate  another.  Of  course,  the  sons 
of  Loyola  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  prevent  the 
carrying  into  effect  of  this  popular  election,  but  they  had 
already  made  themselves  so  universally  hated  that  they  did  not 
succeed  in  this,  and,  consequently,  Cardenas  was  installed  in  his 
new  office  unhindered,  which  put  into  his  hands  all  secular  as 
well  as  ecclesiastical  power  over  Paraguay.  Even  this,  however, 
was  not  sufficient,  but  the  burgesses  of  the  city  at  once  came 
forward  complaining  against  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  demanded 
that  the  Fathers,  who  were  unruly  people  and  always  brought  about 
quarrels  and  confusion  among  the  community,  should  be  expelled 
out  of  Assumption.  This  demand  was  but  a  just  one,  and  the  Epis- 
copal Governor  responded  to  it  by  requesting,  on  6th  March,  1649, 
that  the  Fathers  should  quit  the  city.  Seeing,  however,  that 
they  did  not  obey,  but  entrenched  themselves  immediatelv  in 
their  college,  Don  Villasanti,  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Episcopal 
Governor,  proceeded  to  employ  force,  and  conveyed  them  on 
board  ship,  by  which  means  they  were  transported  to  Corientas. 
It  was  now  their  turn  to  eat  the  bread  of  banishment,  as  the 
year  before  Don  Bemardin  de  Cardenas  had  done;  but  thev 
did  not  eat  it  so  patiently.  On  the  contrary,  they  at  once 
assembled  an  army  of  4,000  Indians  in  their  reduction,  and 
placed  at  their  head  Don  Sebastian  de  Leon,  an  officer  thorniighly 
devoted  to  them,  nominating  him  at  the  same  time  provisional 
Governor  of  Assumption.     They  then  advanced  against  the  city 


in  order  to  take  possession  of  it.  This  occurred  after  an  almost 
bloodless  fight.  Bishop  Cardenas,  however,  obstinately  defended 
himself  for  ten  days  in  his  well-fortified  church,  which  had  to 
be  regularly  stormed  before  he  yielded. 

As  soon  now  as  the  black  cohort  had  overpowered  him,  they 
first  of  all  threw  him  into  a  dark  underground  prison,  where  he 
almost  rotted,  and  then  conveyed  him  in  a  miserable  boat  to 
Santa  F6,  200  miles  from  Assumption. 

Once  more,  then,  had  the  Jesuits  gained  the  victory,  and  yet 
a  second  time  had  Cardenas  seen  himself  robbed  of  his  dignity  and 
honour.  He  then  again  addressed  himself  to  the  ßoyal  Govern- 
ment of  La  Plata  in  order  to  demand  justice,  and  himself  pro- 
ceeded thither  in  the  year  1651,  with  the  view  that  in  this  way 
his  affair  might  be  all  the  sooner  settled ;  but,  as  they  put  him 
off  from  one  month  to  another,  and,  indeed,  from  one  year  to 
another  without  doing  anything  for  him,  he  at  last  discovered 
that  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  bribed  most  of  the  members  of  the 
Government,  and  he  therefore  determined  upon  setting  out  for 
Europe  in  order  to  demand  justice  there  personally  from  the 
Spanish  and  Roman  Courts. 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  But  the  Jesuits  did  not  remain 
inactive.  Headed  by  their  fellow-brother,  Father  Pedrasa,  they 
invented  such  a  tissue  of  calumnies,  slanders,  lies,  and  false- 
hoods, that  one  would  have  fancied  Bishop  Bemardin  de 
Cardenas  to  be  the  most  thorough  scoundrel  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  who,  from  the  very  commencement,  had  no  other  object 
than  injuring  as  much  as  he  possibly  could  the  dove-like, 
innocent,  sons  of  Loyola.  Still  Cardenas,  having  brought 
with  him  the  judicial  acts  which  proved  the  truth  of  his  asser- 
tions, he  finally  succeeded,  in  spite  of  the  devices  and  artifices  of 
the  Jesuits,  in  obtaining  the  upper  hand  over  his  enemies.  In 
other  words,  the  Court  of  Madrid  rendered  justice  to  him,  and 
reinstated  him  in  all  the  honours  and  dignities  of  which  he 
had  been  deprived  by  the  sons  of  Loyola.  Pope  Alexander  VII. 
even  went  still  further,  and  censured  the  Order  of  Jesus  for  its 
malevolent  machinations,  which  had  produced  as  gross  a  scandal 
as  there  had  ever  been  in  the  world.  But  what  was  now  the  use 
of  this  favourable  decision  to  Cardenas  ?  He  died  only  a  few 
months  after  obtaining  it,  and  had  no  chance  of  taking  posses- 
sion of  his  Bishopric  for  the  third  time. 


iw^t» 


•mfmm^t'^fmfm 


we^jii^m 


16 


rasTOBT  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


CONFLICT  WITH  CATHOLIC  ECCLESUSTICS, 


17 


A  precisely  similar  outrage  was  committed  by  the  sons  of 
Loyola  on  the  pious  Don  Johann  Palafox,  who  united  in  his 
person  the  different  offices  and  preferments  of  an  Archbishop 
of  Mexico  and  a  Bishop  of  Angelopolis  and  Osina,  so  that  one 
might  have  thought  a  man  in  such  a  high  position  would  have 
been  free  from  attack. 

But  at  whose  hands  had  the  sons  of  Loyola  ever  anxiety  or 
fear  ?  Never  even  as  regards  kings  and  emperors,  and,  con- 
sequently, most  certainly  not  an  Archbishop,  even  let  him  be 
most  pious  and  God-fearing  The  first  cause  of  sad  strife 
between  Palafox  and  the  Fathers  was  to  be  found  in  the  avarice 
of  the  latter,  as  they  gave  themselves  immense  trouble  to  secure 
for  their  colleges,  by  crooked  ways,  or  even  by  force,  certain 
tithes  legally  belonging  to  the  Cathedral  of  Mexico,  and  thereby 
compelled  the  Archbishop  to  make  a  complaint  against  them 
to  the  Royal  Government.  This  enraged  the  Jesuits,  and  they 
became  all  the  more  furious  when  the  Archbishop  gained  his 
case  against  them  in  every  instance.  They  consequently  sought 
to  revenge  themselves  on  him,  and,  with  this  end,  made  use  of 
every  opportunity  that  presented  itself  The  best  way,  however, 
to  make  him  feel  their  resentment,  they  thought,  was  to  ignore 
his  jurisdiction,  and,  as  regarded  themselves,  they  acted  just  as  if 
he  had  no  existence  in  the  world. 

Now  it  happened  to  be  a  law,  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
that  no  one  dare  exercise  the  office  of  a  priest  in  any  diocese 
without  the  approval  of  the  respective  Bishops,  and  the  Council 
of  Trent  especially  ordered  that  all  monkish  ecclesiastics, 
without  exception,  if  they  vrished  to  preach  or  hear  confessions 
anywhere,  should  previously  produce  their  authority  at  thq 
Bishop's  See.  When,  then,  the  sons  of  Loyola  wished  to  per- 
form priestly  functions  in  the  diocese  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Mexico,  it  was  required  that  they  should  either  make  the  neces- 
sary declaration  to  the  latter  in  person,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  his 
Vicar- General,  and  deliver  over  their  authorisation  ;  and  if  they 
did  not  do  so,  then  the  Archbishop  was  entitled  to  prohibit  them 
from  all  ecclesiastical  functions  until  further  orders. 

Such  was  the  law  of  the  Church,  and  so  must  it  continue 
if  the  greatest  disorders  were  to  be  prevented ;  as,  otT:prwise, 
any  incompetent  person  might  ascend  the  pulpit  and  enter 
the  confessional,  and  thus  bring  the  priesthood  into  disrepute, 


What  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  do  now  ?  They  arrogated  the 
priesthood  to  themselves  throughout  the  whole  of  Mexico,  with- 
out ever  producing  any  credentials,  precisely  as  if  the  before-said 
law  had  no  application  to  them  ! 

With  the  view  of  checking  this  misconduct,  the  Archiepiscopal 
Vicar-General  called  upon  them,  on  the  6th  of  March  1647,  to 
prove  their  documents  of  authorisation,  and,  until  this  was 
done,  to  desist  from  preaching  and  hearing  confessions.  There- 
.  upon  the  Jesuits  replied  that  they  had  liberty  from  the  Pope 
to  enable  them  to  exercise  their  priestly  functions  all  over  the 
.world  without  being  first  of  all  obliged  to  obtain  the  permission 
of  the  respective  Bishops.  **  Good,"  said  now  the  Vicar-General, 
"show  me  your  document  of  privilege,  and  I  will  then  leave 
you  unmolested."  But  the  Fathers  did  not  comply  with  this, 
but  intimated  that  they  were  in  possession  of  also  a  further 
privilege,  which  dispensed  them  from  showing  the  first  one ! 

This  was  open  derision  of  the  Archiepiscopal  authority,  and  it 
was,  indeed,  setting  it  completely  at  defiance,  for  the  Fathers 
still  continued  boldly  to  act  as  father  confessors  and  preachers, 
&c.  &c.  Palafox,  therefore,  determined  to  make  an  example  for 
the  protection  of  his  authority  against  such  shameless  dis- 
obedience ;  so  he  interdicted  the  Jesuits,  under  the  penalty  of 
the  great  excommunication,  from  any  ecclesiastical  function 
whatever,  and  at  the  same  time  prohibited  all  Christians  in  his 
diocese  from  confessing  to  them  or  attending  their  preachings. 

Most  assuredly  the  Archbishop  was  perfectly  right,  and,  had 
the  Jesuits  been  true  sons  of  the  Church,  as  they  boasted,  they 
would  at  once  have  promptly  submitted  to  his  Order.  However, 
they  did  not  contemplate  for  a  single  moment  acting  thus,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  were  seized  with  boundless  rage,  and  they 
determined,  under  all  circumstances,  to  humiliate  their  antagonist. 
Now  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  who  at  that  time  governed  the 
country  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  was  a  particular 
supporter  of  theirs,  and  they  at  once  greatly  increased  this 
friendship  by  a  considerable  present ;  they,  therefore,  well  believed 
that  they  might  dare  to  hope  that  he  would,  if  necessary,  assist 
them  by  an  illegal  act.  They  accordingly  addressed  themselves 
to  him,  and  delivered  a  long  drawn-up  complaint,  from  which  it 
was  made  to  appear  how  very  much  Palafox  had  transgressed 
against  the  most  holy  Order  of  Jesus.     The  Viceroy  thereupon 

n,  2 


18 


mSTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


decided  that  they  were  in  the  right,  and  ordered  the  Bishops,  hy 
the  withdrawal  of  this  threat  of  excommunication,  to  allow  the 
Jesuits  to  carry  on  undisturbed  their  preaching  and  hearing  of 
confessions.  The  Archbishop,  of  course,  protested  against  this 
as  an  illegal  order,  and  represented  to  the  Viceroy  how,  hy  such 
a  proceeding,  the  whole  hierarchical  authority  in  the  Church 
would  he  upset.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  representative  of 
the  Spanish  monarch  became  somewhat  startled ;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  be  very  nearly  rescinded  his  preceding  order. 

But  now  the  sons  of  Lovola  caused  the  last  mine  to  be  ex- 
ploded.  Suddenly  they  made  bold  to  execute  on  their  side., 
excommunication  against  the  Archbishop,  along  with  his  Vicar- 
General,  and  all  his  officials,  and  publicly  proclaimed  by  kettle- 
drum and  sound  of  trumpet  throughout  all  the  streets  of  the 
city  of  Mexico  this  sentence  of  excommunication,  which 
abounded  with  the  grossest  slanders,  calumnies,  and  infamous 
statements } 

"  Whoever,  be  his  condition  whatever  it  may," — this  sentence 
thus  ran — "  still  listened  or  adhered,  from  this  moment  forward, 
to  the  Archbishop  and  his  officials,  would  render  himself 
guilty  of  rebellion,  and,  in  this  case,  would  be  punished,  if 
in  the  higher  ranks,  by  a  fine  of  2,000  ducats,  or  if  poor  by 
four  years'  hard  labour ;  if  in  the  lower  ranks,  however,  with 
two  hundred  lashes  and  four  years  of  slavery  in  the  mines/* 

It  is  to  be  seen  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  adopted   no   half 

measures,  and  it  now  became  a  question  whether  the  Viceroy 

would   support   their   audacious  proceedings   with   his  secular 

authority,  as  otherwise  they  would  be  powerless.    But  they  knew 

their  man,  and  had  him  too  much  in  their  grasp  not  to  be  perfectly 

certain  of  him.     His  peremptory  order,  therefore,  confirmed  the 

Jesuit  decree,  and  the  military  were  instructed  to   give  requisite 

expression  to  the  violent  measures  of  the  sons  of  Loyola.  • . 

What  was,  now,  poor  Palafox  to  do  ?     Should  he  yield,  or 

oppose  force  by  force  ?     He  might,  indeed,  well  adopt  the  latter 

course,  as  the  people  were  entirely  on  his  side,  and  it  was  only 

requisite  for  him  to  give  a  hint  in  order  to   arouse  to  arms  all 

Mexico  against  the  Jesuits  and  their  Vice-regal  creature ;  but  his 

soul  shuddered  from  the  shedding  of  blood,  and,  consequently, 

he  preferred  making  his  escape  secretly  from  tbe  city  in  order  to 

find  some  place  of  refuge  among  the  mountains,  until  he  might 


CONFLIOT  WITH  CATHOLIC  ECCLESIASTICS. 


19 


obtain  justice  from  the  Courts  of  Kome  and  Madrid,  to  which 
he  had  at  once  complained. 

"  I  fly,"  wrote  he  himself  to  Pope  Innocent  X.,  "  into  the 
mountains,  and  seek  in  the  society  of  serpents  and  scorpions 
that  security  which  is  denied  to  me  so  perseveringly  by  the 
implacable  Society  of  Jesus.  After  wandering  for  twenty  days 
with  the  greatest  danger  to  life,  and  with  such  a  pressing  want 
of  food  that  I  had  frequently  nothing  for  nourishment  but 
my  tears,  J  finally  found  a  small  hut,  with  whose  poor  in- 
habitants I  have  concealed  myself  during  four  months.** 

Now  were  the  Jesuits  masters  of  Mexico,  and  they  played 
the  part  of  lords  with  a  despotism  which  has  seldom  been  exer- 
cised by  any  usurper.  Everything  must  yield  to  their  caprice, 
and  whoever  dared  in  the  slightest  to  blame  their  proceedings 
might  expect  banishment  and  imprisonment,  if  not,  indeed,  the 
scaffold.  No  one  saw  any  other  means  of  escape  except  by 
adhesion  to  their  faction,  and  thus  they  managed  that  the 
Chapter  of  the  Cathedral  declared  the  Archiepiscopal  See  to  be 
vacant.  Against  this  the  Vicar-General  of  the  fugitive  Palafox 
certainly  remonstrated,  as  also  some  other  of  hi«  adherents,  but 
they  were-  so  firmly  secured  in  prison  that  their  voices  could  no 
longer  be  heard.  In  short,  everything  was  done  that  could  be 
thought  of  to  smother  the  voice  of  justice,  and  to  this  was  added 
a  still  more  abominable  and  cruel  insult  such  as  the  devil  himself 
could  scarcely  have  devised.*  It  had  now  come  to  this,  that  a 
new  Archbishop  was  on  the  point  of  being  nominated,  thereby 
putting  a  crown  on  the  conduct  of  the  Jesuits,  when  all  at  once 
a  royal  fleet  made  its  appearance  in  the  harbour  of  Veracruz, . 
from  Spain,  bringing  commissaries,  who  at  once  came  into  the 
city  of  Mexico,  accompanied  with  several  officers  of  high  rank. 

What  was  it  that  brought  these  three  commissaries  ?  Nothing 
else  than  the  deposition  of  the  then  Viceroy  and  the  transfer 
of  his  appointment  to  the  Bishop  of  Yukatan— nothing  else 
than  an  order  to  reinstate  at  once  the  Archbishop  Palafox  with 
all  honour  in  his  bishopric,  and  strictly  to  carry  into  effect  his 
orders  previously  issued  against  the  Jesuits. 

*  The  scholars  of  the  Jesuits  formed  a  public  procession  calculated  to 
degrade  the  dignity  of  the  Archbishop,  and  led  a  mangy  horse  through 
the  streets,  to  whose  tail  the  Bishop's  bonnet  and  staff  were  tied.  They 
also  sang  the  most  shameful  ditties,  in  which  Palafox  figured  as  a  heretic, 
and  a  blessing  of  the  people  in  his  name  was  bellowed  through  a  coVq 
bom, 

a  ♦ 


20 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS, 


Not  long  after  this,  a  Papal  brief  arrived  in  Mexico,  which 
blamed  the  sons  of  Loyola  even  more  severely  than  that  of  the 
King,  and  imposed  silence  upon  them  as  to  this  matter  for  ever 
afterwards— a  brief  which  contained  at  the  same  time  the  greatest 
praises  of  Palafox,  and  esteemed  him  as  a  martyr  of  the  true 

Church. 

For  this  time,  then,  the  right  cause  obtained  the  victory,  and 
the  Jesuits  never  again  succeeded  in  causing  the  revocation  of 
the  royal  or  Papal  orders,  much  as  was  the  trouble  they  gave 
themselves  with  this  object.     But  how  little  had  it  come  short  of 
their  violent  despotism  being  triumphant  ?     Tn  any  case,  more- 
over, they  showed  by  this  procedure,  exactly  as  was  previously 
described,  that  their  most  earnest  endeavour  was  to  hunt  every- 
one to  death  who   dared  to   oppose   them,    as   also  that   they 
shrunk  from  no  means,   even  the  most  wicked  that  could  be 
devised,  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose.    Even  yet  more 
than  by  these  contentions  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  injure  them- 
selves, through  their  long-enduring  strife  with  the  theological 
faculty  of  Paris,  the  so-called  Sorbonne,*  as  the  decisions  of  this 
celebrated  institution  were  held  in  such  esteem,  not  alone  in 
Paris,  but  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Christian  worid,  that  they 
were  frequently  regarded  more  as  divine  oracles  than  the  views 

of  fallible  men. 

The  so-called  Sorbonne,  however,  that  is,  the  whole  doctors 
and  professors  of  theology  of  the  University  of  Paris,  when  called 
upon  by  the  Government  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  whether 
the  Society  of  Jesus  should  be  permitted  or  not  in  France, 
pronounced,  in  the  first  week  of  Christmas  1554,  the  following 

judgment : — 

"This  Society  (namely,  the  Society  of  Jesus)  which  arrogates 
to  itself  in  an  unseemly  manner  the  name  of  Jesus — which  has 
for  a  principle  to  admit  into  its  midst  even  punishable,  dis- 
honourable, and  infamous  men,  so  long  as  they  might  be 
employed  usefully  for  the  fraternity— whose  members  are  dis- 

*  In  the  year  1250  Robert  de  Sorbonne,  in  Champagne,  chaplain  of  Louis 
the  Holy,  founded  an  educational  establishment  ät  the  University  of  Paris 
for  young  secular  ecclesiastics,  which  was  named  after  him  "  Sorbonne," 
and  as  this  institution,  at  which  only  theological  professors  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  taught,  soon  acquired  a  great  reputation,  the  name  of  Sorbonne 
was  very  soon  transferred  to  the  entire  theological  Faculty  of  Paris.  Thus 
it  remained  up  to  the  times  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  Sorbonne  constituted 
the  united  tribunal  of  the  Parisian  doctors  of  theology,  which  was  long 
regarded  as  the  most  learned  in  the  world. 


CONFLICT   WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 


21 


tinguished  neither  by  their  habits,  their  worship  of  God,  nor 
in  their  mode  of  life,  from  secular  clergymen, — which  has  been 
endowed  by  the  Holy  See  with  so  many  different  privileges, 
indulgences,  and  liberties  in  relation  to  preaching  and  teaching, 
as  also  in  regard  to  the  administration  of  the  .sacrament,  against 
the  rights  of  bishops,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  all  the  other 
Orders,  quite  contrary  to  hierarchical  order,  and  to  the  injury  of 
secular  princes  and  rulers,  finally  to  the  great  detriment  of  the 
liberties  of  universities,  and  to  the  uncommon  inconvenience  of 
the  people, — this  Society  disgraces  the  monkish  Orders,  weakens 
the  laborious,  pious,  and  necessary  exercise  of  virtue  in  the 
cloisters,  permits  the  members  of  other  Orders  to  desecrate  their 
vows,  releases  the  laity  from  the  obedience  due  to,  and  the  sub- 
mission prescribed  for  their  regular  spiritual  advisers,  robs  secular 
and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  their  rights,  and  gives  rise  to 
disturbances  in  both  directions,  occasioning  as  well  much  trouble, 
strife,  divisions,  and  other  discords  among  the  people.  When, 
in  a  word,  one  would  sum  up  everything,  it  appears  that  this 
Society  is  fitted  to  endanger  the  Faith,  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
of  the  Church,  to  extinguish  the  monkhood,  and  is  especially 
calculated  to  pull  down  rather  than  to  build  up.*' 

Such  was  the  judgment  of  the  Sorbonne  in  the  year  1554,  at 
a  time  when  the  Society  of  Jesus  first  of  all  commenced  to 
exercise  their  activity  ;  and  one  may  well  imagine  what  influence 
this  judgment  exercised  upon  the  French,  at  least  on  the  more 
cultivated  amongst  them.  It  is  also  remarkable  that  the  said 
most  learned  theological  faculty,  from  which  emanated  those 
views  and  principles,  never  in  the  least  again  departed  from  them, 
even  after  the  whole  of  the  French  Court,  not  excluding  the 
heads  of  it,  even  as  high  as  the  all-powerful  Kings,  became  in 
the  fullest  degree  favourable  to  Jesuitism,  and  the  said  doctors 
of  theology  of  Paris  might  have  derived  great  advantages  there- 
from if  they  could  have  accommodated  themselves  to  the  views 
of  the  Court.  I  said  it  was  remarkable,  and  I  believe  I  may 
repeat  this  with  ail  the  more  justification,  as  the  theologians  of 
the  Sorbonne  pronounced  that  severe  judgment  by  no  means 
from  a  greater  religious  liberality  and  free-mindedness.  On  the 
contrary,  there  was  no  one  in  France  who  was  more  zealous  in 
combating  the  Reformation  than  were  the  Sorbonne  and  most 
of  its  members,   as,  for  example,   Drs.   Maillard,  Demochare, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   JESUITS, 


Perior,  and  Oeri,  distinguished  themselves  for  their  truly  inhuman 
hatred  of  the  heresy.  Now,  if  this  judgment  on  the  Jesuits  was 
a -severe  one,  the  oelebrated  Stephen  Pasquier  went  even  still 
farther,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  astonishment,  to  see  how  profoundly 
and  radicÄlly  he  knew  how  to  anatomise  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
Moreover,  it  was  not  simply  on  his  own  account  that  Pasquier 
handled  the  matter  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  hut  as  repre- 
sentative of  the  Sorbonne,  and  thus  his  words  are  to  be 
regarded  as  those  of  the  College.  But,  it  may  be  asked,  why 
was  it  that  the  Sorbonne  required  an  advocate  in  Parliament  ? 
Simply  for  this  reason,  that  it  had  a  law-suit  with  the  Jesuits, 
and  truly  a  most  determined  one.  v  • 

Hardly  had  the  sons  of  Loyola,  in  apite  of  the  opposition 
of  the  University  of  Paris,  obtained  permission,  under  certain 
conditions,  which,  however,  were  certainly  very  stringent  ones, 
to  establish  themselves  in  Paris,  than  they  at  once  infringed 
these  conditions  in  the  grossest  manner,  and  finally  demanded 
for  their  college  in  the  Eue  Jacob  similar  rights  and  privileges 
to  those  possessed  by  the  SoAonne.  .Against  this,  however,  the 
entire  University  of  Paris  remonstrated  as  one  man,  and  demanded 
the  relegation  of  the  "arrogant  Fathers  within  the  bounds  of 
order.  The  University  was  perfectly  right,  and  almost  all  Paris, 
and,  indeed,  almost  all  France,  stood  by  it.  The  Court,  how- 
ever, was  against  it.  Now,  the  sons  of  Loyok  well  understood 
how  to  win  over  to  their  side  •&  depraved  Court,  «s  that  of  France 
was  in  the  1 6th,  17th,  and  18th  centuries,  find  a  most  depraved 
one  it  was.  They  only  too  effectually  influenced  the  Court,  aaad 
obtained  from  it  the  favour  of  bringing  their  affiair  with  the 
University  before  the  highest  law  tribunal  of  the  country,  namely 
"before  the  Parliament  of  Paris. 

It  would,  nevertheless,  have  been  better  for  them  had  they  not 
obtained  this  favour,  «s  Etienne  Pasquier,  the  «dvaoate  of  the 
Sorbonne,  told  them  truths  which  they  had  never  heard  before, 
and  die  w'hole  enlightened  world  accorded  to  hkn  their  applause. 
Before  everything,  he  laid  bare  the  i^irit  of  the  Order  of  Jesus, 
and  proved,  by  irresistible  -arguments,  that  its  members  knew 
how  to  blind  the  world  through  its  sophistries,  as  well  as  by 
degrees  to  exhibit  their  four  ill-famed  vows  in  quite  a  different 
light  from  what  they  appeared,  whenever  it  was  requisite  for 
them  to  do  so. 


CONFLICT  WITH  CATHOLIO  EOOLESUBTIOS. 


23 


"  Their  whole  system  depends,"  said  he,  "  on  duplicity  '* ; 
and  this  duplicity  was  so  dangerous  to  the  quiet  and  security  of 
the  State,  that  he,  Pasquier,  maintained  a  firm  conviction  that 
the  tendency  of  this  sect  had  no  other  object  than  to  bring 
about  a  complete  disunion  amongst  all  classes.  "  Wherever  the 
Jesuits  are  tolerated,"  he  exclaimed,  '*  there  no  prince  and  ruler 
can  place  himself  in  security  against  their  attacks  ;  there  is  sure 
to  be  a  rupture  in  the  peace  of  the  Church.^'  He  proved  that 
it  impoverished  whole  families  by  its  absorption  of  their  pro- 
perty; that  it  destroyed  numbers  of  young  people  by  an 
education  which  was  merely  apparent  and  superficial ;  that  by 
its  deceptive  teaching  it  had  sown  the  seeds  of  rebellion  and  dis- 
loyalty throughout  the  whole  of  France.  Lastly,  he  addressed 
himself  to  Parliament  in  the  following  words  :  '*  You,  if  you  are 
at  all  inclined  to  tolerate  the  Jesuits  in  any  way,  will  too  late 
repent  your  credulity,  and  posterity  will  condemn  you  for  it,  as 
the  literal  proof  is  even  now  apparent,  and  will  develop  itself 
still  more  clearly  in  future  times ;  the  matter-of-fact  evidence  is, 
that  it  will  disturb  the  public  peace,  not  merely  of  this  kingdom, 
but  of  the  whole  world  also,  by  artifice,  deceit,  superstition, 
hypocrisy,  and  malicious  tricks." 

Thus  spoke  Etienne  Pasquier,  and  can  anyone  now  entertain 
a  doubt  that  it  would  have  been  much  more  to  their  advantage 
had  the  sons  of  Loyola  refrained  from  strife  with  the  Sorbonne  ? 
They  injured  themselves,  however,  far  more  by  that  other  wrangle 
which,  under  the  name  of  "  the  Jansenist  dispute,"  obtained  in 
a  measure  a  world-wide  fame,  as  through  it  they  made  for  them- 
selves not  merely  thousands  but  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
deadly  enemies;  and  by  it  the  entire  Catholic  clergy  of  the 
world  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  one  must  either  think  and 
teach  as  the  Jesuits,  or  else  be  treated  by  the  sons  of  Loyola 
as  an  apostate  from  the  Catholic  religion !  As  regards  this 
strife  with  Jansenism,  the  case  stood  as  follows. 

ßegarding  the  doctrine  of  predestination  as  well  as  of  grace 
and  the  free-will  of  man  there  had  ever  existed,  from  the 
establishment  of  Christianity,  a  diflerence  of  opinion  among 
theologians,  and  the  great  teachers  of  the  Church,  Augustine  and 
Pelagius,  were  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other  on  these  three 
questions.  Who  was  in  the  right  i  know  not,  and,  at  all  events, 
it  does  not  appertain  to  speak   of  the  matter  here.      ThiSi 


M 


HISTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


CONFLICT  WITH   CATHOLIC  ECCLESLiSTIOS. 


25 


however,  was  a  fact,  that  the  teaching  of  Augustine  was  declared, 
by   far  the   greater  majority  of  theologians,   to   be    the  only 
orthodox  and  correct  doctrine ;  while  the  Pelagians,  and,  indeed, 
the  semi-Pelagians,  who   thought  partly  with   Augustine,  and 
partly   with   Pelagius,  were  condemned  as  heretics  by  all  the 
Synods  of  the  5th  and  6th  centuries.     Thus  Pelagianism  and 
semi-Pel  agianism  disappeared  almost  entirely  out  of  the  world, 
and  no  one  thought  more  about  the  matter  until  it  pleased  the 
Jesuits  Leonhard  Less,  Johann   Hammel,   Benedict  Fonseca, 
Ludwig   Molina,    and   others,    to   broach    principles  in   their 
theological  works,  and  from   the   professorial  chairs  in   their 
colleges,   which    savoured    completely   and    entirely   of    semi- 
Pelagianism.      Especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  celebrated 
work  of  Molina,  a  Portuguese  Jesuit,  which,  under  the  title  of 
Concordia  Bivina  Gratia  et  Liberi  Ärbitrii  (the  Harmony  of 
Divine  Grace  and  Free-will),  appeared  in  the  year  1588,  and  the 
Dominicans,  as  zealous  adherents  to  Augustine  orthodoxy,  did 
not  fail,    of  course,  to    put  in    the  pillory,    quite  relentlessly, 
the  semi-Pelagian  heresy  contained  therein.     Forthwith  there 
arose  a  violent  strife,  and  there  appeared,  for  and  against,  an 
innumerable  quantity   of  party-writings,  as  the  whole   of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  to  a  man  took  the  part  of  Molina,  while  several 
Univeirsities,  especially  those  of  Louvaine  and  Douai,  as  well  as 
a  large  number  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  not  to  speak  of  the 
inferior  clergy,  fought  on  the  side  of  the  Dominicans.     Even  . 
the  Inquisition  mixed  itself  up  in  the  matter,  and  was  nearly 
committing  to  the  flames  the  book  of  Molina  together  with  its 
author.      The   Jesuit    General,   Aquaviva,    now   succeeded  in 
persuading  the  Pope,  Clement  VIJL,  just  at  tbe  right  time,  to 
bring  the  whole  strife  before  his  Forum,  and  to  prohibit  the 
Dominicans  from  taking  any  further  individual  action  in  the 
matter,    as  in  such  a  weighty  affair  the  Holy  See  had  alone 
the  right  of  decision.     The  Pope  then  issued  his  mandate,  and 
both  parties  hastened  to  forward  to  Bome  the  acts  and  docu- 
ments which  were  in  their  possession,  especially  the  arbitraments 
of  the  universities  and  bishops  which  were  favourable  to  them. 
Clement  VIII.  now  nominated  a  commission  of  investigation, 
which,    under   the   title   of    Congregatio   de   Auxiliis    Divincß 
Gratia,  held  its  first  sitting  on  the  /?.nd  of  January  1598.     The 
cause,  therefore,  proceeded  precisely  as  in  a  secular  Court  of 


Justice,  and  both  parties  were  represented  by  their  counsel ;  the 
Dominicans  by  the  learned  brethren  Alvarez  and  Lemoz,  and 
the  Jesuits  by  the  Fathers  Bellarmin,  Arrubal,  and  Valentia ; 
and,  of  course,  both  parties  neglected  no  opportunity,  the  former 
as  well  as  the  latter,  in  working  Upon  the  judges,  even  through 
the  influence  of  foreign  princes;  as,  for  instance,  the  services  of 
the  bigoted  Jesuitly-inclined  Empress  Maria  Theresa  (spouse  of 
Rudolph  II.),  as  also  of  her  similarly-minded  son,  the  Archduke 
Albert,  were  appealed  to.  But  it  happened  that  the  Commission, 
on  account  of  these  many  intrigues,  were  not  able  to  come 
quickly  to  any  decision,  as  from  the  year  1598  to  the  year  1605 
not  fewer  than  sixty-seven  sittings  were  held ;  and  although  the 
President  and  Chairman,  Cardinal  Madruzius,  at  the  urgent 
request  of  Clement  VIII.,  worked  untiringly  to  bring  the  case 
to  a  conclusion,  the  said  Pope  had  to  take  his  departure  from 
this  world  without  his  being  able  to  pronounce  judgment  against 
Molina,  as  he  secretly  wished  to  do,  although  he  took  good  care 
not  to  let  it  be  publicly  known  that  such  was  his  desire.  Also 
Paul  v.,  his  successor,  although  he  sat  for  nearly  sixteen  years 
upon  the  Papal  throne,  from  1605  to  1621,  and  presided  himself 
for  the  most  part  at  the  many  sittings  of  the  Congregation,  did 
not  outlive  the  termination  of  the  strife,  and  neither  did  Gregory 
XV.  It  was  perceived  at  the  time,  both  by  the  College  of 
Cardinals,  as  well  as  on  the  part  of  the  Pope,  that  it  was  much 
wiser  to  keep  a  dead  silence  about  the  whole  of  the  vexatious 
matter,  which  had  actually  no  practical  value,  than  by  a  decision 
either  to  offend  the  Jesuits  and  their  adherents,  or  the  Domini- 
cans and  their  allies;  so  the  affair  was  allowed  to  remain  in 
abeyance  in  the  hope  that  it  might  be  forgotten  by  the  world. 
Such  would,  indeed,  without  doubt,  have  happened,  and, 
indeed,  really  did  occur  for  more  than  forty  years  from  the 
holding  of  the  first  sitting  of  the  Congregation,  when  a  book* 
appeared,  in  1640,  which  at  once  renewed  the  strife,  and,  more 
over,  brought  it  to  such  a  height  as  could  not  previously  have 
been  conceived.  This  book  was  entitled  Augustinus  sen 
Doctrina  de  Humana  Natura,  Sanitate,  Mgritudine  et  Medi- 
cina,  adversus  Pelagianos  et  Massilienses  (Augustine  on  the 
doctrine  of  health,  disease,  and  the  cure  of  human  nature,  as 
regards  the  Pelagians  and  semi-Pelagians,  called  Marseillaise). 
The  author  was  Cornelius  Jansen,  who  died  Bishop  of  Ypern  in 


\i 


26 


HISTORY  OP  THE   JESUITS* 


GONFLIOT   WITH   CATHOLIC   ECCLESIASTICS. 


27 


the  Netherlands,  in  the  year    1 638.     There  was  a  very  great 
amount  of  learning  put^into  the  work,  as  Jansen*  had  laboured 
at  it  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  it  contained  extracts  from 
the  thirteen  folios  of  Augustine,  together  with  some  from  the 
writings  of  Bajus  and   other  teachers  of  the  Church ;  but  as 
it  contained  so  much  learned  rubbish,  and  also  because,  when  it 
came  to  be  printed  by  the  friends  of  the  deceased  bishop,  in  the 
year  1640  at  Louvain,  and  the  year  following  in  Paris,  it  had 
become  an  immensely  thick  folio  volume,  but  very  few  would 
have   given   themselves   the   trouble   to   read   it  if  people  had 
been  so  prudent  as  to  have  maintained  silence  about  it.     Yes, 
truly,  the  book  would  have  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh,  just  as 
many  folios  before  and    after  it,  and  the    lay  world,  as  even 
the   greatest  part   of  the   ecclesiasticaJ  fraternity,  would   have 
heard  but  little  about  it,  if  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  possessed 
a  little  less  poison  in  their  nature.      But  scarcely  ^had  they 
discovered  that  the  Molinists  had  met  with  little  mercy  in  the 
book,  than  they  regularly  began  to  cast  forth  fire  and  flanaes ; 
and  their  General,  Vitelleschi,  gave  himself  no  rest  until  he  had 
worked  up  Pope  Urban  VIII.  to  such  a  pitch  that  he  induced 
His  Hohness  to  condemn  the  work  of  Jansen  as  heretical,  by  a 
special  Bull,  emitted  in  the  year  1643,  called,  from  the  words  by 
which  it  commences,  "  In  erninenti"   The  Pope  did  this  without 
even  having  read  the  work  !     He  trusted  to  the  assurances  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  he  flattered  himself  in  being  able  to  decide  as 
supreme  arbitrator  in  matters  of  faith.     Amazed,  however,  the 
friends  of  the  deceased  Jansen  asked  in  the  public  journals  what 
was  heretical  about  the  book,  and  a  number  of  learned  theo- 
logians were  induced  thereby  to  look  into  the  contents  of  the 
work  more  minutely.    There  then  arose  opponents  and  adlierents 
of  Jansen,  and  among  the  latter,  who  now  called  themselves 
'  Jansenists,   were    men   like    Anthony  Arnauld,  Blfdse    Pascal, 
Pierre  Nicole,  and  Nicholas  Perrault,  whose  names  shone  as 
stars  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  firmament  of  letters.     More- 
over,  a  number  of  bishops  and  university  doctors,  with  other 
ecclesiastics  of   eminence,  ranged  themselves   on  the   side   of 
the  Jansenist-Augustine  party,  and  a  particular  pattern  cloister* 

*  Jansen,  bom  in  Holland  in  the  year  1585  in  a  small  village  near  Leer-, 
dam,  studied  theology  in  Utrecht,  Louvain,  and  Paris.  He  was  advanced 
to  be  professor  of  theology,  and  obtained  the  bishopric  of  Ypem  in  1636. 


school  was  established  close  to  the  celebrated  Cistercian  nun- 
nery, under  the  patronage  of  the  Abbot  of  St.  Cyran,  Jean  de 
Vergier  du  Havranne,  in  Port-Royal  dee  Champs,  in  order  to 
oppose  the  dissolute  Jesuitism,  and  set  up  a  purer  morality,  as 
well  as  a  more  solid  and  learned  education. 

In  short,  through  the  Condemnation  Bull  *'  In  eminentiP  as 
well  as  the  immeasurably  violent  polemic  of  the  Jesuits  against 
the  work,  Jansenism  was,  properly  speaking,  called  into  existence, 
and  it  won,  as  well  throughout  the  Netherlands  as  in  France, 
an  increasingly  powerful  number  of  adherents  in  each  succeed- 
ing year ;  and  the  conclusion  cannot  be  avoided  that  nobility  of 
thought  and  a  truly  Christian  spirit  were  much  better  repre- 
sented in  it  than  in  the  Jesuitical  Molinism.  This  stimulated 
the  sons  of  Loyola  all  the  more  to  get  the  power  into  their  own 
hands,  in  order  to  subdue  their  opponents  by  violent  measures ; 
and  this,  in  the  course  of  time,  they  but  too  well  succeeded  in 
doing.  It  is,  of  course,  not  my  intention  to  describe  all  the 
details  of  the  war  between  thesjs  two  parties,  which  lasted  up 
to  the  year  .17 ÜB  in  Fiance,  and  in  the  Netherlands  even  up 
to  modern  times,  a.s  in  that  case  my  work  would  become  as 
thick  a  folio  as  that  of  "Augustinus";  but  I  cannot  refrain 
from  giving  a  slight  outline  of  the  contention^  and,  indeed,  on 
this  account,  because  the  sons  of  Loyola  fought,  forsooth,  with 
weapons  which  could  not  be  called  either  honourable,  knightly, 
or  mAuly. 

Li  the  first  place,  they  extracted  ^iQ  propositions  out  of 
"  Augustinus,"  which,  when  read  withoat  connection  with  the 
context,  acquired  a  Calvinistic  colouring,  and,  in  the  year  1653, 
they  thereupon  moved  Pope  Innocent  X.,  the  successor  of 
urban  VIIL,  to  condemn  these  five  propositions.  As  they  had 
gone  so  far,  they  now  urged  Cardinal  Mazarin  to  carry  out 
with  force  the  Papal  Bull  of  Condemnation,  and  seeing  that  at 
that  time  the  all-powerful  Minister  of  France  was  an  obsequious 
adherent  of  Home,  they  had  but  a  too  easy  game  to  play.  This 
oppressive  meastire,  however,  did  not  succeed  in  silencing  the 
Jansenists,  but  they  proved,  on  the  contrary,  that  these  five 
propositions  did  not  stand  in  "  Augustinus "  in  the  way  the 
Jesuits  had  represented ;  and  they  declared  "  that  these  five  pro- 
positions had  quite  a  diflerent  sense  when  taken  in  connection 
with  the  context,  and  that  the  Pope  had  condemned  something 


\ 


■.*.  ?Vr ■-*■'■   f  '.  ■» 


28 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


mth  the  nature  of  which  he  had  not  previously  made  himself 
acquainted/' 

This  did  not  please  the  Papal  See,  and  Innocent's  successor, 
Alexander  VII.,  in  the  year*  16Ö6,  emitted  a  new  Bull,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  wherein  he  ordained  that 
every  Catholic  Christian  must  believe,  at  the  peril  of  his  soul, 
that  the  five  propositions  had  been  rightly  condemned.  **  Non- 
sense/' rejoined  thereupon  the  leader  of  the  Jansenists,  "  the 
Pope  cannot  condemn  a  thing  that  has  no  existence  at  all/* 
'*  Yes,  indeed,  he  can,"  exclaimed  the  Jesuits,  "  and  if  he  were 
even  to  order  us  to  deny  Jesu?  Christ  we  are  bound  to  obey  him, 
as  he  is  all-powerful  and  infallible  in  matters  of  belief,  and  he 
is  responsible  for  this  order,  and  not  we." 

Thus  the  strife  waxed  continually  warmer  and  warmer,  and 
there  was  really  some  danger  that  a  conflagration  might  arise 
which  would  consume  the  whole*  of  France.  On  this  account. 
Pope  Clement  IX.,  who  succeeded  to  the  tiara  in  1667,  was 
induced,  in  conjunction  with  the  then  ruler  of  France,  to  give 
peace  to  the  land,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  year  1668,  their  exertions 
were  crowned  with  success  in  bringing  about  a  compromise 
between  the  two  contending  parties.  It  consisted  in  this,  that  the 
leaders  of  the  Jansenists  should  declare  that  the  five  notorious 
propositions  were  indeed  damnable,  and  were  rightly  condemned, 
but  that  they  did  not  appertain  to  Cornelius  Jansen,  and  did 
not  stand  in  '*  Augustinus  "  in  that  sense.  With  this  explana- 
tion the  Jesuits  had  to  be  satisfied,  and  the  Jansenists  obtained 
peace  to  a  certain  extent. 

But  how  long  did  it  last?  Commencing  in  the  year  1671, 
the  celebrated  theologian  Paschasius  Quesnel,  of  the  Order  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  Oratorium,  published  gradually,  that  is  to 
say,  in  parts,  the  New  Testament  in  the  French  lauguage,  accom- 
panied with  moral  reflections;  and  this  work,  which  was  com- 
pleted in  the  year  1683,  was  greeted  by  all  believers  in  France 
with  much  enthusiasm,  on  account  of  its  edifying  contents. 
Also,  even  many  spiritual  guides  highly  recommended  it  to  their 
confessing  children,  as,  for  instance.  Benignus  Bossuet,  Almoner 
of  the  Dauphin  and  Bishop  of  Meaux,  and  also  Louis  Anton 
Koailles,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Paris,  as  well  as  Pierre  La 
Broue,  Bishop  of  Mirepoix,  and  many  others  besides.  The 
Sorbonne,  even,  had  nothing  but  praises  to  bestow  upon  the 


CONFLICT  WITH   CATHOLIC  ECCLBSUSTICS. 


29 


book,  and  the  same  judgment  of  it  was  pronounced  by  Pope 
Innocent  XII.,  to  whom  it  had  been  submitted.  This  New 
Testament,  however,  appeared  in  quite  a  difFörent  light  to  the 
Jesuits,  as  they  discovered  in  it  so  many  contradictions  to  their 
doctrines  of  grace,  as  also  to  their  moral  theology,  that  they 
became  most  vehemently  incensed  against  it.  In  such  matters 
they  presumed  to  lay  claim  to  be  the  sole  true  teachers  of 
Christianity ;  was  it  not,  therefore,  deeply  insulting  to  them  to 
have  a  doctrine  of  theirs  attacked  even  remotely  ?  Certainly ; 
the  whole  body  of  theologians,  the  entire  Church,  all  that 
existed,  must  accommodate  themselves  to  the  opinions  of  the 
black-cloaked  Fathers,  or  otherwise  must  expect  nothing  else 
than  to  be  persecuted  to  death  by  them  !  Unanimously,  there- 
fore, and  with  a  true  shout  of  defiance,  did  they  fall  foul  of 
Quesnel's  book,  and  persuaded  all  bishops  who  had  hitherto 
given  adherence  to  it  to  condemn  the  latter  in  their  pastoral 
letters;  as  the  ground  for  such  condemnation,  however,  the 
Jansenist  tendency  of  it  was  given,  as  was  evident  from  a 
perusal  of  almost  any  line,  and  thus  the  Jansenist  strife  was 
re-awakened  after  it  had  been  with  difficulty  lulled  to  sleep 
hardly  two  years  before.  Yes,  indeed,  the  old  contention  awoke 
agdn,  and,  in  truth,  with  double  and  treble  vehemence,  so  that 
the  whole  of  France  was  drawn  into  the  vortex. 

This  time,  however,  the  Jesuits  no  longer  contented  them- 
selves with  the  poisonous  operation  of  invective  and  slanderous 
pamphlets,  but  they  added  thereto  the  thunderbolts  of  secular 
power,  as  Louis  XIV.,  the  ruler  of  France,  had  in  the  meantime 
become  a  weak  and  aged  hypocrite,  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
completely  governed  by  the  Jesuit  Father  Confessor  La  Chaise, 
and  by  his  equally  Jesuitically-disposed  mistress  Madame  de 
Maintenon. 

"  Down  with  the  Jansenist  heretics,"  was  the  war-whoop  of 
the  Jesuits ;  "  down  with  them,  as  well  as  with  the  Huguenots 
and  the  Calvinists ;  with  the  aid  of  the  sword  must  one  make  an 
end  of  such  people.  We  have  tried  long  enough,  now,  by  in- 
structing and  converting,  we  have  long  enough  brought  all 
peaceable  meanä  into  use,  and  long  enough  strained  every  fibre 
of  our  patience.  Now  is  the  pitcher  full  to  overflowing,  and 
there  remains  nothing  else  for  it  but  conversion  with  blood  and 
iron  if  tranquillity  and  order  is  to  be  re-established  in  the  State." 


f 


I 


« 


Ir 


80 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


Thus  shouted  the  Jesuits,  and,  as  has  heen  already  said,  they 
had  the  King— in  the  plenitude  of  his  royal  power  established, 
it  may  almost  he  said,  as  absolute  monarch  of  the  world — com- 
pletely in  their  hands ;  one  can  easily  imagine,  then,  what  now 
followed.  Everyone  was  quite  arbitrarily  proceeded  against  who 
professed  Jansenism,  or  whom  the  Order  of  Jesus  suspected  to 
be  a  Jansenist  because  he  displeased  the  Order  in  some  respect 
or  other,  and  soon  no  one  throughout  the  whole  of  France,  with 
the  exception  of  declared  adherents  of  the  Jesuit  party,  was 
any  longer  sure  of  his  liberty,  honour,  property,  or  even  of  his 
life.  Quesnel,  himself,  with  a  great  part  of  his  more  wealthy 
adherents,  fled  to  the  Netherlands,  and  thus  escaped  the  ven- 
geance of  his  furious  enemies  ;*  on  this  account,  therefore,  the 
Order  of  Jesus  expended  its  fury  on  Port  Royal,  and  actually 
carried  it  so  far  as  this,  that  this  delightful  cloister,  as  the 
nursery  and  chief  abode  of  Jansenism,  was  not  only  shut  up  by 
the  police  of  Paris,  but,  in  the  year  1709,  was  completely 
demolished  and  destroyed,  with  all  the  many  structures  belonging 
thereto.  Moreover,  all  the  prisons  of  France,  and  more  espe- 
cially the  Bastile,  were  filled  in  a  frightful  manner  with  those 
suspected  of  Jansenism,  and  whoever  was  put  into  it  might  be  * 
quite  certain  that  he  would  only  come  out  again  from  its  miser- 
able walls  as  a  corpse. 

The  whole  of  France  groaned  under  these  despotic  deeds  of 
violence,  and,  because  it  was  well  known  from  whom  these  acts 
proceeded,  so  the  day  on  which  the  wicked  Father  Confessor, 
La  Chaise,  died — it  was  the  20th  February  1709 — was  hailed  as 
an  occasion  of  universal  rejoicing.  Still  the  joy  soon  became 
changed  into  the  deepest  grief,  as,  after  the  wicked  La  Chaise 
followed  the  still  more  wicked  Le  Tellier,  who  was  even  richer 
in  evil  artifices,  and,  even  more  than  his  predecessor,  got  the 
old  repentant  sinner  called  Louis  XIV.  more  completely  in  his 
power. 

The  persecutions  of  the  Jansenists,  or,  rather,  of  all  those  who 
would  gladly  have  got  rid  of  the  Jesuits  out  of  the  way,  not  only 
still  continued,  but  were  aggravated  more  and  more,  and  again 
a  considerable  number  ,of  French  citizens  fled  into  the  neigh- 
bouring Netherlands  for  greater  safety.     In  order,  now,  to  give 

*  He  died  in  exile  at  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1710,  an  old  man  of 
geventy-six. 


ÖONPLIOT  WITH  CATHOLIC  ECCLESIASTICS. 


31 


an  appearance  of  justification  for  these  persecutions,  Le  Tellier 
begged  Pope  Clement  XL  to  appoint  a  court  of  investigation 
regarding  the  heresy  of  Quesnel,  after  the  pattern  of  the  Con- 
gregatio  de  Auxiliis,  and  His  Holiness  at  once  acceded  to  this 
request.  Indeed,  further,  he  nominated  as  judges  in  the  inves- 
tigation none  but  adherents  of  the  Jesuits,  and  appointed  Cardinal 
Fabroni,  a  bosom  friend  of  the  Society,  to  be  President  of  the 
Congregation.  But  what  put  a  crown  upon  the  affair — of  all 
these  judges  only  one  single  one  of  them  understood  the  French 
language,  and  they  had  to  read  a  work  written  in  French, 
deliver  their  judgment  upon  it,  and  condemn  it !  In  fact,  it 
was  a  colossal  comedy,  the  like  of  which  had,  indeed,  never 
before  been  acted;  but  what  did  that  signify,  if  only  the  believing 
world  could  be  deceived  ? 

The  Congregation  thus  held  its  sittings,  and  the  member 
Aubenton,  who  understood  French,  soon  brought  it  about  that 
101  propositions  of  the  Testament  of  Quesnel  were  designated 
as  dangerous,  calculated  to  give  off'ence,  and  heretical.  Truly, 
these  included  even  statements  out  of  the  Bible  itself,  as  well 
as  doctrinal  propositions  of  the  holy  Augustine  and  other 
orthodox  Fathers  of  the  Church.  This  was  done  without  the 
learned  members  of  the  Congregation  having  any  conception 
of  it,  as  they  had  not,  all  of  them,  made  much  particular  pro- 
gress in  the  study  of  the  Fathers  or  of  the  Bible — but  what  did 
that  also  signify  ?  SuflBce  it  to  say,  the  Jesuit  Jouvenci  con- 
cocted a  Bull,  in  which  the  said  101  propositions  were  solemnly 
condemned,  and,  on  the  8th  October  1713,  the  Pope  published 
the  document,  which,  according  to  the  words  by  which  it  com- 
mences, was  called  XJmgenitus. 

Now  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  an  ostensibly  justifiable  founda- 
tion for  their  Jansenist  persecution,  and  while  Louis  XIV. 
stood  firmly  by  them  with  his  regal  power,  they  hoped  to  be. 
very  quickly  rid  of  Jansenism,  and,  moreover,  of  all  their 
.  enemies  in  France.  This  hope,  too,  was  literally  fulfilled, 
although  Louis  XIV.  died  two  years  afterwards,  and  many 
French  Bishops  declined  to  accept  the  Bull  TJnigenitus,  as 
being  an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  Gallican  Church. 

As  Louis  XV.,  whom  Cardinal  Fleury  governed  completely, 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his  grandfather,  he  finally,  in  the 
year  1728,  promulgated  a  so-called    Lit  de  Justice^  the  con- 


y 


32 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


sequence  being  that  the  last  of  the  Jansenists  took  flight  to 
Utrecht  in  the  Netherlands.  In  this  manner  the  great  Jansenist 
strife  came  to  an  end,  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  could  boast  of 
having  gained  the  victory.  But  although  the  triumph  was 
physical,  it  was  in  no  respect  a  moral  conquest.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  world  learned  by  it  how  to  estimate  the  Jesuits,  and 
this  did  them  more  harm  than  if  they  had  completely  ignored 
the  Jansenist  "Augustinus."  Moreover,  Jansenism  continued  in 
full  force  in  the  Netherlands,  and  it  is  now  there  recognised  by 
not  less  than  twenty- seven  communities.  Its  adherents,  how- 
ever, do  not  call  themselves  Jansenists,  but  **  Scholars  of  the 
holy  Augustine,"  as  they  hold  strictly  by  the  teaching  of  this 
Father  of  the  Church,  and  remain  antagonists  of  Jesuitism, 


83 


CHAPTER   n. 

THE   EEPULSIVENESS   OF   THE    JESUIT    CONSTITUTIONS, 

DOCTRINE,    AND    TEACHING. 

I  HAVE  already  narrated,  in  the  First  Book  of  this  work,  in  what 
way,  on  what  principles,  and  with  what  rules  the  Order  of  Jesus 
was  constituted  ;  of  all  this,  however,  besides  the  Society  itself, 
no  one,  with  the  exception  of  the  Pope,  was  made  acquainted ; 
and  still  less  did  mankind  in  general  know  how  the  original 
statutes  and  rules  of  the  Order  had  been  further  added  to  by  the 
later  Generals.  The  sons  of  Loyola  preferred  rather  to  shroud 
themselves  in  secrecy  in  this  respect,  without  doubt,  because 
they  were  well  aware  how  superstitious  people  always  looked 
upon  secrets  with  mingled  wonder  and  awe ;  still  more,  however, 
lest  on  this  account  the  world  should  be  thrown  into  a  severe 
panic,  by  becoming  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  their  con- 
stitutions, rules,  and  principles.  Enlightened  people  very  soon 
formed  an  opinion  respecting  the  latter,  and  we  perceive,  for 
instance,  from  the  letters  of  Bishop  Palafox  to  Pope  Innocent  X., 
in  the  year  1649,  that  he  had  a  very  bad  suspicion  of  the 
Jesuits,  on  account  of  their  antipathy  to  the  enlightenment  of 
the  people. 

**  The  resolutions  and  conclusions,"  he  writes,  "  of  the 
general  assemblies  of  the  Church,  as  of  the  popes,  cardinals, 
bishops,  and  more  especially  the  clergy  in  general,  are  known  to 
the  whole  world,  and  show  that  at  no  time  whatever  has  the 
Church  shunned  the  light,  while  darkness  is  an  abomination  to 


34 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


REPULSIVENESS   OP   THEIR  TEACHING. 


35 


her.  In  like  manner  writings  are  to  be  found,  in  every  well- 
appointed  library,  respecting  the  liberties,  rules,  ordinances, 
and  principles  of  all  ecclesiastical  Orders ;  a  Franciscan  novice, 
for  instance,  can  see  and  become  acquainted  with  every- 
thing he  has  any  need  to  know,  should  he,  later  on,  become 
General  of  the  Seraphic  Order.  But  the  Jesuits,  alone,  shroud 
themselves  intentionally  in  a  darkness  which  the  laity  are  com- 
pletely forbidden  to  penetrate,  and  the  veil  is  not  even  up- 
lifted to  many  of  their  members.  There  are  among  them  a 
large  number  who  have  taken  merely  three  vows,  but  not  the 
fourth,  and  who  are,  in  consequence,  not  at  all,  or  at  any 
rate  not  properly,  instructed  regarding  the  true  principles, 
institutions,  and  liberties  of  the  Order.  This  secret,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  entrusted,  as  is  known  to  His  Holiness,  to  only  a 
small  number,  and  whatever  is  especially  important  is  known 
only  to  the  Superiors  and  the  General.  Besides,  their  form  of 
Government  is  not  regulated  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  but  is  carried  on  according  to  certain  secret 
principles,  only  known  to  the  chiefs,  the  motives  being  con- 
cealed from  many  of  the  subordinates,  without  reasons  ever 
being  given  to  them,  or  even  the  circumstance,  investigated. 
In  short,  the  Order  of  Jesus  forms  quite  a  peculiar  institution, 
which  is  conducted  neither  according  to  the  customary  regula- 
tions of  the  Church  nor  according  to  the  usual  laws  of  reason, 
and  it  may,  therefore,  be  well  considered  that  its  secret  opera- 
tions do  not  at  all  correspond  to  the  words  of  Jesus.  *  I  am  the 
Light  of  the  Worid/  " 

Thus  wrote  Palafox,  and  many  other  clear-headed  people 
thought  precisely  the  same ;  but  in  spite  of  this  evil  suspicion 
which  was  entertained  as  to  the  Order  of  Jesus,  people  in 
general  still  remained  in  the  dark  regarding  its  rules,  as  well  as 
concerning  its  internal  government,  and  it  was  long,  indeed, 
doubted  whether  such  rules  existed  ;  that  is,  whether  they  were 
extant  in  print,  or  even  in  writing.  By  degrees,  however,  some 
few  began  to  be  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  outer  world  ;  one 
learnt,  for  instance,  for  the  first  time  in  the  year  lo84,  and, 
therefore,  at  a  period  when  the  Order  had  already  become 
extended  among  the  rich  of  this  earth,  and  had  obtnined  con* 
siderable  power,  that  its  rules  had  been  printed.  Nevertheless, 
only  for  the  use  of  its  members«  and  under  the  strictest  orders 


that  the  book  should  not  be  allowed  to  reach  profane  hands. 
With  this  foresight,  moreover,  it  was  whispered,  the  Order  was 
not  yet  satisfied,  but  there  existed,  on  the  other  hand,  a  regula- 
tion that  the  more  important  statutes  and  instructions  which  the 
chiefs  applied  were  to  be  only  in  writing,  and  even  then  there 
were  just  such  a  number  of  copies  as  was  absolutely  necessary; 
so  that  besides  the  lay  world,  the  bulk  of  the  Order,  too — that 
is,  the  novices,  coadjutors,  and  scholastics — could  have  no  know- 
ledge of  the  same,  as  there  were  things  which  were  not  fitted 
for  everyone's  ears.  It  was  thus  whispered,  I  repeat ;  but  this 
rumour  embodied  the  truth,  and  the  more  profound  secrets  of 
the  Society  were,  on  this  account,  never  completely  revealed. 

As  regards  many,  however — and, indeed,  very  many — it  was,  in 
the  lapse  of  time,  no  longer  necessary  to  preserve  such  extra- 
ordinary secrecy,  and  accordingly,  in  the  year  1635,  they  were 
printed  under  the  following  title :  Ratio  et  Institutio  Societatis 
Jesu  (The  Nature  and  Institution  of  the  Society  of  Jesus). 

A  new  edition  of  the  Society's  rules  came  out  subsequently, 
in  which  were  comprehended  a  number  of  things — as,  for  instance. 
Papal  briefs,  decrees  of  the  General  of  the  Order,  and  of  the 
General  Assemblies  or  Congregations,  the  professed,  regulations 
for  the  colleges,  and  school  precepts,  &c. — which  had  been  con- 
sidered for  fifty  years  "  as  not  suitable  for  printing." 

A  third  edition,  still  more  complete,  appeared  in  the  year 
1702,  in  two  thick  quarto  volumes,  having  the  following  title: 
Corpus  Tnstitutornm  Societatis  Jesu,  in  duo  volumina  distinctum ; 
accedit  Catalogus  provinciaruniy  domorum,  collegiorunty  dc. 
ejusdem  Societatis,  4  AfUverpioB  apud  Joannem  Meursium 
(Compilation  of  the  Regulations  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  two 
volumes,  to  which  is  added  a  list  of  the  whole  Provinces,  Houses, 
Colleges,  &c.  of  the  Order). 

Lastly,  there  appeared,  in  the  year  1757,  a  fourth  edition, 
issued  from  the  printing  press  of  the  Jesuit  College  at  Prague, 
also  in  two  volumes,  quarto,  and  this  was,  or  rather  is,  the  most 
complete  of  all,  as  in  it  are  incorporated  the  newest  decrees  and 
orders  of  the  General  Congregations,  as  well  as  the  briefs  of  the 
Generals  of  the  Order  from  Ignatius  Loyola  to  Ignatius  Visconti 
inclusive ;  all  others,  therefore,  are  merely  copies  of  the  third 
edition,  as  they  bear  the  same  title,  and  nothing  more  has  con- 
sequently been  made  known  of  the  Order  since  the  year  1102. 

8  ♦ 


86 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


All  this^  taken  together,  shows  us  clearly  enough  that  not  too 
much  printed  matter  is  to  he  found  concerning  the  Jesuit  Order, 
hut  the  little  extant,  when  we  can  get  a  sight  thereof,  perfectly 
suffices  to  give  the  world  a  correct  idea  of  that  Society.  This 
knowledge,  however,  was  not  intended  to  he  imparted  to 
mankind,  and,  indeed,  simply  on  this  account,  hecanse  the  sons 
of  Loyola  never  on  any  occasion  committed  a  copy  of  their 
statutes  to  a  layman,  and,  indeed,  not  even  to  a  brother  of  low 
rank  in  the  Order.  At  least,  up  to  the  year  1761,  there  never 
occurred  a  single  instance  of  anyone  having  in  his  hands  a 
Corpus  Instituiorum  Societatis  Jesu,  except  the  black-clad 
Fathers  themselves ;  and  whatever  was  known  respecting  the 
Jesuit  institutions  was  merely  from  oral  communications,  or 
consisted  of  mere  conjectures. 

The  astonishment  of  the  world  was  all  the  greater,  then,  when 
at  the  termination  of  the  La  Vallette  trial,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  Fourth  Book,  a  copy  thereof — the  Prague  edition  of  1757 — 
was,  on  urgent  demand,  laid  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
and  this  astonishment  rose  the  higher  when  the  contents  of  the 
Corpus  Institutorum  became  known.  Truly,  this  production,  on 
the  part  of  the  Father-Procurator  Montigny,  of  a  copy  of  their 
statutes,  was  the  most  highly  inconsiderate  error  of  judgment 
which  the  sons  of  Loyola  ever  perpetrated,  and  they  would  have 
given  much,  later  on,  had  they  been  able  to  amend  the  error  of 
the  said  pious  Father;  but  the  Parliament  had  this  time  got  the 
book  in  its  hands,  and  would  at  no  price  give  it  up  again.  On 
the  other  hand,  taking  its  stand  on  the  contents  of  the  same,  it 
declared  all  Bulls,  letters,  and  briefs  of  the  Pope  referring  to  the 
Jesuit  Order,  as  likewise  the  constitutions  of  the  same,  and  the 
explanations  thereof,  and  lastly,  the  decrees  of  the  Generals  and 
of  the  General  Congregations,  as  well  aS,  generally,  all  other 
enactments  of  the  Chief,  as  gross  abuses,  and  this  on  the 
following  grounds : — 

In  the  first  place,  because  the  statutes  of  the  Society  were  in 
contradiction  even  as  much  with  the  nature  of  the  Church,  of 
the  General  Councils  of  the  Holy  See,  and  all  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  as  with  that  of  the  secular  monarchs  and  sovereigns, 
as  also  of  States  in  general ;  while  the  General  of  the  Jesuits,  on 
the  strength  of  the  privileges  and  acts  accorded  to  him,  and 
orders  issued,  could  absolutely  set  at  defiance  the  resolutions 


\. 


REPULSIVENESS   OF   THEIB   TEACHING, 


37 


of  the  Councils,  the  Bulls  of  the  Popes,  the  enactments  of  the 
higher  ecclesiastics,  and  the  laws  of  secular  governments.  Could, 
indeed,  either  the  ecclesiastical  or  the  secular  power  have 
any  hold  upon  an  Order  to  which  power  is  given  to  alter, 
abolish,  or  recal  its  own  constitutions,  or  to  make  them  entirely 
new,  according  to  circumstances,  without  any  authority  what- 
ever, not  even  the  Holy  See  itself,  having  any  control  of  the 
matter  ?  Secondly,  because,  according  to  the  constitutions,  a 
single  individual,  the  General,  excercised  an  absolute  monarchical 
power  over  the  whole  Society  distributed  throughout  all  regions 
of  the  world,  and  over  all  the  individual  members  of  the  same, 
even  such  as  are  exempt  from  control  through  the  offices  which 
they  hold ;  and  because  this  power  extended  so  far — not  only, 
indeed,  respecting  the  management  of  estates,  and  as  to  the 
right  to  conclude  contracts  and  to  abolish  the  same  again 
— that  all  who  belong  to  the  Society  were  bound  to  this 
supreme  chief,  even  as  to  Jesus  Christ,  blindly  to  obey,  with- 
out delay,  without  exception,  without  investigation,  even  without 
inward  doubt,  all  his  orders  with  as  perfect  punctuality  as  if 
they  were  the  dogmatic  laws  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  and,  like 
a  living  corpse,  to  carry  them  out  as  tools  with  no  will  of 
their  own,  aad  with  entire  abnegation  of  all  moral  perception. 
Thirdly,  because  privileges  were  accorded  to  the  Order  of  Jesus 
which  directly  oppose  the  rights  of  rulers  and  authorities,  the 
rights  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  clergymen  and  universities, 
and,  lastly,  the  rights  of  all  the  other  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
Orders,  so  that,  properly,  all  parties  in  the  State  came  under 
the  greatest  disadvantage  through  these  Jesuit  privileges. 
Fourthly,  because,  while  otherwise  every  deed  of  social  contract 
accords  to  its  several  members  rights  and  duties,  the  members  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  were  only  assigned  duties,  and,  indeed,  duties 
towards  their  General  alone,  to  whom  they  owed  imphcit  obedi- 
ence, without,  on  the  other  hand,  possessing  any  rights.  On 
the  contrary,  the  General  had  the  power  to  turn  out  of  the  Order 
this  or  that  member  of  the  same,  according  to  his  pleasure,  and 
the  expelled  member  had  neither  the  right  of  appeal  against  this 
despotic  action,  nor  even  could  he  ask  the  reasons  for  it,  or  make 
any  claim  to  a  provision  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Fifthly, 
and  lastly,  because  every  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  ac- 
cording to  the  belief  and  to  the  statutes  of  belief,  was  bound  to 


88 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


REPULSrVENESS  OF  THEIB  TEACHING. 


39 


render  implicit  slavish  obedience  to  the  General,  even  in  the 
case  of  its  being  the  pleasure  of  the  latter  and  his  Con- 
gregations to  decree  statutes  which  stand  in  open  contradiction 
with  the  general  Christian  doctrines  of  the  Church,  so  that  it 
might  be  possible  for  completely  heretical  doctrine  to  become 
Jesuit  articles  of  faith. 

On  these  grounds,  to  which  may  be  added  many  others  of  a 
subordinate  nature,  the  Parliament  of  Paris  declared  the  con- 
stitutions of  the  Jesuit  Order  as  through  and  through  offensive, 
and  such  as  it  was  impossible   to  tolerate  in  any  well-ordered 
State ;  and  as  this  sentence  was  promulgated,  it  may  be  well 
imagined  what  an  enormous  sensation  it  caused  in  the  minds  of 
all  right-thinking  men.      This  sensation,  too,  was  still  vastly 
more  increased  when,  a  few  months  later,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1762,  an  abridgment  of  the  repulsive  principles  con- 
tained in  the  Corpus  Institutorum,  appeared  in  a  thick  quarto 
volume,*  and  the  sentence  of  condemnation  pronounced  against 
the  frightful  Society  of  Jesus  was  the  subject  of  conversation  in 
all  cultivated  and  right-minded  circles  of  human  society.     Oh  1 
how  the  sons  of  Loyola  now  regretted  having  laid  before  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  their  book  of  constitutions.     How  quickly 
they  made  haste  to  destroy,  by  fire,  all  copies  of  the  same,  as 
far  as  it  was   possible   to   get  hold   of   them;   but  they  soon 
became  convinced,  to  their  most  profound  grief,  that  they  had 
been  too  late  with  all  these  measures.     It  was  not  merely  the 
books   of  the  constitution  of  the  Order  regarding  which  the 
world  was  horrified,  but  almost  still  more  the  doctrinal  works 
prepared  by  their  most  distinguished  theologians.     I  mean  the 
books  of  doctrine  respecting  Christian  morals  and  moral  theo- 
logy, the  principles  of  which  the  whole  Society  of  Jesus  had 
hitherto  claimed  as  their  own,  and  for  which  they  must  thus 
now  take  upon    themselves   the  responsibility.     Therein   were 
to  be  read  truly  horrible  things — calculated,  indeed,  to  make 
one's  hair  stand  on  end !     For  one  could  not  but  see,  at  the 
first  glance,  that  here  was  no  question  of  **  Christian  morals," 
but  of  a  more  than  heathenish  prudential  doctrine,  which  even 
allowed^  according  to  time  and  circumstances,  the  commission 

*  The  title  of  this  hook  is,  Epitome  of  the  Dangerous  and  Disgraceful  Affirma- 
tions which  the  Jesuits  constantly  and  uninterruptedly  taught  m  their  Writings 
with  the  Approval  of  their  General, 


of  the  worst  sins.  Truly,  it  could  not  any  longer  be  denied 
that  such  books  had  been  written  in  part  for  a  hundred 
years  and  more,  and  one  now  had  the  opportunity  of  becoming 
horrified  regarding  their  contents;  but  the  sons  of  Loyola 
stood,  at  that  time,  in  such  extreme  estimatioo  that  one  could 
hardly  dare  to  withdraw  from  them  the  nimbus  of  holiness,  and 
when  thus  some  few  learned  men  called  attention  to  the  general 
pernicious  tendency  of  the  morality  therein  inculcated — as,  for 
instance,  Anton  Arnold,  in  his  Moral  Pratique  des  Jesuites, 
written  in  the  year  1643;  Blaise  Pascal,  in  his  Lettres  Pro- 
vinciates^ which  appeared  in  1656;  or  Nicholas  Perrault,  in  his 
Morale  des  Jesuites,  extraite  de  leur  livres,  published  in  1669 
— such  attacks  had  but  little  result. 

The  sons    of  Loyola  contrived    to  take  care  that    all  that 
description  of  literature  should  be  forbidden  by  Government, 
and  be  burnt  by  the  hand  of   the  hangman;  they   contrived 
to  take   care   that  the  great  mass  of   mankind  should   be  in- 
stilled into  the  firm  belief  that  the  writings  of  an  Arnold,  a 
Pascal,  or  whatever  name  the  opponents  of  the  Jesuits  might 
possess,  contained  nothing  but  unjustifiable  calumnies.     Now, 
however,   as,    by   the   study    of  the  Corpus  Institutorum,   the 
dangerous  tendency  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  was  proved,  in  as  far 
as  it  afiected  the  whole  society  of  mankind,  the  Jesuit  writings 
came  to  be  zealously  looked  into,  and  in  them  was  now  dis- 
covered what  had  previously  been  held  to  be  quite  impossible — 
a  moral  doctrine  was  taught  that  was  purely  immoral.     Indeed, 
on  this  account  the  Parliament  of  Paris  caused  a  number  of  the 
most  prominent  Jesuiliical  writings  to  be  officially  investigated, 
and  the  result  was   a   unanimous    resolution   that   the  moral 
writings   of  the   Jesuits  Emanuel  Sa,   Martin   Anton   Delrio, 
Robert    Person,   S.   Bridgavater,    Robert    Bellarmin,    Ludvig 
Molina,    Alphonso    Salmeron,    Gregor     de    Valentia,     Clarus 
Bonarscius,  Johann  Azor,  Jacob  Keller,  Gabriel  Basquez,  Johann 
Lorin,  Leonard  Less,   Francis   Tolet,   Adam    Tanner,   Martin 
Becan,  Edmund  Pirot,  Anton  de  Escobar,  Jacob  Tirin,  Jacob 
Gretser,  and  Hermann^  Busenbaum,  should  be  torn  up  and  burnt 
by  the  public  executioner  at  the  foot  of  the  great  staircase  of 
the  Palace  of  Parliament,  on  account  of  their  highly  pernicious 
tendency  and  their  horrible  contents,  which  were  entirely  sub- 
versive of  Chiistian  morality. 


40 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


In  order,  now,  however,  to  give  the  reader  a  more  exact  idea 
of  what  the  sons  of  Loyola  taught  in  their  writings  and  colleges, 
I  will  serve  up  a  little  specimen  of  their  doctrines.  I  will  not, 
however,  confine  myself  to  the  so-called  head  matadore  of  the 
Order,  hut  quote  more  modern  authors,  as  herein  lies  the  proof 
that  the  principles  alluded  to  helong  not  to  an  individual  merely, 
hut  to  the  whole  Society  as  such,  not  being  altered  by  the  lapse 
of  time.  Let  us  see,  first  of  all,  how  the  sons  of  Loyola  give 
their  judgment  as  to  the  crime  of  unchastity  and  adultery. 
**  He,"  says  Father  Francis  Zaver  Fegeli  (in  his  Practical  Ques- 
tions regarding  the  Functions  of  Father  Confessor,  Augsburg, 
1750,  p.  284),  "  who  leads  astray  a  young  maiden  with  her  own 
consent,  is  not  guilty  of  sin,  because  she  is  mistress  of  her  own 
person,  and  can  dispense  her  favours  according  as  she  wishes.'* 
Father  Escobar  aflörms  precisely  the  same  in  his  Moral  Theo- 
logy, which  he  caused  to  be  printed  at  Lyons,  in  folio,  in  the 
year  1055,  and  also  Father  Moullet  expresses  himself  in  a  similar 
manner  in  his  Compendium  of  Morals.  **  But,*'  the  latter  adds, 
further  on,  *'  whoever  through  force,  threats,  or  cunning  causes 
a  girl  to  leave  the  path  of  virtue,  without  having  promised  her 
marriage,  is  bound  to  compensate  the  young  maiden  and  her 
relatives  for  all  damage  which  has  been  occasioned  to  her, 
giving  her,  when  he  cannot  otherwise  compensate  her,  a  dowry 
in  order  that  she  may  find  some  one  who  may  marry  her  if 
he  does  not  himself  espouse  her.  If,  nevertheless,  his  trans- 
gression should  remain  completely  secret,  she  is  not,  according 
to  the  inward  laws  of  conscience,  entitled  to  any  compen- 
sation.*' This  Father  Moullet  further  teaches :  **  If  anyone 
enters  into  a  guilty  relationship  with  a  woman,  not  on  account 
of  her  being  married,  but  on  account  of  her  being  beautiful,  the 
sin  of  adultery  is  not  chargeable  in  such  a  case,  even  although 
she  may  be  married,  but  simply  that  of  impropriety."  As  regards 
unchastity  in  general.  Father  Etienne  Bauny  expresses  himself 
(in  his  work  De  la  Somme  des  Peches,  Paris,  1653,  p.  77)  in 
the  following  manner ; — 

"  It  is  allowable  to  all  descriptions  of  persons  to  visit  dis- 
orderly places  in  order  there  to  convert  sinful  women,  although 
it  is  very  probable  that  one  may  even  one's  self  fall  into  sin,  as 
one  may  but  too  easily  be  seduced  by  the  sight  and  endear- 
ments of  these  women.      This,  however,  is  no  stuprum,   but 


BEPULSIYENESS   OF   THEIR   TEAOHINa. 


41 


merely  fornicatioy  as  a  stuprum  infers  force  ;  fornicatio,  on  the 
other  hand,  depends  on  mutual  consent,  and  thereby  no  injury 
takes  place." 

Again,  according  to  the  views  of  the  Jesuits,  in  the  person 
of  Father  Castro  Paulo  (in  his  book  De  Virtutihus  et  Vitiis, 
1631,  p.  18):  "When  a  domestic  sees  himself  compelled,  on 
account  of  his  livelihood,  to  serve  a  dissolute  master,  it  is  allow- 
able for  him  to  render  assistance  to  the  latter  in  the  most 
grievous  transgressions."  Father  Corneille  de  la  Pierre  gives 
a  somewhat  peculiar  interpretation,  in  his  Commentaries  on  the 
Prophet  Daniel  (Paris,  1622),  to  the  familiar  incident  as  to 
Susanna,  when  he  puts  the  following  reasoning  into  the  mouth  of 
the  latter  :  "  If,*'  says  Susanna,  "  I  yield  to  the  wishes  of  these 
old  men,  thus  my  honour  is  lost ;  if,  however,  I  offer  resistance, 
then  is  my  life  at  stake.  I  will  not,  then,  consent  to  this  dis- 
graceful transaction,  but  I  will  tolerate  it,  and  say  nothing  about 
it,  in  order  to  retain  at  the  same  time  both  honour  and  life." 
Jacob  Tirin,  too,  agrees  entirely  with  Corneille  de  la  Pierre, 
and  says,  in  his  Biblical  Commentary  {Commentarius  ad  Biblia, 
1668,  p.  787) :  **  The  chaste  Susanna  was  compelled  to  yield  to 
the  elders,  nevertheless  without  mental  consent,  and  nothing 
obliged  her,  to  make  known  her  shame  by  crying  out,  seeing 
that  her  good  reputation  and  life  of  outward  integrity  were  at 

stake.** 

unanimous,  however,  as  were  the  Jesuit  authors  regard- 
ing the  immoral  principles  hitherto  adduced,  it  appeared,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  on  another  point,  namely,  the  taking  of 
money  for  prostitution,  some  difference  of  opinion  prevailed 
amongst  them.  Thus  Father  J.  Gordon,  a  Scottish  Jesuit, 
writes  {General  Moral  Theology,  vol.  ii.  book  v.):  "A  girl  of 
pleasure  is  justified  in  receiving  payment,  only  she  must  not 
make  the  price  too  high.  The  same  holds  good  in  the  case  of 
every  young  maid  who  pursues  her  calling  secretly.  A  married 
woman,  however,  has  not  the  same  right  to  receive  payment, 
seeing  that  the  gain  from  prostitution  has  not  been  previously 
stipulated  for  in  the  marriage  contract."  The  celebrated  Escobar, 
on  the  contrary,  says  :  "  What  a  married  woman  gains  by  adul- 
tery she  may  look  upon  as  well  earned  property,  only  she  must 
allow  her  husband  to  participate  in  her  gains."  Father  Tam* 
burini  goes  still  further  than  this  (Confession  aisee,  from  which 


§k 


42 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


I  allow  myself  to  quote  the  following  passage)  :  "  How  dear  can 
a  woman  sell  the  pleasure  of  the  enjoyment  of  her   charms  ? 
Answer:  In  order  to  form  a  correct  judgment  one  must  take 
into  consideration  the  nobility,  beauty,  and  deportment  of  the 
woman,  as  a  respectable  woman  is  of  more  value  than  one  who 
opens  her  door  to  the  first  comer.     We  must  distinguish ;  it 
depends  upon  whether  the  matter  concerns  a  girl  of  pleasure  or  a 
respectable  woman,  A  damsel  of  easy  virtue  cannot  demand  more 
from  one  than  she  has  taken  from  another.     She  must  have  a 
fixed  price,  and  it  is  a  contract  between  her  and  her  visitor.   The 
latter  gives  the  money,  and  she  her  favours,  exactly  as  the  host 
the  wine  and  the  guest  the  drink-money.      But  a   woman    of 
respectability  and  condition  can  demand  what  she  pleases,  for  in 
matters  of  this  kind,  which  have  no  fixed  pricö  in  general,  the 
person  who  sells  is  mistress  of  her  wares.     She  has  thus  the  right, 
like  an  innocent  girl,  to  sell  her  honour  as  dearly  as  she  values 
the  same,  and  no  one  can,  on  that  account,  accuse  her  of  usury." 
So  much  for  the  Jesuit  teaching  concerning  the  transgression 
of  unchastity.     Let  us  now  hear  what  these  pious  Fathers  hold 
regarding   the    crime   of  theft.     Father  Pierre  Aragon  (in  his 
Abrege  de  la  somme  theologique  de  Saint   Thomas  d'Aquin^  p. 
865),  asks:  "  Is  it  allowable  for  anyone  to  steal  in  consequence 
of  the  straits  in  which  he  finds  himself  ?     Answer  :  Yes,  this  is 
allowable,  let  it  be  either  secretly  or  openly  ;  but  only  when  a  man 
has  no  other  means  of  meeting  his  wants.   There  must  also  be  no 
question  of  either  oppression  or  robbery,  because,  according  to  the 
rights  of  nature,  all  things  are  common  property,  while  everyone 
is  obliged  to  preserve  his  life."     Father  Benedict  Stattler  takes 
quite  the  same  view,  as  he  expresses  himself  as  follows  in  his 
celebrated  work  Allgemeine Katholiüch-christliche  SitUnlehrey  oder 
wahre  Glüctselig-keitslehre,  aus  hinreichenden  Gründen  der  GotU 
liehen  Offenbarung  und  der  Philosophie  für  die  obersten  Schulen 
derpfalZ'bayrischenLyceen  auf  höchsten,  Kurfür bl liehen  Befehl 
verfasst  München,  1790,  in  the  first  volume,  p.  427  :  **  When  a 
needy  person,  on  account  of  sickness  or  lack  of  employment,  is  not 
in  a  position  to  supply  his  wants  by  his  own  work,  he  has  the  right 
to  abstract  from  the  rich,  by  secret  or  open  force,  the  superfluity  of 
the  latter.'*  Anton  de  Escobar,  also,  to  whom  I  have  already  several 
times  alluded,  is  of  the  same  opinion,  only  he  adds  ( Theologica 
MoralfTT&Gi  v.  Exempi.  v.,  No.  120),  that  the  person  robbed  must 


•t 


BEPULSIVENESS  OF  THEIR  TEACHING. 


43 


necessarily  be  a  rich  man.  "  Therefore,"  it  is  further  stated, 
"  when  thou  findest  a  thief  who  has  the  intention  to  rob  a  needy 
person,  thou  must  restrain  him  from  doing  so,  and  point  out  to 
him  another  rich  person  whom  he  may  plunder  instead  of  the 
needy  one."  Antoine  Paul  Gabriel  goes  still  more  into  detail, 
as  he  fixes  the  sum  which  one  may  steal  at  one  time  at  three 
francs,  and  in  his  Theologie  Morale  Universelle,  p.  226,  he  gives 
the  following  opinion  :  "A  man  may  repeat  the  theft  as  often 
and  as  long  as  he  finds  himself  in  want ;  also,  a  person  is  not  at 
all  bound  to  replace  what,  from  time  to  time,  he  has  taken,  even 
when  the  total  may  amount  to  a  very  large  sum."  Father 
Longuet  teaches  nearly  the  same  thing,  only  in  much  more 
general  terms,  when  he  says  (Question  IV.,  p.  2) :  "Is  a  man 
so  poor  and  another  so  well-to-do  that  the  latter  is  bound  to 
assist  the  former  ?  In  this  case  the  destitute  person  may  take 
the  goods  of  the  other  without  sinning  and  without  being  bound 
to  restore  them  again,  only  he  must  do  it  secretly  and  not  in  an 
open  way." 

Thus,  not  only  in  the  case  of  the  greatest  need  may  a  man 
steal,  according  to  Jesuit  views,  but  also  when  the  object  is  to 
equalise  the  great  contrast  between  rich  and  poor,  as,  indeed, 
men  were  originally  created  equal  and  with  equal  rights!  With- 
out this,  however,  one  was  justified  in  "  taking"  when  it  was  a 
question  of  paying  one's  self,  while  that  the  right  of  secret 
compensation  went  for  something  with  the  sons  of  Loyola  was 
to  be  understood. 

"When  masters,"  says  J.  de  Cardenas  {Crisis  Theologica, 
p.  214),  "  deduct  something  from  the  pay  of  their  servants,  the 
latter  can  either  appeal  to  justice,  or  take  the  law  into  their  own 
hands  and  make  use  of  secret  compensation."  Father  Zaver 
Fegeli  {De  Confessore,  p.  137),  teaches  the  same  thing  ;  he  adds, 
however,  "It  is,  indeed,  allowable  to  steal,  by  compensation, 
from  one's  master,  but  under  the  condition  that  one  does  not 
allow  one's  self  to  be  caught  in  the  act."  Also,  according  to  the 
information  of  Jean  de  Lugo  {^De  Incarnatione,  p.  408),  a  man 
may  steal  from  his  debtor,  when  he  has  reason  to  believe  that  he 
will  not  be  paid  by  the  same ;  "  Only,"  adds  Valerius  Reginald, 
"  one  must  take  the  exact  compensation,  and  not  steal  anything 
more  than  that  for  which  one  has  a  claim." 

in  relation,  also,  to  falsehood  and  perjury,  the  sons  of  Loyola 


44 


mSTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


had  very  peculiar  views,  as  they  plainly  expressed  themselves 
to  the  effect  that  lying  and  false  swearing  were  allowable  in  all 
cases  in  which  a  man's  honour,  or  his  property,  or  his  health, 
might  be  injured  if  he  spoke  the  truth.  J.  de  Cardenas  says, 
in  the  book  above  referred  to :  "  It  is  allowable  to  take  an  oath, 
as  well  in  important  as  in  unimportant  matters,  without  having 
the  intention  of  keeping  it,  as  soon  as  one  has  good  grounds 
for  so  acting.*'  "  To  make  use  of  words  of  double  meaning  and 
to  falsely  deceive  the  judge,  is  allowable  in  certain  cases,"  as 
Father  Castropalos  writes  (tom.  iii.  of  his  work,  Tract  14), 
"when  one  can  only  find  a  worthy  excuse  in  concealing  the 
truth.  For  instance,  dissimulation  might  be  necessary,  in  order 
not  to  pronounce  sentence  of  death  against  one's  self,  where 
instant  destruction  is  in  question ;  thus  canst  thou  deny  the 
truth  and  take  refuge  in  dissimulation  in  such  a  case  without 
being  guilty  of  the  least  transgression.  It  is,  indeed,  allowable 
in  such  instances  to  take  an  oath  of  equivocation,  as  every  man 
has  a  right  to  preserve  his  life  by  any  means  in  his  power.  .  .  . 
To  this  view  of  mine  our  most  learned  theologians  agree." 
Castropalos  then  adds,  after  some  further  discussion,  **  and  for 
this  I  refer  to  the  works  of  Navarra,  Tolet,  Suarez,  Valencia, 
and  Lessius.'^  Sanchez  and  Bonacinus  also  teach  the  same 
thing,  and  the  latter  says :  "  Interrogated  as  to  a  crime  com- 
mitted, it  is  not  at  all  incumbent  on  you  to  confess,  as  long  as 
you  can  find  for  your  advantage  any  tolerable  excuse.  And 
when  judicially  interrogated,  or  when  a  great  and  important 
injury  would  accrue  to  you  from  a  confession  of  your  misdeed, 
you  may  boldly  affirm  that  you  have  not  committed  it ;  only  you 
must  so  form  your  words  that  you  may  al'terwards  be  able  to 
explain  them  according  as  you  wish.  Are  you  then  asked  as 
to  your  accomplice?  You  are  not  bound  to  make  any  declaration 
of  the  truth,  rather  you  may  be  silent  about  the  matter,  or,  still 
better,  answer  in  such  words  that  the  true  meaning  remains  con- 
cealed.'' Thus  writes  the  learned  Castropalos,  and  the  greatly 
admired  Father  Filliutius  expresses  himself  in  a  precisely 
similar  way  in  his  great  work  on  theology  (vol.  x..  Treatise 
85,  chap.  12).  He  writes:  "One  asks  whether  it  is  allowable 
at  times  to  take  an  equivocating  oath,  a  secret  mental  reserva- 
tion being  kept  concealed.  I  answer,  Yes,  only  the  chief 
thing  is  that  the  answer  must  be  so  Iramed  according  to  the 


BKaM 


BEPULSIVENESS  OP  THEIB  TBACHINQ. 


45 


question,  that  afterwards  another  interpretation  may  be  given  to 
it,  if  it  be  found  necessary,  and  difficulty  be  not  occasioned  by 
so  doing." 

The  sons  of  Loyola  showed  themselves  not  less  tolerant 
regarding  other  transactions  branded  as  sinful  by  moralists  at 
large.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Jesuit  Tolet  expresses  himself  in 
relation  to  a  small  commercial  fraud  as  follows  (in  his  book  on 
the  Seven  Mortal  Sins,  p.  1027):  "When  one  cannot  sell  his 
wine  at  the  price  he  considers  it  to  be  worth,  because  it  is  con- 
sidered to  be  too  dear,  he  can  give  smaller  measure  and  mix 
with  it  a  small  quantity  of  water,  in  such  a  way,  of  course,  that 
everyone  believes  he  has  the  full  measure,  and  that  the  wine  is 
pure  and  unadulterated." 

In  relation  to  bribery,  Father  Taberna  says  (in  his  Sketch  of 
Practical  Theology,  which  appeared  in  the  year  1736):  "It 
is  asked  whether  a  judge  is  bound  to  repay  what  a  party  has 
given  to  him,  in  order  that  he  might  record  a  decision  in  his 
favour.  I  answer  that  he  must  restore  what  he  has  received 
if  he  obtained  it  in  order  that  he  might  pronounce  a  righteous 
and  proper  judgment;  should  he,  however,  have  acquired  the 
money  or  valuables  in  order  to  propound  an  unrighteous  sen- 
tence, he  can  retain  the  property,  as  he  has  deserved  it." 
Respecting  another  kind  of  bribe,  Benedict  Stattler  expresses 
himself  in  the  following  words  (vol.  i.  of  his  Moral  Ethics, 
p.  460):  "When,  on  account  of  the  selfishness  and  fac- 
tiousness of  the  higher  authorities,  there  is  no  way  left  open  to 
our  obtaining  public  offices  by  our  own  merit  and  our  own 
worth,  it  is  not  only  allowable,  but,  indeed,  serviceable,  from  the 
motive  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbour,  to  obtain  by 
presents  or  flattery  the  favour  of  those  who  have  it  in  their 
power  to  bestow  these  offices." 

The  getting  rid  of  an  immature  child  is  likewise  considered 
to  he  allowable  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  at  least  in  certain  cases, 
which,  however,  are  of  a  very  flexible  character,  and  Father 
Airaut  writes  regarding  this  {Proposition  sur  le  Cinquieme  Pre- 
cepte  du  Decalogue,  p.  322)  :  "  One  asks  whether  a  woman  may 
make  use  of  means  to  obtain  abortion.  I  answer.  Yes,  if 
quickening  lias  not  taken  place,  and  the  pregnancy  is  not  dan- 
gerous. But  even  if  there  has  been  quickening  already,  it  may 
be  effected  as  soon  as  a  conviction  is  arrived  at  that  she  must 


46 


mSTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


BEPÜLSIVENESS  OF  THEIB  TEAOHIKG. 


47 


die  by  the  birth.  Under  all  circumstances,  however,  a  young 
person  who  has  been  led  astray  may  do  so,  as  her  honour  must 
be  to  her  more  precious  than  the  life  of  the  child." 

Assuredly  very  peculiar  morality  !  More  peculiar  still,  how- 
ever, is  the  manner  in  which  Father  Gobat  expresses  himself  in 
his  CEiivres  Morales  (tome  ii.,  p.  228),  regarding  crime  com- 
mitted during  drunkenness,  and  even  in  the  case  of  parricide. 
After  coming  to  the  most  sophistical  and  fallacious  conclusion 
that  a  drunkard  cannot  be  made  responsible  for  his  actions,  he 
concludes  as  follows ;  *'  A  son  who  has  become  intoxicated, 
and  in  this  state  has  killed  his  father,  is  not  merely  no  criminal, 
but  he  may  rejoice,  indeed,  at  the  circumstances  of  the  murder 
which  he  has  committed,  if,  that  is,  a  great  fortune  which  he 
inherits  is  in  question,  as  large  riches  belong  in  every  way  to 
those  things  much  to  be  desired,  especially  when  one  under- 
stands how  to  make  good  use  of  them.*' 

Lastly,  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  something  regarding  the 
highly  wonderful  precept  which  the  Jesuits  inculcate  in  respect 
to  the  right  of  self-defence,  since  neither  before  nor  after  them 
was  ever  a  similar  theory  advanced  The  sons  of  Loyola 
maintain  that  one  is  fully  entitled  to  make  use  of  the  sharpest 
"  reprisals  against  anyone  by  whom  one  may  have  been  insulted, 
and  not  merely  by  means  of  judicial  complaint,  but  by  retaliation, 
and,  before  everything,  by  detraction  and  calumny,  to  deprive  such 
person  of  his  honour  and  good  repute.  In  regard  to  the  latter 
(detraction  of  honour  and  calumny),  one  may  be  certain,"  says 
Tamburin  in  his  Becalogus  (lib.  ix.  cap.  ii.  §  2),  **  that  a 
number  of  people  will  soon  be  found  who  will  swear  to  the 
calumny,  as,  naturally,  men  have  much  desire  for  wickedness, 
and  thus  the  person  insulting  always  falls  into  grenter  discrrnce, 
until  at  length  every  one  points  a  finger  at  him."  Herrmann  Busen- 
baum  expresses  himself  somewhat  more  circumspectly  {Chrififinn 
Theology y  book  iii.  part  vi.  chap,  i.)  when  he  writes  :  **  In  the 
case  of  anyone  unjustifiably  making  an  attack  on  your  honour, 
when  you  cannot  otherwise  defend  yourself  than  by  impeaching 
the  integrity  of  the  person  insulting  you,  it  is  quite  allowable  to 
do  so.  You  must,  however,  tell  the  truth,  and  not  carry  the 
thing  further  than  is  required  for  the  maintenance  of  your  own 
reputation,  while  no  greater  insult  must  be  inflicted  on  the 
person  than  has  befallen  yourself,  an  exact  comparison  being 


made  between  your  own  worth  and  that  of  your  insulter." 
Leonard  Lessius  expresses  himself  far  more  freely  (lib.  ii.  Be 
Anst,  cap.  2),  as  he  teaches  thus:  "Has  anyone  made  an 
attack  on  your  honour,  you  may  then  at  once  make  use  of 
retaliation,  and  you  have  thereby  nothing  else  to  observe  than  to 
keep  up  a  comparison  as  much  as  possible."  The  language  of 
Benedict  Stattler  is,  however,  the  most  severe,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  clear,  when  he  makes  use  of  the  following  words : 
"  It  is  still  more  allowable  in  this  case  (namely,  when  one  is 
injured  iguominiously)  to  bring  the  calumniator  to  universal 
notice  by  a  disclosure  of  his  secret  transgressions  or  crimes, 
by  which  means  people  may  change  their  opinion  as  to  his 
injurious  imputations.  Also  to  attribute  a  false  crime  to  the 
calumniator  is  allowable  for  such  an  object,  if  this  should  be 
the  only  sufficient,  indispensable,  or  even  serviceable  means  to 
deprive  him  of  all  belief  and  credit  for  his  calumniation." 

A  practical  moral,  will  the  reader  say,  a  moral  which  bids 
defiance  to  all  divine,  civil,  and  political  laws ;  as  what  would 
become  of  order  in  a  State  where  evervone  was  allowed  to 
be  judge  in  his  own  affairs  and  executor  of  his  own  sentence — 
when  every  one,  instead  of  preserving  love  in  his  heart,  as 
Christ  hath  ordained,  thinks  always  merely  of  revenge,  and 
requites  injustice  by  still  worse  deeds  ? 

Although  this  kind  of  morality  must,  indeed,  be  termed  as 
partly  insane,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  by  no  means  satisfied 
with  the  same,  but  went  considerably  further,  and  affirmed  that 
it  was  allowable  to  take  the  life  of  the  calumniator  in  the  event 
of  its  not  being  possible  to  save  one's  honour  in  any  other  way. 
Thus  Father  Airaut,  already  previously  referred  to,  says:  "In 
order  to  cut  short  calumny  most  quickly,  one  may  cause  the 
death  of  the  calumniator,  but  as  secretly  as  possible  to  avoid 
observation."  The  Jesuit  Herreau,  too,  dictated  the  following 
principle  to  his  pupils  at  the  college  in  Paris  in  the  year  1641 : 
"  If  anyone,  by  a  false  accusation,  should  calumniate  me 
to  a  prince,  judge,  or  other  man  of  honour,  and  I  can 
maintain  my  good  name  in  no  other  way  than  by  assassinating 
him  secretly,  I  should  be  justified  in  doing  so.  Moreover,  1 
should  be  also  justified  had  the  crime  of  which  I  was  accused 
been  actually  committed  by  me,  though  concealed  under  the  veil 
of  secrecy  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  not  be  easy  to  discover 


48 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


REPULSIVENESS   OP   THEIR   TEACHING, 


49 


it  through  a  judicial  investigation.*'    Escohar,  likewise,  in  his 
Moral  Theology,  published  in  the  year  165Ö,  teaches  the  like 
thereto :  "  That  it  is  absolutely  allowable  to  kill  a  man  when- 
ever the  general  welfare  or  proper  security  demands  it "  ;  and 
Hermann  Busenbaum   elucidates    this     doctrine   still   further: 
"  that,  in  order  to  defend  his  life,  preserve  his  limbs  entire,  or 
save  his  honour,  a  son  may  even  murder  his  father,  a  monk  his 
abbot,  and  a  subject  his  prince."     Father  Francis  Lamy  enters 
more  into   specialities  when    he   says,  in  vol.  v.  of  his  work 
(Disp.  36,  Num.  148) :  "  It  cannot  be  denied  that  ecclesiastics 
and  members  of  monkish  Orders  are  compelled  on  this  account 
to  maintain  their  honour  and  consideration,  which  are  inseparable 
from  their  virtuous  life  as  well  as  their  scientific  culture.     These 
cause  them  to  be  respected  in  the   eyes  of  the  laity,  and   if, 
then,  one  of  them  loses  the  same,  he  can  neither  be  any  longer 
useful  nor  deliver  spiritual  counsel.     On  that  account,  is  it  not 
an  established  truth  that  ecclesiastics  must  save  their  honour 
and  consideration   at   any  price,  even   at   that   of  the  life  of 
the  persons  insulting  them  ?     Yes,  they  are  indeed  forced  to 
remove  their  calumniator,  when  by  this  means  alone  they  can 
make   themselves    secure  ;    and    this    is    especially    the    case 
when  the  loss  of  their  honour  would  tend  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
whole   Order."     Father   Henriques   teaches   exactly    the   same 
doctrine  in   his  Summa  Theologice  Moralis  (Venet.  1600),  only 
in  more  precise  words.     **  If  an  ecclesiastic,"  it  is  said  therein, 
"  caught  in  adultery  by  the  husband  of  a  woman  with  whom  he  has 
a  love  affair,  kills  the  man  in  order  to  defend  his  own  life  and 
honour,  he  is  not  only  quite  justified  in  doing  so,  but  he  is, 
on  that  account,  not  incapacitated  from  continuing  the  exercise 
of  his  ecclesiastical  functions."     The   precepts   laid   down   by 
the  famous  Sanchez  are  even  still  more  stringent,  as  he  coolly 
asserts  that  it  is  allowable  to  murder  everyone  who   advances  an 
unjust  accusation  or  bears  false  evidence  against  us,  as  soon  as 
we  are  assured  that  a  great  injury  will  thereby  be  occasioned  to 
us.     **  Such  acts  cannot  be  properly  designated  as  murders,  but 
merely  allowable  defences  ;  nevertheless,  before  perpetrating  the 
deed,  one  must   have  a   certain   conviction    as   to   the   offence 
of  the   enemy."     But  Benedict   Stattler,   so  frequently  before 
quoted,  expresses  himself  most  clearly  of  all  when  he  intimates 
as  follows  (vol.  i.  of  his  Moral  Philosophy,  p.  337) :  *'A  real 


^^juj^y»  bringing  disgrace  on  one,  as,  for  instance,  a  horsewhip- 
ping or  blow  on  the  face,  may  be  retaliated  by  the  murder  of 
the  insulter,  if  it  cannot  be  remedied  in  any  other  manner;  still 
Christian  love  counsels  forbearance  from  this  mode  of  defence,  as 
long  as  such  conduct  does  not  occasion  a  heavy  misfortune  to 
us  and  to  others  connected  with  us.  Other  grievous  oflences, 
especially  calumniations,  need  not  certainly  be  obviated  in 
general  by  the  murder  of  the  offender,  but  it  is  very  allowable 
in  the  following  cases  : — 1.  When  there  appears  to  be  a  certainty 
of  the  false  calumniator  finding  credence  among  men.  2.  If  he 
cuts  off  from  us  thereby  all  means  of  saving  our  honour.  3.  If 
we  can  remove,  by  the  murder  of  the  enemy,  the  danger  of  our 
suffering  shame." 

Such  and  similar  doctrines  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  advance  in 
their  works  on  moral  theology ;  and  now,  O  reader,  ask  thyself, 
has  not  mankind  just  reason  to  be  mortally  alarmed  on  this 
account  ?  Yes,  indeed,  it  cannot  be  filled  with  any  common 
horror  when  it  considers  that  the  youth  of  Europe,  which  for 
the  most  part  was  entrusted  to  the  Jesuits  for  instruction,  should 
have  been  indoctrinated  with  such  horrible  principles  ?  More- 
over, is  it  not  clearly  apparent  in  practice  what  frightful  conse- 
quences such  a  Jesuitical  system  of  doctrine  brings  in  its  train  ? 
Did  not,  for  instance.  Parson  Eiembauer  adduce  Stattler's 
Christian  Moral  Philosophy  as  his  justification  when  he  mur- 
dered Anna  Eichstätter  in  cold  blood  because  she  threatened  to 
make  certain  revelations  about  him  ?  And  are  there  not  many 
such  Riembauers,  no  doubt,  in  secret,  who  declare  that  murder 
is  allowable  when  one's  honour  and  good  repute  are  in  danger, 
only  with  this  difference,  that  they  know  better  how  to  keep 
their  murders  veiled  and  concealed  ?  A  horrible  thought  for 
every  father,  if  he  reflects  on  the  welfare  of  his  son  committed 
to  the  care  of  the  Jesuits;  must  it  not  indeed,  cause  him  to 
shudder  ? 

But  not  merely  on  this  account  did  a  general  cry  of  dis- 
pleasure arise  against  committing  the  youth  of  Germany  into 
the  hands  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  but  also  by  reason  of  its 
having  been  discovered,  on  more  accurate  investigation,  how 
little  of  an  actually  scientific  education  was  imparted  by  the 
so  highly  vaunted  Fathers,  and  how  perverted,  defective,  and 
generally  injurious  was  their  whole  method,  • 

n.  4 


60 


HISTOBY  OF   THE  JESUITS. 


REPUtSIVENESS  OF  THEIB  TEACHING. 


61 


In  this  respect  the  celehrated  historiaü  Spittler,  who  hit  the 
nail  on  the  head  with  fewest  words,  says : 

**  They  sought  to  appropriate  to  themselves  all  the  education 
of  the  people  and  the  students,  and  for  a  certain  time  they 
succeeded  in  this ;  hut  they  taught  the  sciences  with  the 
ahstraction  of  the  nohlest  portions  therefrom,  that  is  to  say, 
of  all  that  might  enlighten  the  understanding,  and  raise  and 
ennohle  the  sentiments  of  the  heart — all  that  might  have  the 
effect  in  any  way  of  laying  hare  the  ohjects  of  the  Papacy  and 
of  Jesuitism.  They  did  not,  indeed,  promote  anything  like  good 
taste  by  their  instructions,  and  Jesuit  Latin  has  everywhere 
become  proverbial." 

In  fact,  the  scholars  in  their  gymnasiums  were  plagued  during 
nine  years  or  more  with  grammatical  rules,  without  ever  ob- 
taining any  fundamental  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages,  and  with  the  spirit  of  the  authors  in  those  languages 
they  never  became  acquainted,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola  thoroughly 
emasculated  the  works  before  giving  them  to  their  pupils  to 
read.  On  the  other  hand,  the  latter  were  brought  up  to  have 
a  great  readiness  and  dexterity  in  speaking  the  Latin  language, 
seeing  that  it  was,  in  the  17th  and  IRth  centuries,  the  general 
tongue  of  diplomatists  and  ministers.  Moreover,  they  exercised 
the  young  at  an  early  age  in  the  art  of  disputation  and  public 
speaking,  in  order  that  they  might  in  later  years  be  able  to 
excel  as  sophistical  debaters,  and  thereby  never  be  discomfited 
in  this  respect. 

This  art,  which  was  also  called  dialectics,  gave  them  a  sem- 
blance of  knowledge  and  culture  which  blinded  the  multitude  ; 
and  what  more  could  be  desired  when  this  result  could  be 
accomplished  ?  As  for  the  acquirement  of  a  knowledge  of  other 
languages  than  Latin  and  Greek,  but  little  or  nothing  at  all  was 
effected  in  the  whole  of  their  colleges,  and  even  the  vernacular 
of  the  country  was  totally  neglected.  Indeed,  the  native  language 
of  the  country  was,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century, 
completely  excluded  from  the  subjects  taught,  and  in  Germany 
many  Portuguese  were  employed  as  teachers  and  professors  in 
their  institutions,  while  in  Portugal  Italian,  in  Spain  German, 
and  in  Italy  Spanish  Jesuits  were  made  use  of. 

In  the  year  1 703  the  General  Congregation  of  the  Society 
certainly  resolved  that  in  future  the  language  of  the  country 


should  be  taken  into  account;  but  the  instruction  imparted 
still  remained  but  miserable,  and  in  the  German  Jesuit  schools, 
for  instance,  according  to  a  report  of  the  Bavarian  Government 
in  the  year  1770,  which  entered  very  fully  into  the  matter  in 
question,  the  German  pupils  forgot  their  German  much  more 
than  they  learned  it.  And  why  not  ?  Jesuit  pupils  were  not 
intended  to  be  brought  up  as  good  citizens  of  the  State 
in  which  they  were  bom,  or  as  excellent  and  independent 
members  of  the  nation  to  which  they  owed  allegiance,  but 
rather  as  merely  friends  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  whose  welfare 
alone  they  had  to  further  completely  and  entirely  without  regard 
to  nationality.  They  should  henceforth,  if  they  formally  entered 
into  the  Order,  have  no  other  interest  whatever  than  that  of  the 
Society.  If  they  did  not  join  the  fraternity,  however,  but  on 
the  completion  of  their  education  enrolled  themselves  in  the 
service  of  the  State,  or  found  some  other  occupation,  they  had 
become  so  devoid  of  any  national  or  patriotic  feeling,  that  the 
weal  of  the  Order  lay  more  at  their  heart  than  that  of  the  State 
to  which  they  belonged.  Equally  indifferent  and  feelingless 
were  they  to  become  towards  their  own  family,  their  relatives, 
and  their  home,  and  another  love  was  instilled  into  them — 
that  for  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  was  to  be  considered  by 
them  now  as  the  sole  protector  of  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

Such  was  the  end  and  object  of  Jesuit  teaching,  and  in  this, 
to  a  great  extent,  they  were  successful,  that  is,  in  the  art  of 
estranging  the  youth  from  their  paternal  home  and  love  of 
country,  of  detaching  their  minds  from  the  direction  to  which 
they  should  have  been  naturally  inclined,  and  of  inoculating 
them  with  adherence  to  their  spiritual  Father  and  their  Komish 
fatherland;  so  that,  on  this  account,  they  never  quitted  the 
schools  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  as  good,  obedient  sons,  never  as 
truly   devoted  citizens  upon  whom   the  country  and    its  ruler 

could  depend. 

Such  was  the  view  which,  on  more  minute  examination  of 
the  subject,  came  to  be  entertained  of  the  Jesuitical  instruction 
of  youth ;  and,  I  would  ask,  was  not  the  universal  cry  of 
indignation  which  now  began  to  be  raised,  at  least  among  the 
cultivated,  against  the  pious  Fathers,  completely  justified  ? 


/ 


62 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


CHAPTER  m. 

INCBEASINÖ   ENLIGHTENMENT,    AND    THE    STORM    WHICH 
AROSE    OUT   OP   THEIR   OWN   MIDST. 

A  THIRD  epoch  now  set  in,  contributing  to  display  the  sons  of 
Loyola  in  their  nakedness,  showing,  that  is,  what  they  really  were, 
and  I  designate  this  as  the  period  of  increasing  enlightenment 
in  connection  with  the  storm  which  broke  over  the  Jesuits  out  of 
their  own  midst. 

Much  evil  had  been  brought  about  in  France,  Germany, 
and  Spain,  and^  indeed,  the-  whole  of  Europe,  by  the  rule  of 
King  Louis  XIV.;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  an  immeasurable 
advantage  to  mankind  was  also  occasioned  thereby,  namelv, 
this,  that  it  raised  up  writers,  who  not  only  opposed  the  ten- 
dency to  superstition  and  darkness,  by  the  light  of  their  «yenius 
which  persistently  revealed  the  errors  of  the  time,  but  also  wrote 
in  such  a  way  that,  and  in  a  language  by  which,  the  great  masses 
of  the  public  might  be  enabled  to  devour  these  works.  Hitherto 
Latin  had  been  the  sole  language  of  the  learned,  all  literary  dis- 
cussions between  men  of  science  having  been  entirely  carried  on 
in  that  language.  Although,  in  this  way,  much  had  been  done 
after  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing,  in  regard  to  re-awaken- 
ing spiritual  liberty,  it  did  not  penetrate  to  the  common  people, 
because  they  were  ignorant  of  the  Latin  language.  If  any  result 
was  to  be  obtained,  it  was  necessary  to  speak  to  the  populace  in 
a  language  with  which  they  were  familiar,  and  also,  at  the  same 
time,  in  such  a  manner  as  would  impart  some  interest  and  plea- 


INCREASING  ENLIGHTENMENT. 


63 


sure.  What  benefit  could  the  great  masses  derive  from  learned 
trash  ?  The  indolent  allowed  it  to  remain  unnoticed,  or  sleepily 
yawned  over  it. 

Themost  profound  spiritual  darkness,  then,[reigned  in  Europe, 
even  after  the  re- awakening  of  the  sciences  there,  and  even 
after  the  grand  working  of  the  Keformation,  weighing  down  the 
nations  like  a  fearful  incubus,  and  no  ray  of  sunlight  showed 
itself  which  could  penetrate  this  eternal  darkness,  except  here 
and  there,  during  the  17th  century.  The  sons  of  Loyola, 
who  mostly  contributed  to  the  maintenance  of  this  profound 
darkness,  internally  rejoiced,  and  hoped  that  daylight  might 
never  show  itself.  Their  wish,  however,  was  in  vain,  for  even 
when  they  had  attained  their  highest  degree  of  power,  there 
sprang  into  life  throughout  France,  «w  consequence  of  the  great 
religious  and  political  feuds  which,  under  Louis  XIV,,  shook 
the  world,  quite  a  new  literature,  of  which  no  one  before  had 
any  conception,  and  which  was  destined  entirely  to  shake  the 
faith  of  the  people  as  to  the  sanctity  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
I  allude  to  the  dramatic  poetry  which  at  that  time  emancipated 
itself  from  classical  antiquity,  and  began,  at  least  in  comedy,  to 
place  itself  on  its  own  proper  footing. 

He  who  had  the  merit  of  introducing  this  new  kind  of  litera- 
ture was  Jean  Baptiste  Poquelin,  called  de  Moliere,  and  from 
him,    the   master   pattern    and  type  of  all  existing  writers  of 
comedy,  the  sons  of  Loyola  received  a  shock  which  injured  them 
more  in  the  eyes  of  the  masses  than  all  the  attacks  of  their 
most  learned  opponents.     Molidre,   attached  by  inclination  to 
the  theatre  from  his  early  youth,  in  1642,  at  the  age  of  two-and- 
twenty,  joined  a  troop  of  play-actors  who,   at  that  time,  gave 
representations  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris,  and  then,  during  sixteen 
long  years,   ran  through  with  them  the   provinces  of  France, 
erecting  the  temple  of  Thalia,  now  in  this  town,  now  in  that, 
for  a  couple  of  months  or  more.     There  was  a  want,  however, 
of  suitable  pieces  for  this  troop,  as^  the  public  had  no  great 
inclination  for  the  usual  highly-tragical  classical  tragedies  of 
those  days,  and  one  of  this  description.  La   Thebiade,  written 
by  himself,  did  not  please  any  better  in  the  least.     There  then 
occurred  to  him  the  happy  thought  of  writing  comedy  instead  of 
ragedy,  and  his  very  first  attempt,  the  Etourdi,  which  appeared 
in  the  year  16Ö3,  at  once  took  with  the  masses* 


64 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


He  treated  therein  subjects  from  life,  and  the  people  were 
compelled  to  laugh  whether  they  would  or  not.  One  comedy 
now  followed  after  another,  in  each  of  them  some  defective 
condition  of  the  day  being  exposed  to  the  ridicule  of  the 
public,  at  one  time  some  peculiar  disposition,  at  another  some 
arrogance  of  this  or  that  class  of  the  people.  Was  there  any 
wonder,  then,  that  the  name  of  Moliere  should  soon  resound 
throughout  the  whole  of  France  ?  Was  it  to  be  marvelled  at 
that  he  transferred  himself,  with  his  troop,  to  Paris,  after  the 
year  1658,  and  there  likewise  gained  immense  applause  ?  Was 
it  cause  for  astonishment  that  the  art-loving  Louis  XIV.,  who 
at  that  time  was  gushing  over  with  the  love  of  pleasure,  took 
him  and  his  company  into  his  special  service,  under  the  title  of 
the  "  royal  troop,"  in  order  to  make  the  brilliant  Court  festivi- 
ties still  more  glorious  ?  Moliere  was  now^  for  the  hrst  time,  in 
his  right  place;  henceforth,  the  classics,  that  is,  Plautus  and 
Terence,  were  thrown  completely  overboard  by  him,  in  order 
to  bring  on  the  stage  the  sayings  and  doings  of  actual  present 
life,  and  to  put  in  the  pillory  vice  and  folly  wherever  he  found 
them. 

There  appeared  now,  one  after  another,  CEcole  des  FemmeSy 
iEcole  des  Hommes^  Le  Misanthrope,  along  with  other  pieces ; 
and  as  the  great  King  highly  applauded  the  same  with  his 
own  hands,  the  author  of  these  was  armed  against  all  per- 
secution, although,  indeed,  many  persons  of  high  standing  and 
position  who  had  met  with  castigation  from  him  entertained 
very  great  hatred  against  him.  He  had  not,  however,  as  yet 
ventured  to  touch  upon  the  hypocritical  devotion  of  the  sons 
of  Loyola,  who  in  those  days  had  acquired  greatly  increasing 
power  in  France,  and  it  thus  seemed  madness  to  set  them  at 
defiance.  But  his  genius  carried  him  away,  and  in  the  year 
1664  there  appeared  his  Tartujf'e,  the  most  biting  of  all  satires 
which  had  ever  been  made  upon  the  black  cohort.  It  was, 
indeed,  incomparably  daring  to  wish  to  hold  up  the  Jesuits  to 
the  laughter  of  the  world,  and  Moliere,  consequently,  soon 
experienced  what  it  was  to  enter  the  battle-field  against  such  an 
army  of  warriors.  The  pious  Fathers,  as  soon  as  they  got  certain 
information  of  the  existence  of  the  piece,  contrived  to  get  it 
prohibited  by  their  machinations,  and  it  remained  forbidden, 
in  spite  of  all  the  efitbrts  of  the  poet,  during  üve  yeais.     At 


INCEEASING   ENLIGHTENMENT, 


65 


length.  King  Louis  gave  ear  to  the  representations  of  Moliere,  that 
his  Tariujfe  was  not  directed  against  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  a 
body,  but  merely  ridiculed  the  hypocritical  and  pharisaical  among 
them;  rather,  perhaps,  the  monarch  could  no  longer  restrain 
his  curiosity  to  witness  the  performance  of  the  Tartujfe,  and 
peremptorily  ordered  that  it  should  be  allowed  to  be  brought 
on  the  stage. 

What  a  grand  result,  however,  crowned  its  production !  The 
half  of  Paris,  and,  afterwards,  the  whole  of  France,  clapped  their 
hands  in  applauding  until  they  were  sore,  and  all  people  of  cultiva- 
tion went  almost  beyond  themselves  with  delight  and  enthusiasm 
in  admiration  of  this  inimitable  work.  The  piece  was  required 
to  be  repeated  dozens  of  times,  and  it  was  represented  in  all  the 
theatres  of  the  provinces,  being  even  taken  up  abroad  and  trans- 
lated into  almost  all  the  living  languages  of  Europe.  The 
Jesuits  were  pointed  at  with  scorn  whenever  they  ventured  to 
make  themselves  at  all  conspicuous,  and,  moreover,  the  work- 
people in  the  towns,  those,  therefore,  who  constituted  the  middle 
class,  were  also  infected  with  the  spirit  of  enlightenment.  But 
what  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  ?  They  revenged  themselves  by  con- 
demning from  the  pulpits  of  their  churches  the  divine  poet, 
although  still  living,  to  eternal  hell  fire,  and,  when  he  died  in 
February  1673,  they  worked  upon  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  in 
order  that  he  should  deny  an  honourable  burial  to  his  remains. 
King  Louis,  however,  who  had  known  how  to  esteem  his  favourite 
during  his  lifetime,  once  again  interfered,  and,  by  his  order, 
Moliere  obtained  a  resting-place  in  the  churchyard  of  St. 
Joseph.  True,  it  was  but  a  very  quiet,  modest  place,  but 
honourable,  nevertheless,  and  inaccessible  to  the  revenge  of 
the  Jesuits;  he  thus  fared  better  than  thousands  of  others 
who  had  drawn  down  upon  themselves  the  wrath  of  the  sons 
of  Loyola. 

After  Moliöre,  many  now  strove  to  follow  in  his  footsteps, 
working  in  his  spirit,  manner  and  mode  of  speech ;  the  ice  was 
now  broken,  and  the  wheel  of  progress  could  not  again  be  rolled 
backwards.  1  may  be  excused  for  refraining  from  mentioning 
the  names  of  these  men — the  reader  may  make  himself  acquainted 
with  them  in  the  history  of  literature — and  I  simply  affirm  that 
enlightenment,  in  a  few  decades,  made  most  gigantic  progress, 
especially  among  the  town  populations  of   France,    since    the 


66 


HISTOEY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


first  production  of   the   Tartuffe.      It    would  be,  however,  a 
great    sin    not   to   make    at    least    one    single    exception  in 
favour    of    that   author    who    contributed    at  least   as   much 
to    the  overthrow   of  Jesuitism   as   the   whole   hundred   years 
of  Jansenist  strife;  I   allude   to   the   author,  Fran9ois   Marie 
Arouet  de  Voltaire.     Born  in  the  year  1694,  he  obtained  his 
first   education  in  the   Jesuit  College   of  "Louis  le  Grand"; 
after   which   he   devoted    himself  to   the   study   of  law,    only, 
however,  for  a  short  time,  as  he  was  unable  to  acquire  any  taste 
for   the    same;  finally,  at  the  age  of   twenty,  encouraged    by 
literary  men  who  were  impressed  by  his  marvellous  mental  en- 
dowments, he  ventured  upon  the  field   of  poetry,   and  as   the 
tragedy  of  Oedipe,  with  which  he  made  a  commencement,  met 
with  great  applause,  he  now  firmly  resolved  to  devote  his  time  en- 
tirely to  literary  pursuits.     He  kept  loyally  to  this  purpose,  and 
during  the  whole  of  his  long  life— he  died  in   i  778— one  work 
after  another  saw  the  light,  as  the  flight  of  his  imagination  never 
flagged,  the  energy  of  his  activity  never  halted.     Still  it  was  not 
only  with  poetry  that  he  occupied  himself,  nor  merely  poems, 
tragedy,  and  comedy,  which  he  edited  in  abundance ;  he  laboured 
much  more  extensively  in  the  field  of  history,  as  well  as  in 
discussing  the  questions  of  the  day,  and  his  writings  exercised 
such  an  enormous  power  over  men's  minds,  that  he  became  the 
ruling  spirit  of  his  nation  on  all  religious,  political,  and  social 
questions.      Yet  it  was  more   by  the   thunderbolts   which   he 
launched  forth  against  fanaticism,  superstition,  and  hypocrisy, 
that  he  raised  himself  to  be  the  chief  representative  of  all  French 
philosophers,  and  he  was,  indeed,  looked  upon  as  the  prime  mover 
of  the  entire  mental  tendency  of  Europe.     Was  such  a  man, 
however,  only  intended  to  write  simply    and  solely  for  those 
of  high  position  and  cultivation  ?     No ;  he  composed  for  the 
whole   of   the  worid  who    could  read,   while  kings  and    their 
ministers  could  not  do  otherwise  than  devote  attention  to  his 
works;  still  more  was  he  the  favourite  author   of  the  female 
worid.     And,  as  to  the  bourgeoise,  they  actually  devoured  him, 
and  whoever  had  not  read  the  Eenriade,  the  Pucelle,  the  Zadig, 
or  the   Candide,  was   looked  upon  as  a  complete   barbarian. 
There  was  one  class  of  people,  however,  who  read  him,  indeed, 
but  with  fury,,and  who  would  gladly  have  poisoned  him  for  every 
word  he  had  written ;  there  was  one  set  of  individuals  of  this 


INCREASING  ENLIÖHTENMENT. 


57 


description,  but  they  constituted  a  very  widely  distributed  and, 
hitherto,  almost  all-powerful  body.  1  allude  to  the  ordained 
clergy,  among  whom,  again,  the  black  cohort  of  Jesuits  ranged 
themselves  in  the  foremost  rank.  They  hated  him  most  mortally, 
and  rightfully  so,  seeing  that  he  also  detested  them,  and, 
indeed,  if  possible,  still  more  bitterly  than  they  disliked  him, 
and  persecuted  them  with  his  wit,  his  satire,  his  contumely 
and  contempt,  in  such  a  keen  cutting  way,  and  with  such 
immense  results,  that  he  thereby  brought  about  a  complete 
revolution  in  the  mental  tendency  of  a  very  large  number  of  the 
living  community  of  the  time.  It  may  be  that  in  our  days  a 
good  many  object  to  his  writings,  especially  his  historical,  philo- 
sophical, and  critical  works;  it  may  be  that  he  may  be  accused, 
with  more  or  less  reason,  of  want  of  solidity,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  with  superfluity  of  frivolity :  in  spite  of  all  this,  he  still 
stands  forth  as  the  man  the  most  highly  endowed  mentally  of 
his  age;  none  the  less  he  was  the  rock  upon  which  was 
shattered  the  authority  of  the  hitherto  adored  Church  in  re- 
ligious matters,  as  well  as,  to  some  extent,  political  and  social 
questions. 

I  trust,  with  this  little  that  T  have  said  about  Moli^re  and 
Voltaire,  to  have  sufficiently  demonstrated  how  immensely  the 
increasing  enlightenment,  resulting  therefrom,  contributed  in 
displaying  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  their  true  light,  in  beautiful 
contrast  to  that  in  which  they  had  hitherto  represented  them- 
selves. Not  the  less  did  it  also  conduce  to  the  circumstance 
that  now  some  individual  members  of  the  Society  itself,  whether 
with  closed  or  open  vizard,  dared  to  come  forward  with  certain 
revelations,  by  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  stripped  of  the 
garment  of  sanctity  in  which  it  had  hitherto  been  clothed,  as 
well,  also,  of  most  of  its  hitherto  usurped  privileges.  Some  few 
individuals,  indeed,  had  the  boldness  to  burst  the  bonds  which 
had  hitherto  restrained  them,  and,  ensuring  their  safety  by  taking 
flight  to  Protestant  lands,  initiated  the  astonished  world  into  the 
hidden  secrets  of  the  Society.  When  I  say  "  some  few  indi- 
viduals," I  beg  that  I  may  not  be  misunderstood.  I  am  fully 
aware,  and  it  is  otherwise  sufficiently  well  known,  that  the 
number  of  those  who,  in  the  course  of  time,  retired  from  the 
Jesuit  Order  and  returned  again  to  the  world,  could  not  be 
called  a  few;    but  such  were  either  lay  brethren,  or  intended 


58 


HISTORY  OF   THE  JESUITS. 


novices,  coadjutors,  and  scholastics.  Id  other  words,  they  were 
merely  such  as  were  called,  and,  indeed,  actually  belonged  to 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  but  had  not  in  any  way  taken  upon  them- 
selves the  fourth  vow  and  become  enrolled  among  the  professed 
members.  They  also  by  no  means  possessed  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  the  nature  of  Jesuitism  ;  they  were  not  cognizant  of  its 
most  intimate  organisation,  with  which  only  the  adepts  were 
entrusted,  and  consequently  could  not  let  out  many  of  the  secrets. 
Accordingly  they  are  not  comprehended  among  the  "  few  indivi- 
duals," and  even  less  do  these  latter  include  those  who,  on  account 
of  being  useless,  or  from  some  cause  or  other,  had  been  expelled 
out  of  the  Society,  just  as  unsound  limbs  must  be  amputated;  it 
was  known  that  such  could  do  no  injury  to  the  Society.  The 
"  few  individuals,"  of  whom  I  spoke,  belonged,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  the  professed  rank ;  they  formed  part  of  the  most  advanced 
amongst  the  consecrated  members  of  the  Society ;  they  were  of 
the  number  of  those  who  were  put  in  the  foremost  rank,  and 
who,  in  consequence  of  long  trial,  had  established  a  right  to  be 
promoted ;  of  those  who,  being  animated  by  true  Jesuitical 
sentiments,  had  been  considered  as  worthy  of  taking  upon  them- 
selves the  fourth  vow.  Of  such  as  those  very,  very  few 
quitted  the  Order,  and  this  lay  in  the  nature  of  things — so 
much  so,  indeed,  ihat  it  was  to  be  wondered  at  that  such  a 
case  should  ever  occur.  It  did,  however,  occur,  and,  indeed, 
more  than  once,  as  I  shall  now,  by  examples,  show. 

In  the  year  1648  there  appeared  a  pulpit  orator  in  the  Protes- 
tant Church  of  Leyden  in  Holland,  who  vehemently  thundered 
against  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  at  the  same  time  a  little  book,  in 
the  French  language,  came  out,  having  for  its  title  T/^  Jesuits 
on  the  Scajfbldy  owing  to  tlie  High  Crimes  perpetraled  by  tJiem 
in  the  Province  of  Guyenne,  The  pulpit  orator  aud  author  of 
the  book  were  one  and  the  same  person,  namely,  Peter  Jarrige, 
formerly  a  Jesuit,  and  a  professed  one  of  the  four  vows,  who  had 
done  service  for  some  considerable  time  as  teacher,  preacher,  and 
Confessor,  and  also  as  Rector  of  the  College  in  Bordeaux,  as  well 
as  in  other  towns  of  the  province  of  Guyenne,  where  the  Society  of 
Jesus  possessed  a  College.  Born  in  the  year  1605,  and  falling 
very  early  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  he  was  brought  up  by 
them,  and,  on  account  of  his  superior  talents,  seduced  into 
joining  the  Order;    he  advanced  then  quickly  from  grade  to 


INCEEASING  ENLIGHTENMENT. 


69 


grade,  and  was  very  soon  considered  worthy  to  be  received  among 
the  number  of  those  initiated  iuu  the  fourth  vow.  In  spite  of 
all  this  Jesuitical  education,  the  better  feelings  of  his  heart  were 
still  not  extinguished,  and,  when  he  was  advanced  to  be  among 
the  professed,  he  now  became  acquainted  with  the  frightful 
wickedness  of  the  Order  of  Jesus — a  wickedness  which  must  have 
appeared  to  him  in  a  still  more  glaring  light,  seeing  that,  at  the 
same  time,  he  became  intimate  with  the  writings  of  the  Reformers, 
and  their  plain  Bible  faith.  The  resolution  was  now  matured  in 
him  to  quit  a  society,  the  leaders  of  which  united  in  themselves 
the  attributes  of  the  tiger,  the  wolf,  and  the  fox,  and  to  league 
himself  with  Protestantism.  He  caused  himself,  therefore,  on 
some  plausible  pretext  or  other,  to  be  transferred  ta  his  paternal 
town  of  La  Rochelle,  where,  on  the  2öth  December  1647,  he 
secretly  lay  his  new  confession  of  faith  before  the  Calvinistic  Con- 
sistorium,  and  then  hastily  took  flight  to  Holland,  under  the 
protection  of  the  Calvinists,  in  order  to  escape  from  the  cellars 
in  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  accustomed  to  smother  the 
cry  of  its  disobedient  and  unfaithful  sons.  His  flight  caused 
a  great  sensation,  and  still  more  so  his  book  The  Jesuits  on 
the  Scaffold.  In  the  twelve  chapters  of  this  work  he  treats  of 
the  whole  of  the  doings  and  sayings  of  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
exactly  as  they  have  been  brought  to  the  acquaintance  of  the 
reader  in  the  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Books  of  this  work, 
estabhshes  by  proofs  everything  that  he  alleges  against  them, 
and,  although  most  limited  as  to  what  he  had  seen,  heard,  or 
experienced  concerning  them  (and,  7iota  bene,  1  repeat  that  he 
had  never  been  out  of  the  province  of  Guyenne,  and  thus  could 
scarcely  become  acquainted  with  the  hundredth  part  of  the 
Jesuit  territory),  he  so  completely  removes  from  them  the 
comedy-mask  of  sanctity,  that  they  are  presented  to  the  eyes 
of  the  world  as  thoroughly  exposed  miscreants.  No  wonder, 
then,  that  the  world  should. have  been  overtaken  with  aston- 
ishment at  these  disclosures;  no  wonder,  also,  that  the  sons 
of  Loyola  should  have  been  seized  with  the  greatest  rage. 
Such  a  thing  had  never  been  witnessed  since  the  world  had 
existed — a  Jesuit  to  become  the  betrayer  of  his  fellow  Jesuits, 
one  of  the  initiated  of  the  Society  to  put  the  whole  of  the  Society 
in  the  pillory,  and  drag  it  before  the  high  court  of  judicature 
of  Europe!     Verily,  poor  Jarrige   would   have   been  torn  to 


60 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


pieces  if  his  former  associates  had  been  able  to  get  him  for  a 
moment  into  their  clutches ;  as  it  was,  however,  they  had  to  be 
contented  with  his  effigy,  which  they  burnt  in  the  court  of  their 
college  at  La  Rochelle.  They  were  not,  indeed,  satisfied  with 
this  merely,  but  one  of  them  named  Jacob  Beauf^s  was  at 
once  appointed  to  controvert  the  work  of  Jarrige.  He,  therefore, 
set  about  the  matter  immediately,  and  his  book  made  its 
appearance  in  a  few  weeks,  but  what  was  the  nature  of  its 
contents?  From  beginning  to  end  it  was  merely  a  torrent  of 
insulting  abuse. 

*'  Father  Jarrige,"  he  writes,  "  is  a  contemptible  scoundrel,  a 
shameful  calumniator,  liar,  and  renegade,  who  merits  no  belief. 
He  has  himself  committed  all  tbe  crimes  of  which  he  charges 
his  fellow  brethren,  and  if  he  had  not  deseiied  from  the  Order 
he  would  have  been  expelled  from  it  in  disgrace.  Moreover, 
the  spirit  of  revenge  predominates  throughout  his  book,  as  he 
was  furious  at  not  being  promoted  to  a  superior  preferment — 
to  a  preferment  which,  by  his  vulgarity  and  almost  brutal 
stupidity,  he  possessed  no  capability  of  filling." 

In  this  fashion  Beaufes  refuted  his  former  associate,  and  thereply 
to  this  was  therefore  easy.  "  Had  I,"  rejoined  Jarrige,  **  been 
such  a  reprobate  as  Beaul^s  affirms,  why,  then,  did  the  Society 
of  Jesus  tolerate  me  among  them  during  five-and-twenty  years  ? 
Why  did  they  make  me  a  professed  member  of  the  four  vows,  and 
entrusted  me  with  offices  of  preaching  and  teaching  ?  Besides, 
there  is  no  question  as  to  my  person,  but  as  to  the  crimes  of 
which  1  have  made  a  report,  to  the  facts  of  which  I  was  the  eye 
and  ear  witness.     Why  has  he  not,  then,  refuted  these  ?  " 

This  rejoinder  of  Jarrige's  naturally  produced  another  pam- 
ghlet  of  Father  Beaufes'  in  reply,  and  as  other  Fathers  now 
came  to  his  assistance,  the  Dutch  Reformers,  aa  friends  of 
Jarrige,  did  not  on  their  part  remain  silent.  The  battle  thus 
became  more  and  more  extended,  and  it  caused  much  enjoyment 
to  the  scandal-loving  world,  when  all  at  once  an  order  emanated 
from  the  General  in  Rome,  which  prescribed  quite  a  difierent 
mode  of  proceeding.  "  It  was  not  by  heaping  insults  on  Jarrige 
that  the  Society  of  Jesus  could  be  washed  clean,"  wrote  the 
General,  **  but  this  was  only  possible  by  winning  the  ex-Jesuit 
back  again  into  the  Order,  and  obliging  him  then  to  make  a 
public  recantation." 


INCREASING  ENLIGHTENMENT. 


61 


The  sons  of  Loyola  consequently  desisted  from  all  further  con- 
troversy, just  as  if  their  mouths  had  been  frozen  up,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  Father  Ponth6lier,  a  Jesuit  distinguished   by  his 
adroitness  and  worldly  wisdom,  accompanied  by  others  placed 
at  his  disposal  by  the  College,  betook  himself  in  all  secrecy, 
well  disguised,  to  Leyden,  where  Jarrige  still  remained.     There 
the  'two  met.     Thus  much  has  been  ascertained,  and  equally 
correct  is  it  that  they  had  long  interviews  together ;  but  from 
this  point  reports  differ,  or  rather,  there  are  two  varying  state- 
ments, which  give  a  completely  opposite  account  of  what  became 
of  Jarrige  afterwards.     The   one,  namely,  that  of  the  Jesuits, 
represented  mainly  by   tl^   partial   historian  Etienne   Baluze, 
acquaints   the   world   that  Ponthelier's  eloquence  had    such   a 
powerful    effect  on  the  apostate  Father   that  he  testified  deep 
repentance,  and  came  to  the  resolution  of  giving  full  satisfaction 
to  the  gravely-insulted  Society.     He  thereupon  instantly  took 
his  departure,  along  with  his  converter,  to  Antwerp,  where  the 
sons  of  Loyola  possessed  a  college,  and  thence  addressed  him- 
self to  the  General,  Francis  Piccolomini  at  Rome,  in  order  to 
obtain  permission  to  return  into  the  Order  free  of  punishment. 
The  General  had,  indeed,   actually  promised,  in  answer  to  this 
petition,  a  written   general  pardon,  to  which  was  conjoined  a 
letter  of  security  from  the  Pope ;  and  upon  this  Jarrige  was  so 
much  affected  that  he  immediately  handed  over  to  be  printed  a 
recantation  of  the  calumnies  he  had  advanced  against  the  sons  of 
Loyola.     After  the  completion  of  this  propitiatory  transaction, 
however,  he  was  transferred  from  Antwerp  into  the  profess-house 
at  Tülle  in  France,  and  lived  there  up  to  the  year  1670,  highly 
esteemed  and  honoured  by  all  his  brethren  and  fellows.     Thus 
it  is  related  by  the  Jesuits,  and,  as  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  their 
statement,  they  refer  to  Jarrige's  recantation,  which,  in  fact,  was 
actually   in  existence,  and  was  issued  from  the   house   of  the 
Jesuits  in  Antwerp  in  the  year  1651.     But  other  people — and 
this  is  the  second  statement  of  which  I  have  above  spoken — 
affirm  that  the  said  recantation  was  a  pure  fabrication  of  the  sons 
of  Loyola,  seeing  that  they  had  not  anything  whatever  to  do 
with  Jarrige,  and  could  not  have  had  anything  to  do  with  him, 
since  he  was   no  longer  alive   in  the   year  1651.      He    had, 
indeed,   suddenly   disappeared   from  Leyden,  shortly  after  the 
advent  of  Ponth61ier  there,  but  had  never  afterwards  been  seen 


I 


•^^ 


•  .  ,.•  kl 


62 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


by  anyone  soever.  Nor  did  all  researches,  officially  instituted, 
with  the  view  of  clearing  up  the  matter,  have  the  least  result, 
as  Ponth^lier  also  vanished  at  the  same  time  as  his  associate, 
and  did  not  leave  behind  the  least  trace  of  what  had  become 
of  him.  Without  a  doubt,  here,  also,  there  is  some  crime  in 
question,  namely,  either  the  sin  of  murder,  or  that  of  forcible 
abduction,  and  if  it  was  the  latter,  the  probability  is  that  Jarrige 
had  been  ironed  by  Ponth^lier  and  his  associates,  and  carried  off 
bound  in  the  night-time,  in  order  to  be  allowed  to  rot  in  some 
Jesuit  prison.  So  do  the  non-Jesuits  affirm,  and  almost  the 
whole  enlightened  world  also  go  with  them  as  to  this.  What 
opinion,  then,  the  reader  will  be  inclined  to  take,  T  leave  himself 
to  determine. 

A  still  more  extraordinary  sensation  than  that  caused  by 
The  Jemits  on  the  Scqfold,  was  occasioned  by  a  work  which 
appeared  about  the  same  time,  which  had  for  its  title  Lucii 
Cornelii  Europai  Monarchia.  Solipsorum  (The  Monarchy  of 
Solipsen  described  by  Lucius  Cornelius  Europseus),  and,  as 
may  be  at  once  recognised,  this  was  nothing  else  than  a  complete 
expose  of  the  true  nature  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  as  by  the  word 
"  Solipsen,"  which  means  *' people  who  wish  to  goverri  entirely," 
is  simply  and  solely  to  be  understood  the  sons  of  Loyola.  The 
author  of  this  very  remarkable  book  commences  the  same  by 
describing  to  us  in  glowing  words  the  extraordinary  magnitude, 
extension,  and  boundless  power  possessed  by  the  ruler  of  the 
monarchy  of  Solipsen.  **  So  boundless,"  says  he,  'Ms  this 
power  that  whatever  the  monarch  orders  to  be  done,  let  his 
commands,  indeed,  be  even  contrary  to  reason,  justice,  and 
morality,  and  opposed  to  all  divine  and  human  laws,  they  must  be 
blindly  obeyed  by  his  subjects  without  the  least  consideration." 
Thereupon  the  author  conducts  us  into  the  capital  of  the 
monarchy  of  Solipsen,  that  is,  into  Rome,  showing  us  the  many 
beautiful  houses,  like  palaces,  which  belong  to  the  Solipsen, 
making  us  at  once  acquainted  with  the  truly  royal  splendour  in 
which  the  ruler  of  the  monarchy,  the  despotic  Avidius  Cluvius, 
as  he  calls  him  (meaning  the  General  of  the  Order,  Claudius 
Aquaviva),  is  accustomed  to  live.  **  He,  the  proud  man  who 
imitates  the  rest  of  the  sovereigns  of  west  and  east,  allows  no  one 
to  approach  Kim,  not  even  his  ministers,  without  humbly  kiss- 
ing his  hand."    From  the  palaces  we  are  then  conducted  into 


> 


INCEEASING  ENLIGHTENMENT. 


68 


the  colleges  of  the  Solipsen,  and  in  this  direction  the  author  of 
the  Monarchy  teaches  us  that  the  said  educational  institutions 
are  proclaimed  by  the  Solipsen  to  be  the  first  and  most  perfect 
in  the  world.  One  must  not,  however,  allow  oneself  to  be 
deceived  by  external  appearances,  upon  which  all  depends,  but 
look  thoroughly  into  the  matter,  and  then  one  will  certainly 
discover  that  the  pupils  are  brought  to  obtain  great  proficiency 
neither  in  languages,  philosophy,  nor  theology.  And  it  is  equally 
bad,  he  goes  on  to  say,  as  regards  the  appointment  to  the  higher 
offices  in  the  state  of  Solipsen,  as  the  very  worst  members  are 
advanced  to  the  most  important  situations.  Also,  the  whole 
government  consists  in  a  system  of  the  most  perfect  espionage, 
and  he  states  that  the  number  'of  informers  is  something  truly 
enormous.  Whoever  distinguishes  himself  conspicuously  in  this 
department  may  assuredly  reckon  on  advancement,  even  when 
he  may  have  been  guilty  of  theft,  robbery,  or  any  other  kind  of 
crime.  In  the  kingdom  of  Solipsen,  there  reigns  an  entirely 
different  description  of  moral  law  from  what  obtains  among  the 
rest  of  mankind,  some  things  being  more  or  less  looked  upon 
as  virtuous  which  are  scouted  to  the  uttermost  according  to 
Christian  doctrine.  In  short,  the  author  of  the  Monarchy  of 
(he  Solijjsen  draws  such  a  true  and  complete  picture  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  gives  the  reader  so  deep  an  insight  into 
the  secrets  of  the  Order,  that,  when  the  book  first  made  its 
appearance,  everyone  was  on  the  qui  viue  as  to  whom  the  author 
of  the  same  might  be.  This  much  seems  certain,  that  the  name 
Lucius  Cornelius  Europseus  was  entirely  fictitious,  and  not 
the  less  unquestionable  was  it  that  the  writer  must  be  a  veritable 
Jesuit,  as  onlv  a  true  member  of  the  Order,  and  one,  indeed,  of 
superior  position,  could  have  produced  the  book,  as  a  subordinate 
brother  could  have  no  knowledge  of  such  facts  as  this  work 
lays  before  the  public  with  such  extraordinary  minuteness.  The 
Society  of  Jesus  must,  then,  necessarily  have  a  traitor  in  their 
midst;  but  the  question  was,  who  could  this  black  sheep  be  ? 

With  angry  eagerness  the  sons  of  Loyola  sought  after  him, 
and  the  first  upcm  whom  suspicion  fell  was  Melchior  Inkhofer, 
Professor  of  the  German  College  in  Rome.  Fortunately  for  him, 
however,  he  was  able  to  clear  himself,  and  thus  escaped  from  the 
frightful  punishment  which  had  already  been  prepared  for  him. 
Later  on,  from  certain  indications,  it  was  concluded  that  Father 


-.-,  -*   '  r:.rm^ 


64 


mSTOBT  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


Julius  Clemeut  Scotti,  a  Venetian  Jesuit,  had  perpetrated  the 
foul  deed,  and  the  circumstance  that  the  hook  first  saw  the  light 
in  the  year  1645,  in  a  Venetian  printing  office,  appeared  to  give 
confirmation  to  this  view;  hut  no  one  could   discover  this  for 
certain,  because  Scotti,  at  the  time  that  suspicion  fell  upon  him, 
was  already  dead,  and  the  printer  could  by  no  means  be  induced 
to  make  a  positive  declaration  about  the  matter.     Be  this,  how- 
ever, as  it  may,  this  much  is  certain,  that  the  little  work  caused 
the  greatest  sensation,  and,  on  that  account,  it  was  not  only 
thereafter  frequently   reprinted,   but   was    also    translated   into 
almost  every  European  language.     It  displayed  the  Jesuits  in 
their  true  character,    and,    on   that  account,  everyone  had   an 
interest  in  reading  it.     It  was  only  a  pity  that  its  language  could 
not  be  properly  understood  by  the  common  people,  and,  there- 
fore, that  its  efficacy  was  almost  simply  and  solely  restricted  to 
the  intellectual  and  learned. 

In  such  and  similar  ways  did  the  cloud,  in  which  the  sons  of 
Loyola  shrouded  their  society,  by  degrees  disappear ;  and  the 
best  proof  of  how  the  perniciousness  of  the  Order  had  been 
recognised  by  enlightened  minds  in  the  middle  of  the  18th 
century,  lies  in  the  appearance  at  Naples,  at  that  time,  of 
the  little  work  Monita  ad  Principes.  In  this  "  advice  to 
princes,"  rulers  were  admonished  to  abolish  the  whole  of  the 
monkish  Orders,  and,  above  all  of  them,  the  Society  of  Jesus ; 
and  generally  to  break  ofl"  with  Rome,  to  separate  Church  from 
State,  and  to  deprive  religion,  or,  as  may  be  better  said.  Priest- 
craft, of  the  influence  which  it  had  hitherto  maintained  over 
politics  and  governments. 


BOOK    VI. 


THE  BENEVOLENCE  OP  THE  JESUITS, 


OR, 


THE  PERMISSION  TO  MURDER  AND  ASSASSINATE. 


II. 


••-•H 


MOTTO : 


67 


Hieher,  ihr  Herren  und  Ohrigkeit, 

Hieher  beruft  euch  die  Wahrheit, 

Und  stellt  euch  an  des  Tages  Glanz 

Den  Jesuitisch  Mummenschanz: 

Ihr  Gleissnerei  und  Heuchelei, 

Ihr  gottlos  Fuchsschwänzerei, 

Ihr  Fürstenmord  und  Tyrannei, 

All'  ihrer  Laster  Teufelei. 

Konig  Heinrich  sei  der  Welt 

AUhier  zum  Spiegel  vorgestellt. 

Was  diese  Sekt  mit  ihm  gespielt, 

Ist  gleichfalls  auch  auf  euch  gezielt. 

Drum  glaubt  es  nur  und  seht  euch  für. 

Die  G'fahr  euch  ruhet  von  der  Thür. 

Kein  Treu  noch  Glauben  zu  der  Frist 

Bei  diesen  Jesuiten  ist. 

Die  Jugend  sie  reitzen  fort  und  fort 

Zu  der  Könige  und  Fürsten  blut'gem  Mord. 

Air  Marter  sie  verachten  thun, 

Air  Pein  haltens  vor  Spott  und  Hohn 

Meinen,  dass  in  des  Himmelsthron 

Ihn'  wird  gegeben  grosser  Lohn, 

Wenn  sie  einen  Fürstenmord  vollend't. 
*  •  •  ♦  • 

Also  die  Jugend  wird  verblend't ! 


CHAPTER  I. 

JESUIT  ATTEMPTS  IN  GEEMANY. 

In  t!ie  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Books  I  have  endeavoured  to  show 
how  it  happened,  as  must  necessarily  have  been  the  case,  that 
almost  the  whole  Catholic  world,  priests  as  well  as  laity,  were, 
imbued  with  a  feeling  of  disgust  against  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and 
in  consequence  of  this  would  have  been  greatly  pleased  at 
their  expulsion  from  the  whole  of  Europe ;  but  the  fulfilment 
of  this  wish  appeared  to  be  impossible,  as  the  Fathers  mentioned 
dominated  not  only  over  Rome  and  the  Pope  but  also  over  all 
the  ruling  Catholic  princes.  But  behold,  as  regards  this  sway 
over  the  European  Courts,  a  peculiar  turn  took  place,  which 
sagacious  people  had  long  foreseen,  but  which  the  Jesuits,  with, 
their  many  years*  experience,  had  hoped  would  never  arrive. 
Things  had  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  the  rulers  of  the  different 
European  Courts  became  as  convinced  as  of  their  own  existence 
that  their  lives  were  endangered  by  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
there  remained  nothing  else,  if  they  were  to  sleep  quiet  in 
future,  than  to  make  an  end  by  force  of  this  terrible  Order. 
Truly  the  high  rulers  did  not  come  to  such  a  conviction  quickly, 
most  of  them  requiring  a  long  time,  a  very  long  time,  indeed ; 
but,  none  the  less,  they  did  at  length  form  this  conclusion,  to 
attack  Jesuitism,  and  it  is  now  my  task,  by  giving  a  historical 
sketch  to  the  reader,  to  show  the  grounds  on  which  they  acted. 

In  the  preceding  Book  I  proved  that  the  Jesuits 'considered 
murder  allowable  in  certain  cases,  and  that  they,  indeed,  advanced' 


J 


68 


mSTOKY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


JESUIT   ATTEMPTS   IN   GEBMANY. 


6d 


the  proposition  that  it  was  a  duty  to  deprive  an  enemy  of  life, 
as  soon  as  it  hecame  evident  that  such  a  proceeding  was  the 
only  means  of  saving  a'one's  own  honour  or  life.  They  did  not 
exactly,  perhaps,  hold  views  which  trampled  under  foot  all  the 
laws  of  morality,  but  they  rather  stretched  the  latter  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  make  such  permission  to  kill  extend,  in  certain 
cases,  even  to  regicide.  They,  indeed,  formulated  this  theory 
as  a  moral  dogma,  which  they  caused  to  he  printed  in  their 
theological  educational  books,  proclaiming  it  as  well  to  their 
pupils  from  the  professorial  chair.  Not  infrequently,  indeed,  they 
went  so  far  as  to  impose  upon  the  subjects  of  a  monarch  the  duty 
of  making  away  with  him  out  of  the  world  with  dagger  or  poison, 
as  being  unworthy  of  sitting  on  the  throne.  This,  ihe  reader 
will  say,  is  a  calumny,  or,  at  least,  a  misunderstauding,  aa 
the  sagacious  sons  of  Loyola  could  not  commit  themselves  to 
such  a  piece  of  folly;  but,  indeed,  it  is  unfortunately  the  case, 
just  as  I  have  said,  and  as  a  proof  thereof  I  will  allow  the  first 
and  foremost  work  on  murder-theology  to  speak  for  itself.  In 
the  Opuscula  Theologica  of  Martin  B6can,  at  p.  130,  the 
following  passage  occurs : — 

"  Every  subject  may  kill  his  prince  when  the  latter  has  taken 
possession  of  the  throne  as  a  usurper,  and  history  teaches,  in 
fact,  that  in  all  nations  those  who  kill  such  tyrants  are  treated 
with  the  greatest  honour.  But  even  when  the  ruler  is  not  a 
usurper,  but  a  prince  who  has  by  right  come  to  the  throne,  he 
may  be  killed  as  soon  as  he  oppresses  his  subjects  with  improper 
taxation,  sells  the  judicial  offices,  and  issues  ordinances  in  a 
tyrannical  manner  for  his  own  peculiar  benefit." 

In  a  similar  way  writes  Paul  Comitolo,  an  Italian  Jesuit,  in 
his  Becisiones  Morales,  book  iv.  p.  458  : — 

"It  is  allowable  to  kill  an  illegal  aggressor,  even  be  he 
general,  prince,  or  king,  as  innocence  has  more  value  than  the 
life  of  a  fellow-creature,  and  a  ruler  who  maltreats  the  citizens 
ought  to  be  annihilated  as  a  wild,  cruel  beast." 

Father  Commolet,  of  Paris,  went  still  further  when,  in  preach- 
ing, on  a  Sunday  in  1594,  in  the  Jesuit  church  there,  he  took 
for  the  text  of  his  sermon  that  portion  of  the  Book  of  Judges 
where  it  is  related  that  Ehud  killed  the  King  of  the  Moabites. 
So  the  pious  Father  exclaimed  with  evident  allusion  to  King 
Henry  IV.,  "  We  require  an  Ehud,  we  require,  another  Ehud,  be 


i 


he  monk,  soldier,  or  shepherd."  In  the  further  course  of  his 
sermon  he  spoke  of  the  King  above-mentioned  as  a  Nero,  Moabite, 
Holof ernes,  and  Herod,  and  loaded  his  hearers  with  the  most 
bitter  reproaches  for  allowing  such  a  false,  newly-converted 
person  to  remain  on  the  throne ;  and,  lastly,  he  hinted  that  "  the 
crown  might  be  conferred,  by  election,  upon  another  family." 

With  such  principles  Father  Hermann  Buchenbaum  entirely 
agreed,  and,  in  the  Medulla  Theologia  Moralis^  permission  to 
murder  all  offenders  of  mankind  and  the  true  faith,  as  well  as 
enemies  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  is  distinctly  laid  down.  This 
Moral  Theology  of  Father  Buchenbaum  is  held  by  all  the  Society 
as  an  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable  pattern- book,  and  was  on 
that  account  introduced,  with  the  approval  of  their  General,  into 
all  their  colleges. 

Imanuel  Sä  says,  in  his  aphorisms,  under  the  word  "  Clericus"  : 
**  The  rebellion  of  an  ecclesiastic  against  a  king  of  the  country 
in  which  he  lives,  is  no  high  treason,  because  an  ecclesiastic  is 
not  the  subject  of  any  king."  "  Equally  right,"  he  adds  further, 
'*  is  the  principle  that  anyone  among  the  people  may  kill  an 
illegitimate  prince ;  to  murder  a  tyrant,  however,  is  considered, 
indeed,  to  be  a  duty." 

Adam  Tanner,  a  very  well  known  and  highly-esteemed  Jesuit 
professor  in  Germany,  uses  almost  the  identical  words,  and  the 
not  less  distinguished  Father  Johannes  Mariana,  who  taught  in 
Kome,  Palermo,  and  Paris,  advances  this  doctrine  in  his  book  De 
Hege  ^ib.  i.  p.  54),  published  with  the  approbation  of  the  General 
Aquaviva  and  of  the  whole  Society,  when  he  says :  "  It  is  a 
wholesome  thought,  brought  home  to  all  princes,  that  as  soon 
as  they  begin  to  oppress  their  subjects,  and,  by  their  excessive 
vices,  and,  more  especially,  by  the  unworthiness  of  their  con- 
duct, make  themselves  unbearable  to  the  latter,  in  such  a  case  they 
should  be  convinced  that  one  has  not  only  a  perfect  right  to  kill 
them,  but  that  to  accomplish  such  a  deed  is  glorious  and  heroic." 

Father  Nicolaus  Serrarius,  also,  an  Italian  Jesuit,  expresses 
himself  in  a  similar  way  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Bible, 
and,  especially  in  his  explanation  of  the  murder  perpetrated 
by  Ehud  on  King  Eglon,  he  makes  use  of  the  following 
words : — 

"  Many  learned  men  think  that  Ehud  had  done  well,  and,  on 
this  ground,  indeed,  that  he  had  been  impelled  thereto  by  God ;  I 


m 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


JESUIT  -ATTEMPTS   IN   GERMANY. 


71 


say,  however,  that  not  only  was  this  so,  but  there  is  yet  another 
point  of  view,  namely,  that  such  a  proceeding  against  a  tyrant 
is  perfectly  justifiable.  When  a  ruler  proves,  by  his  mode  of 
governing,  that  he  is  a  tyrant,  he  may,  in  such  case,  be  slain  by 
any  of  his  vassals  or  subjects,  irrespective  of  any  oath  rendered 
to  him,  or  of  waiting  for  any  sentence  or  decree  ixom  any  judge 
whatever." 

The  well-known  and  justly  celebrated  Bellarmin  expresses 
himself  almost  still  more  plainly — the  same  Bellarmin  who,  by 
the  demand  of  the  Jesuits,  was  translated  by  the  Pope  among  the 
saints — when,  in  his  work.  De  summa  Pofitißcis  Autoritate 
(tom.  iv.  p.  180),  he  thus  writes:  "It  is  not  the  affair  of 
ecclesiastics,  or  even  of  monks,  to  kill  kings  through  artifice, 
and  even  sovereign  pontiffs  are  not  accustomed  to  crush  princes 
in  this  manner.  But,  when  they  have  warned  the  same  in 
a  fatherly  way,  excluded  them  from  communion  and  the 
sacrament,  absolved  subjects,  when  it  becomes  necessary,  from 
their  oath  of  allegiance,  and  lastly,  deprived  monarchs  of  their 
royal  authority  and  dignity,  it  belongs  to  other  than  ecclesiastics 
to  proceed  to  execution." 

But  most  precise  are  the  words  of  the  work,  so  highly  prized 
above  all  others  by  the  Roman  Curie,  Defensio  Fidei  Uatlwlic(B 
et  Äpostolica  (Defence  of  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Faith)  of 
the  Jesuit  Suarez,  which  appeared  in  Lisbon  in  the  year  16J4,  as 
therein  it  is  stated  (lib.  vi.  cap.  iv.,  Nos.  13  and  14)  :  "  It  is 
an  article  of  faith  that  the  Pope  has  the  right  to  depose  heretical 
and  rebellious  kings,  and  a  monarch  dethroned  by  the  Pope  is 
no  longer  a  king  or  legitimate  prince.  When  such  an  one 
hesitates  to  obey  the  Pope  after  he  is  deposed,  he  then  becomes 
a  tyraiit,  and  may  be  killed  by  the  first  comer.  Especially  when 
the  public  weal  is  assured  by  the  death  of  the  tyrant,  it  is 
allowable  for  anyone  to  kill  the  latter." 

Truly  regicide  could  not  be  taught  by  clearer  words,  and  tiie 
Parliament  of  Paris  was  so  horrified  thereat,  that  it  caused  the 
book  to  be  at  once  burned  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  on 
the  16th  June  1(>14.  The  sons  of  Loyola,  on  the  other  hand, 
declared  that  a  more  learned,  or  God-fearing  book,  had  never 
appeared,  and  that,  therefore,  whoever  assailed  it  would  be 
attacked  by  the  Church.  Indeed,  from  this  time  forth  no  Jesuit 
-  professor  whatever  wrote  on  Moral   Theology,  or  any   similar 


ä 


subject,  without  adopting  the  teaching  of  Suarez;  and  many, 
as  for  instance,  the  Fathers  Ribadeneira,  Commolet,  Salmeron, 
Jacob  Keller,  Antony  Jantarell,  Baptist  Bauny,  James  Herreau, 
John  Dicastille,  M.  Escobar,  Jacob  Gretser,  and  others,  ventured 
to  go  beyond  him  in  their  doctrines.  But  how,  indeed»  could 
this  be  otherwise  ?  One  need  only  go  into  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Ignatius,  in  Eome,  and  look  at  the  pictures  there  which 
adorn  the  four  sides  of  the  cupola,  to  gather  the  sentiments  of 
the  Order  of  Jesus  in  relation  to  murder,  especially  as  concerns 
regicide.  On  one  side  is  to  be  seen  Jael  as  she  destroyed  her 
guest  Sisera  by  striking  a  nail  through  his  skull ;  on  the  second 
side,  Judith,  as,  impelled  by  the  spirit  of  God,  she  cuts  off  the 
head  of  Holofernes;  on  the  third  side,  Samson  slaying  the 
Philistines;  while  on  the  fourth  appears  David  after  he  has  killed 
Gohath.  Lastly,  in  the  middle  of  the  cupola  is  to  be  seen  the 
Holy  Ignatius,  surrounded  by  a  halo  of  glory,  and  launching  great 
pillars  of  fire  on  all  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  as  if  desirous 
of  putting  all  lands  of  the  earth  in  flames.  And  now,  I  ask,  can 
the  spirit  of  Jesuitism  be  more  plainly  expressed  than  it  is  thu« 
indicated ;  or,  in  other  words,  is  there  not  a  proof  in  these 
emblems  that  the  Jesuits  would  be  in  contradiction  to  themselves 
if  they  had  put  forward  any  other  teaching  than  this,  that  it  is 
allowable  to  remove  out  of  the  world,  in  one  way  or  other, 
anyone,  let  him  even  be  a  king,  who  stands  in  their  way  ? 

But  the  sons  of  Loyola  did  not  rest  content  with  what 
they  taught  in  this  respect,  but,  wherever  they  considered  it 
proper,  they  at  once  proceeded  to  action,  directing  their  pro- 
ceedings, of  course,  however,  in  accordance  with  the  peculiarities 
of  the  country  in  which  they  were  carrying  on  their  opera- 
tions. Thus  it  would  be  perfectly  useless  for  them,  as  regards 
the  employment  of  their  system  of  murder  in  the  different 
European  Courts,  if,  through  their  agents,  they  got  quit  of 
this  or  that  Protestant  Prince  in  Germany,  when  his  successor 
happened  also  to  be  a  Protestant,  and  in  this  country,  therefore, 
they  required  to  be  guided  by  anotljer  maxim.  What  was  it, 
then,  that  they  promulgated?  Simpty  they  brandished  there, 
instead  of  the  torch  of  murder,  the  torch  of  conflagration ;  that 
is  to  say,  they  contrived  to  beget,  maintain,  and  -excite,  by  all 
manner  of  means,  the  hatred  of  the  Catholics  against  the  Pro- 
testants until  it  broke  out  into  flames,  whereby  the  latter  sect 


72 


mSTOBt  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


never  had  any  quiet,  and  at  last,  from  sheer  despair,  fell  volun- 
tarily into  the  hands  of  Catholicism. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  through  the  last  act  of  the  Thirty 
Years*  War  peace  was  brought  about  between  Catholics  and 
Protestants ;  it  is  true  that  each  party  was  guaranteed  in  the 
most  solemn  way  the  enjoyment  of  their  religious  liberty ; 
it  is  true  that  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  longed  after 
quietude,  and  desired  to  become  reconciled  to  each  other. 
But  how  entirely  differently  did  the  Jesuits  think  !  Under  the 
likeness  of  the  Holy  Ignatius  in  their  church  in  Eome  are  the 
words,  ^^ Ignem  veni  metterein  terram,  et  quid  volonisi  ut  acceti' 
datur'*  (I  came  to  send  fire  throughout  the  earth;  what,  therefore, 
could  I  wish  otherwise  than  that  the  world  should  burst  into 
flames?) — the  motto  of  the  founder  of  the  Order.  Have  the  sons 
of  Loyola  ever  disavowed  the  same  ?  No,  never ;  for  where  peace 
and  concord  reigned  there  was  an  end  to  their  dominion,  so  they 
must  needs  strive,  at  all  hazards,  to  maintain  such  a  state  of 
things.  Thus  it  was  war  that  they  desired,  war  at  any  price 
with  the  disbehevers ;  and  in  order  to  be  victorious  on  the  battle- 
field they,  of  course,  addressed  themselves,  for  help  and  support, 
to  the  Catholic  princes  of  Germany,  especially  the  House  of 
Hapsburg,  which  furnished  Germany  with  its  Emperors.  Indeed, 
it  was  not  only  by  way  of  request  that  they  came  by  this 
support,  but  they  actually  regarded  it  as  a  claim  to  which  they 
had  a  right,  and  woe  to  those  who  instilled  into  the  august 
mind  to  thwart  them  in  any  way.  Woe  to  him,  I  say,  for 
without  hesitation  they  consigned  him  to  death,  and  had  resort 
at  once  to  poison  or  the  dagger,  when  they  could  not  get  him 
out  of  the  world  in  a  yet  more  silent  way,  or  bring  this  about 
in  another  fashion  by  threats.  True,  it  seldom  happened  that 
a  German  Catholic  Prince,  or  one  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg, 
earnestly  resisted  their  proceedings,  so  it  was,  consequently,  but 
seldom  that  they  had  in  this  case  to  bring  their  theory  of 
regicide  into  practice. 

I  must,  nevertheless,  not  be  silent  regarding  a  notable  attempt 
at  murder  once  made  by  them  upon  a  German  ruler,  who  to 
this  day  is  known  as  one  of  the  most  zealous,  submissive,  and 
devoted  promoters  of  Jesuitism.  This  monarch  was  Leopold  I., 
who,  in  the^year  I6Ö8,  succeeded  his  father,  the  Emperor  Fer- 
dinand III.,  as  well  on  the  Imperial  throne  of  Germany  as  in  the 


JESUIT  ATTEMPTS   IN   GEEMANY. 


73 


government  of  the  Austrian  inheritance,  together  with  Hungary 
and  Bohemia.  Brought  up  by  the  two  Jesuit  Fathers,  Müller 
and  Neidhardt,  there  had,  from  his  early  youth,  been  infused  into 
him  a  blind  veneration  for  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  the  Godhead 
itself  (as  one  of  his  historians  expresses  it)  did  not  appear  to 
him  so  infallible  and  spotless  as  the  sons  of  Loyola,  to  whom 
he  belonged  in  the  capacity  of  a  so-called  atfiliant,  that  is  to  say,  a 
secular  confederate.  Although  the  Emperor  Leopold  rendered  such 
a  bigoted  attachment  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  they,  on  the  other 
hand,  did  not  entertain  the  same  love  for  him,  but  only  made 
use  of  him  in  order  to  accomplish  their  great  aim  through  his 
instrumentality.  As  1  have  before  shown,  the  grand  object  of  the 
Order  was  the  formation  of  a  Catholic  universal  monarchy,  in 
which  the  Jesuit  Faith  should  hold  the  dominion,  and  for  a 
long  time  they  hoped  to  be  able  to  gain  their  end  through 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  which,  after  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  brancned  off  into  a  Spanish  and  Austrian  line.  But 
this  hope  was -fruitless,  and  neither  Philip  II.  of  Spain  nor  the 
Ferdinands  of  Austria  answered  to  the  confidence  placed  in  their 
capabilities.  On  the  contrary,  Spain,  as  well  as  Austria,  sank 
so  low  through  their  rulers,  by  reason  of  continual  wars,  that 
upon  their  re-establishment  there  was  no  time  for  religious 
questions ;  consequently,  the  sons  of  Loyola  henceforth  directed 
their  attention  to  the  third  great  Catholic  Power,  namely, 
France,  which,  after  the  termination  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
began,  under  its  youthful  monarch  Louis  XIV.,  to  put  forward 
claims  as  the  leading  monarchy  among  all  other  states  and 
kingdoms.  He  certainly,  the  powerful,  generous,  as  well  as 
highly-endowed  Louis,  was  alone  in  a  condition  to  found  the 
much-longed-for  universal  monarchy,  and,  therefore,  the  sons  of 
Loyola  turned  to  him  with  untiring  devotion,  in  order,  through 
his  great  power  and  extensive  influence,  to  further  their  high- 
soaring  designs.  It  necessarily  followed  that  the  Jesuits,  on 
the  interests  of  France  and  Austria  coming  into  collision, 
worked  not  for  the  welfare  of  the  latter,  but  for  the  advantage  of 
the  former  State,  making  every  efi'ort  in  order  to  persuade  the 
Emperor  Leopold  to  an  accord  with  Louis  XIV.  The  docile 
Leopold  usually  complied ;  on  one  occasion,  however,  when  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  at  the  instigation  of  Louis  XIV.,  requested  him 
to  withdraw  the  religious  liberty  accorded  solemnly  to  the  Hun- 


74 


mSTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


garian  Protestants,  as  guaranteed  to  them  by  an  oath,  and  to 
compel  them  by  force  to  return  to  Catholicism,  he  dared  to  offer 
an  earnest  resistance.  He  ventured  this,  as  he  could  not  well 
do  otherwise  without  placing  at  stake  his  entire  empire,  as  how 
€ould  he  make  head  against  a  revolution  in  Hungary  under  the 
circumstances  obtaining  at  that  particular  time  ? — it  was  in  the 
year  1 670,  when  the  Austrian  monarchy  lay  completely  exhausted 
by  the  fearful  events  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

Besides,  just  in  this  very  year,  was  there  not  a  war  threaten- 
ing by  the  Ottomans,  as  well  as  another  on  the  side  of  the 
aggressive  Louis  XIV.  (against  the  German  Empire);  and  in 
the  immediate  prospect  of  a  struggle  with  two  such  powerful 
enemies  was  not  the  preservation  of  internal  peace  all  the  more 
urgently  imperative  ?  Certainly,  Leopold  I.  did  only  that  which 
he  was  compelled  to  do  for  his  own  existence  when  he  positively 
refused  the  request  of  his  Confessor,  Father  Philip  Müller, 
backed  by  the  other  sons  of  Loyola,*  all-powerful  then  at 
Vienna,  to  rouse  the  Hungarian  Protestants  to  an  insurrection 
precisely  at  this  critical  juncture,  by  withdrawing  forcibly  their 
religious  freedom.  But  the  interest  of  Louis  XIV.,  who,  as  before 
said,  was  then  carrying  on  an  aggressive  war  against  the  German 
Empire,  positively  demanded  such  Hungarian  insurrection,  in 
order  to  weaken  as  much  as  possible  Austria's  means  of  resist- 
ance; on  that  account,  the  sons  of  Loyola  continued  to  urge 
Leopold  to  proceed  forcibly  against  the  Hungarian  Protes- 
tants. As,  however,  in  spite  of  everything,  he  remained  firm 
in  his  refusal,  they  therefore  determined  to  get  rid  of  him  out 
of  the  way,  in  order  that  the  Regency  for  the  heir  to  the  throne 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  weak  Empress,  and  they  ut 
once  brought  this  their  determination  to  a  conclusion. 

Yet,  no;  I  am  not  right  in  saying  that  they  brought  it  to  a 
full  accomplishment,  because  Divine  Providence  did  not  permit 
the  completion  of  the  crime ;  but  their  guilt  was  not  thereby 
diminished  by  one  iota.  The  affair  happened  thus.  In  April 
1670,  a  Milanese  nobleman  of  the  name  of  Joseph  Francis  Borro 
came  to  Warsaw,  by  way  of  Moravia  and  Hungary,  travelling 
towards  Constantinople ;    as,  however,  for  various  reasons,  he 

•  These  were,  in  particular,  Father  Balthasar  Müller,  Father  Confessor 
of  the  Empress;  Father  Montecuculi,  Father  Confessor  of  the  Empreaa 
Dowager ;  and  Father  Richardt,  Father  Confessor  of  the  Imperial  Field 
Marshal  the  Duke  Charles  of  Lorraine. 


JESUIT  ATTEMPTS  IN  GEEMANY. 


76 


had  called  down  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
— he  was  a  skilful  physiciau,  cheiiiibt,  aud  naturalist,  with  very 
free  religious  views — they  thus  pursued  him  everywhere,  in- 
somuch that,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Papal  Nuncio,  they 
succeeded  in  getting  the  Austrian  Government  to  arrest  him 
on  the  Silesian  frontier,  and  bring  him  to  Vienna  as  a  sorcerer 
and  heretic  who  had  been  already  sentenced  by  the  üoman 
Inquisition.  Upon  his  journey  to  the  capital,"^  the  prisoner 
was  informed  by  riding-master  Scotti,  who  escorted  him,  that  the 
Emperor  Leopold  had  been,  for  some  time,  seriously  ill,  and  that 
no  remedies  were  of  any  use.  JBorro  made  himself  acquainted 
with  the  symptoms  of  the  complaint,  and  at  once  declared,  after 
consideration,  that  it  was  undoubtedly  a  case  of  poisonmg. 
**  Should  this,  indeed,  be  so,"  he  added,  **  with  God's  assistance 
he  hoped  he  might  be  able  to  save  the  Emperor,  and  he,  there- 
fore, besought  his  conductor,  immediately  on  his  arrival  in 
Vienna,  to  acquaint  the  Emperor  with  this  conversation." 

Eollowmg  this  advice  the  riding-master  Scotti,  on  reaching 
the  capital  on  the  2bth  April,  at  noon,  after  making  his  prisoner 
secure,  at  once  proceeded  to  the  palace  and  demanded  a  private 
audience  of- the  Emperor,  as  he  had  something  of  the  greatest 
moment  to  lay  before  him.  He  obtained  an  interview,  and  the 
result  was  that  his  Majesty  ordered  the  Knight  Borro  to  be 
brought  that  very  night  to  the  palace,  but  secretly,  after  dark, 
through  a  back  gate  ;  for,  of  course,  it  was  impossible  lor  such 
a  bigoted  monarch  as  Leopold  to  receive  openly,  by  daylight,  a 
man  accused  of  heresy  and  persecuted  by  the  J  esuits,  even  were 
he  the  most  skillul  physician  in  the  world.  Indeed,  although 
this  clandestine  and  nocturnal  reception  gave  him  scruples  of 
conscience,  he  questioned  the  Knight  in  regard  to  the  disease 
which  had  overtaken  him,  alter  having  previously  instituted  an 
inquiry  concerning  his  visitor's  integrity,  and  having  seen  that 
all  seemed  to  be  in  order, 

Borro  then  examined  the  Emperor,  and  found  him  completely 
wasted  and  prostrated,  afflicted  with  constant  cramps,  and 
plagued  with  insatiable  thirst.  Thereupon  he  devoted  his  atten- 
tion to  the  chamber,  and  discovered  there  that  the  two  wax 

*  The  whole  is  taken  from  the  Collection  of  Political  Documents  of  Prince 
.Eugen  of  tSavoy  (Ö  vol.  Btuttg.  Gotta,  1611-21),  where  the  particulars  may  be 
read  in  the  last  volume,  pp.  49-62. 


76 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


candles  burning  on  the  table  emitted  a  very  peculiar  reddish 
light  and  a  strongly  sputtering  tiaine,  Irom  which  a  tine  white 
smoke  curled  upwards  which  had  already  deposited  a  rather 
strong  precipitate  on  the  roof  of  the  apartment.  **  The  air  of 
the  room  is  poisoned,"  said  he,  "  and  the  miasma  comes  from 
the  burning  wax  candles."  As  proof  of  this,  at  his  request,  the 
wax  candles  from  the  adjoining  room  of  the  Empress  were 
brought,  and  it  was  seen  that  they  burned  with  a  white  and  steady 
light  without  any  smoke  or  sputtering. 

After  matters  had  gone  so  far,  the  Emperor  ordered  his  body- 
pbysician  to  be  brought  quite  quietly,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
whole  supply  of  wax-candles  destined  for  use  in  the  room  was 
produced.  This  consisted  of  somewhere  about  thirty  pounds, 
but  originally  it  had  been  at  least  double  the  quantity,  as  only 
this  description  of  candle  had  been  in  use  in  the  imperial 
chamber  since  the  beginning  of  February.  The  hghts  were  now 
more  minutely  examined,  and  the  first  thing  that  was  noticed 
was  that  each  of  them  was  edged  above  and  below  with  a  gilt 
wreath,  in  order,  without  doubt,  to  prevent  them  being  changed. 
Upon  this  all  the  wax  was  carefully  detached  from  the  wicJi,  and 
submitted  to  a  most  minute  examination.  Here  nothing  suspicious 
was  detected,  and  both  physicians  declared  that  the  wax  was  pure. 
Eventually,  however,  when  the  wicks  were  examined,  it  was  found 
that  the  Knight  Borro  had  been  perfectly  right  when  he  spoke  of 
poisoning,  as  the  whole  of  the  cotton  was  found  to  be  impregnated 
by  a  solution  of  arsenic,  in  which  these  had  been  soaked  and 
then  covered  with  wax.  The  arsenic,  also,  had  not  been  spared, 
for,  as  a  further  investigation  proved,  whilst  the  actual  wax  only 
weighed  twenty-eight  pounds,  the  mass  of  arsenic  in  the  wicks 
was  not  less  than  two  pounds  and  three  quarters.  Certainly 
more  than  enough  so  to  poison  the  air,  in  the  process  of 
burning,  that  the  Emperor,  by  breathing  the  same  during  some 
weeks  more,  would  have  succumbed.  In  order  to  be  quite 
certain  on  the  point,  a  dog,  which  was  quickly  brought,  had 
some  of  the  wicks  given  to  him  enclosed  in  pieces  of  meat, 
when,  behold  1  he  expired  in  about  an  hour  in  the  greatest 
agony ! 

The  Emperor,  now,  after  being  sufficiently  convinced  in  regard 
to  the  attempt  to  poison  him,  removed  into  another  room  that  very 
night,  and  gave  himself  up  into  the  hands  of  the  preserver  of  hi» 


11 


JESUIT  ATTEMPTS  IN  GEBMANY. 


77 


life,  who  completely  cured  him  within  the  period  of  a  few 
months.  At  the  same  time  His  Majesty  at  once  ordered  it  to  be 
ascertained  who  had  been  the  provider  of  the  wax  candles, 
ordering  that  the  same  should  be  brought  bound  to  the  palace. 
What  was,  then,  discovered  ?  The  purveyor  was  no  other 
than  the  Father  Procurator  of  the  Jesuits  in  Vienna,  and  the 
attempt  at  poisoning  proceeded  from  no  one  else  than  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  The  Emperor,  who  had  hitherto  been  so 
highly  favoured  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  felt  a  severe  pang 
run  through  his  limbs,  hut  the  pious  Fathers  experienced  a  still 
more  severe  shock,  as  they  concluded  that  the  end  of  their  days 
at  the  Court  of  Vienna  had  now  arrived  ;  but  they  immediately 
recovered  their  presence  of  mind,  for  within  the  next  hour  they 
devised  a  plan  which,  did  it  but  succeed,  would  re-establish 
their  supremacy  with  the  House  of  Austria. 

The  most  prominent  of  the  members  betook  themselves  to 
the  palace  the  next  morning,  after  convincing  themselves  of 
the  discovery  of  their  crime,  in  'order  to  request  a  private 
audience  of  the  Emperor,  and  in  this  they  congratulated  the 
monarch  in  the  most  extravagant  expressions  of  joy  at  his  being 
saved  from  certain  death.  They,  however,  did  not  omit,  at  the 
same  time,  to  declare  that  the  Father  Procurator  who,  unfortu- 
nately, was  a  member  of  their  Order,  was  a  detestable  rascal,  the 
quintessence  of  a  villain,  who  was  unworthy  to  appear  again 
before  God's  sun,  and,  as  such,  he  had  at  once  been  sent  to 
Rome,  heavily  ironed,  to  the  General,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
punished  as  a  criminal  of  such  a  description  deserved  to  be. 
"  But,'*  added  they,  with  voices  choked  with  tears,  "  what  can 
the  worthy  Society  of  Jesus  do,  that  pillar  of  the  throne,  that 
Brotherhood  so  highly  esteemed  by  the  State  and  the  Church, 
seeing  that  one  so  unworthy  should  have  insinuated  himself  in 
their  midst  ?  Would  it  be  Christian,  or  at  all  suitable  to  resent 
on  the  pious  community  the  crime  of  a  single  profligate  wretch, 
especially  when  the  fraternity  had  testified  their  abhorrence  of 
such  a  deed  of  darkness  by  the  exemplary  punishment  of  the 

culprit  ?  " 

Thus  did  the  spokesman  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  deliver  him- 
self; and  the  good  Emperor,  in  his  holy  devotion  and  narrow- 
mindedness,  gave  credence  to  such  language.  He  believed 
them  because  he  was  not  aware    that   in  the  Jesuit  Order  a 


76 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


candles  burning  on  the  table  emitted  a  very  peculiar  reddish 
liglit  and  a  strongly  sputtermg  riaine,  Irom  which  a  tine  white 
smoke  curled  upwards  which  had  already  deposited  a  rather 
strong  precipitate  on  the  roof  of  the  apaitment.  **  The  air  of 
the  room  is  poisoned,"  said  he,  "  and  the  miasma  comes  from 
the  burning  wax  candles."  As  proof  of  this,  at  his  request,  the 
wax  candles  from  the  adjoining  room  of  the  Empress  were 
brought,  and  it  was  seen  that  they  burned  with  a  white  and  steady 
light  without  any  smoke  or  sputtering. 

After  matters  had  gone  so  far,  the  Emperor  ordered  his  body- 
physician  to  be  brought  quite  quietly,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
whole  supply  of  wax-candles  destined  for  use  in  the  room  was 
produced.      This  consisted  of  somewhere  about  thirty  pounds, 
but  originally  it  had  been  at  least  double  the  quantity,  as  only 
this  description   of  candle   had  been   in  use  in   the   imperial 
chamber  since  the  beginning  of  Eebruary.     The  üghts  were  now 
more  minutely  examined,  and  the  first  thing   that  was  noticed 
was  that  each  of  them  was  edged  above  and  below  with  a  gilt 
wreath,  in  order,  without  doubt,  to  prevent  them  being  changed. 
Upon  this  all  the  wax  was  carefully  detached  from  the  wick,  and 
submitted  to  a  most  minute  examination.  Here  nothing  suspicious 
was  detected,  and  both  physicians  declared  that  the  wax  was  pure. 
Eventually,  however,  when  the  wicks  were  examined,  it  was  found 
that  the  Knight  Borro  had  been  perfectly  right  when  he  spoke  of 
poisoning,  as  the  whole  of  the  cotton  was  found  to  be  impregnated 
by  a  solution  of  arsenic,  in  which  these  had  been  soaked  and 
then  covered  with  wax.     The  arsenic,  also,  had  not  been  spared, 
for,  as  a  further  investigation  proved,  whilst  the  actual  wax  only 
weighed  twenty-eight  pounds,  the  mass  of  arsenic- in  the  wicks 
was  not  less  than  two  pounds  and  three  quarters.     Certainly 
more   than   enough   so   to    poison  the  air,  in  the   process    of 
burning,  that  the  Emperor,  by  breathing  the  same   auring  some 
weeks   more,   would   have   succumbed.      In  order   to  be  quite 
certain  on  the  point,   a  dog,  which  was  quickly   brought,  had 
some  of  the  wicks  given  to  him    enclosed   in  pieces  of  meat, 
when,   behold!   he   expired  in   about   an   hour  in  the  greatest 
agony ! 

The  Emperor,  now,  after  being  sufficiently  convinced  in  regard 
to  the  attempt  to  poison  him,  removed  into  another  room  that  very 
night,  and  gave  himself  up  into  the  hands  of  the  preserver  of  his 


JESUIT  ATTEMPTS  IN  GERMANY. 


77 


/I 


life,  who  completely  cured  him  within  the  period  of  a  few 
months.  At  the  same  time  His  Majesty  at  once  ordered  it  to  be 
ascertained  who  had  been  the  provider  of  the  wax  candles, 
ordering  that  the  same  should  be  brought  bound  to  the  palace. 
What  was,  then,  discovered  ?  The  purveyor  was  no  other 
than  the  Father  Procurator  of  the  Jesuits  in  Vienna,  and  the 
attempt  at  poisoning  proceeded  from  no  one  else  than  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  The  Emperor,  who  had  hitherto  been  so 
highly  favoured  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  felt  a  severe  pang 
run  through  his  limbs,  but  the  pious  Fathers  experienced  a  still 
more  severe  shock,  as  they  concluded  that  the  end  of  their  days 
at  the  Court  of  Vienna  had  now  arrived  ;  but  they  immediately 
recovered  their  presence  of  mind,  for  within  the  next  hour  they 
devised  a  plan  which,  did  it  but  succeed,  would  re-establish 
their  supremacy  with  the  House  of  Austria. 

The  most  prominent  of  the  members  betook  themselves  to 
the  palace  the  next  morning,  after  convincing  themselves  of 
the  discovery  of  their  crime,  in  'order  to  request  a  private 
audience  of  the  Emperor,  and  in  this  they  congratulated  the 
monarch  in  the  most  extravagant  expressions  of  joy  at  his  being 
saved  from  certain  death.  They,  however,  did  not  omit,  at  the 
same  time,  to  declare  that  the  Father  Procurator  who,  unfortu- 
nately, was  a  member  of  their  Order,  was  a  detestable  rascal,  the 
quintessence  of  a  villain,  who  was  unworthy  to  appear  again 
before  God's  sun,  and,  as  such,  he  had  at  once  been  sent  to 
Rome,  heavily  ironed,  to  the  General,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
punished  as  a  criminal  of  such  a  description  deserved  to  be. 
"  But,**  added  they,  with  voices  choked  with  tears,  "  what  can 
the  worthy  Society  of  Jesus  do,  that  pillar  of  the  throne,  that 
Brotherhood  so  highly  esteemed  by  the  State  and  the  Church, 
seeing  that  one  so  unworthy  should  have  insinuated  himself  in 
their  midst  ?  Would  it  be  Christian,  or  at  all  suitable  to  resent 
on  the  pious  community  the  crime  of  a  single  profligate  wretch, 
especially  when  the  fraternity  had  testified  their  abhorrence  of 
such  a  deed  of  darkness  by  the  exemplary  punishment  of  the 

culprit  ?  " 

Thus  did  the  spokesman  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  deliver  him- 
self; and  the  good  Emperor,  in  his  holy  devotion  and  narrow- 
mindedness,  gave  credence  to  such  language.  He  believed 
them  because   he   was  not  aware    that   in  the  Jesuit  Order  a 


y 


as: 


To 


79 


mSTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


member  never  acted  on  his  own  account  and  of  his  own  accord, 
and  never  could  act  without  the  order  of  his  Superior,  the  whole 
machinery  being  set  in  motion  by  the  General  in  Kome,  whom 
the  rest  obeyed  as  involuntary  tools.      He  confided  in  them, 
and  never  asked  of  them,  for  an  instant,  what  punishment  had 
been  assigned  to  the  murderous  Father  Procurator,  although 
it  would  have  been  of  no  avail  had  he  asked,  as  the  pious 
Fathers  in  black  robes  were,  as  is  well  known,  never  at  a  loss 
with  some  deceitful  answer.     Thus  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  not 
only  escape  unpunished,  but  retained,  also,  all  the  influencar 
they  had  hitherto  enjoyed  at  the  Court,  to  the  fullest  extent. 
Indeed,  they  contrived  to  bring  it  about  that  the  religious  liberty 
of  the  Hungarians  was  taken  away  from  them  by  force,  and, 
although  that  people  broke  out  in  revolt,  they,  at  last,  attained 
their  end  by  getting  rid  of  their  illustrious  patron  out  of  the 
world  by  means  of  poison.     They  also  maintained  their  well- 
nigh  all-powerful  influence  over  the  said  Emperor  during  the 
remainder  of  his  reign,  and  even  later  it  was  not  otherwise,  during. 
the  sovereignty  of  his  successors.     Although  immediately  after 
his  death,  under  his  first-bom   the  Emperor  Joseph  I.,  fromr 
1705  to  1711,  there  elapsed   a  short  period  during  which  the 
Holy  Fathers  had  to  draw  in  their  horns  in  a  small  degree,  they 
were  gainers  under  his  brother   and   successor,   the  Emperor 
Charles  VI.,  an  exceedingly  great  patron  of  theirs ;   and  that 
Charles's  daughter  and   heiress,  the  Empress  Maria   Theresa, 
a   ladv   than  whom    few    were   more   devout,    allowed   herself 
to  be  almost  completely  led  by  them,  is  an  only  too  well-known. 
fact  of  history.     After  this  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  no  occasion 
to  bring  their  fiendish  doctrine  of  regicide  often  into  operation 
in  Germany,  and  I  pass  over,  therefore,  to  their  behaviour  in 
other  countries,  above  all  in  England. 


CHAPTEE   II. 

THE    aUNPOWDEE   PLOT  IN   ENGLAND,    AND    THE   POLITICAL 
INTBIGÜES   OF   THE   JESUITS   IN   THAT   COUNTRY. 

As  I  have  already  mentioned  in  the  Second  Book,  Catholicism 
had  been  forbidden  in  England  by  Henry  VIII.,  but  not,  how- 
ever, altogether  suppressed.  Under  his  eldest  daughter  and 
successor  Mary,  rightly  named  "  Bloody,"  it  again  boldly  raised 
its  head,  and  thousands  of  Protestants  perished  on  the  scaffold. 
Under  Mary's  successor,  her  half-sister  Elizabeth,  matters  were, 
however,  altered,  as  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn,  was  a 
Protestant.  Still,  she  had  the  generosity  and  sagacity  not  to 
persecute  the  Catholics,  but  gave  her  protection  to  all  those  who 
recognised  her  sovereignty  and  rendered  her  complete  homage 
as  loyal  subjects.  The  English  Catholics  might,  therefore,  have 
lived  unmolested,  and  gai/e  undisturbed  have  exercised  their 
religion,  if  satisfied  merely  with  this;  and  they  would  have 
been  satisfied  had  the  sons  of  Loyola  only  suffered  them  to  be 
so.  These  latter,  however,  wished  to  govern,  not  merely  to  be 
contents.  In  order,  to  rule,  they  desired  the  extirpation  of  Pro- 
testantism, and  the  re-subjection  of  England  to  the  old  devoted 
dependence  on  the  Popes,  and  especially  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
priesthood. 

All  this  have  I  already  entered  into  in  detail,  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  recapitulate  shortly,  in  order  to  render  intelligible  the 
several  attempts  made  upon  the  life  of  Elizabeth  and  her  successor 
James  L  In  truth,  nothing  else  than  the  murder  of  these  two 
monarchs  was  in  question,  in  order  to  enable  other  members  of 
the  Eoyal  Family  of  England,  who  were  devoted  to  Catholicism 


^ 


80 


HISTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


and  blindly  obedient  to  the  Jesuits,  to  ascend  the  throne. 
The  sons  of  Loyola,  consequently,  commenced  their  machina- 
tions by  moving  the  Pope,  Paul  IV.,  immediately  on  the  accession 
of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne,  to  launch  a  Bull  of  Excommuni- 
cation against  her,  declaring  her  to  be  a  usurper. 

"  The  marriage  of  Henry  VIII.  with  Anne  Boleyne,"  said  the 
Holy  Father  in  this  Bull,-  "  was  no  marriage,  but  adultery,  and 
Popes  Clement  VII.  and  Paul  III.  had  already  pointed  this  out; 
consequently,  Elizabeth  is  a  bastard,  and  has  no  right  to  the 
throne.  Besides,  England  was  originally  a  fief  of  the  Holy 
Chair,  and  no  one  can,  therefore,  ascend  its  throne  without  being 
nominated  thereto  by  Rome.  On  these  two  grounds  the  ille- 
gitimate daughter  of  the  tyrant  Henry  VIII.  must  relinquish  the 
sceptre  of  England,  and  humbly  retire  into  private  life.  The 
real  queen,  however,  is  Mary  of  Scotland,  of  the  House  of 
Stuart,  the  grand -daughter  of  Margaret  of  England,  who 
married  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  and  gave  birth  to  James  V., 
Mary's  father." 

Such  were  the  contents  of  the  Papal  Bull  of  Excommuni- 
cation. This  Bull  had,  indeed,  no  immediate  effect,  inasmuch 
as  the  English,  for  the  most  part,  recognised  Protestantism, 
and  wished  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  Catholicism  (Popery), 
and  it  was  folly  to  expect  that,  agreeably  to  this  Bull,  they 
would  drive  their  monarch  from  the  throne  ;  none  the  less  it 
might  be  relied  on  that  a  firm  conviction  remained  in  the  hearts 
of  those  Britons  still  adhering  to  Catholicism,  that  not  Eliza- 
beth, but  Mary  Stuart,  was  rightful  heiress  to  the  crown,  and,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  this  was  the  foundation  of  future  insurrections. 

In  order  now,  however,  to  spread  among  the  English  r^atholics 
the  conviction  as  to  Elizabeth's  usurpation,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  by 
aid  of  their  great  patrons,  such  as  the  Pope,  the  King  of  Spain, 
and  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  founded  at  Douay  and  Eheims  so- 
called  "  English  Colleges/'  or,  as  they  might  better  be  denomi- 
nated, "  educational  institutions  for  young  English  Catholics," 
and  in  these  the  Queen  was  called  nothing  else  than  an  un- 
bearable tyrant,  a  heretic,  and  a  deservedly  accursed  persecutor 
of  the  true  believers,  who  had  been  solemnly  condemned  by  the 
Holy  Father.  It  may  well  be  imagined  what  spirit  the  pupils  of 
these  institutions  infused  amongst  their  co-religionists  on  their 
return  to  their  native  country.     The  Jesuits,  moreover,  were  not 


THE   GUNPOWDBB  PLOT   IN   ENGLAND. 


81 


alone  contented  with  this,  but  they  also  made  use  of  these 
Colleges  to  mould  therein  revolutionary  emissaries — men,  indeed, 
who  deemed  rebellion  and  insurrection,  and  even  murder,  as 
quite  allowable  means — men  so  fanatical  that  they  came  to 
consider  martyrdom  an  open  door  of  immediate  entrance  to 
heaven,  and  shrank  from  no  peril  or  danger,  not  even  the  very 
greatest. 

Up  to  this  time  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  regards  their  con- 
templated attempts  against  Elizabeth,  went  to  work  in  quite 
a  systematic  way,  not  scrupling,  indeed,  to  employ  many  years 
in  their  preparations,  in  order  to  make  the  attainment  of  their 
end  the  more  certain.  In  the  meantime,  however,  a  small 
thread  was  wanting  in  their  calculation,  owing  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  Mary  Stuart,  her  subjects  rising  against  her, 
in  the  year  1568,  was  compelled  to  flee  from  Scotland  to 
England,  where  she  was  at  once  taken  prisoner,  and  rigorously 
guarded,  being  no  longer  considered  by  Queen  Elizabeth 
as  a  mere  fugitive,  but  rather  as  a  riv^  and  pretender 
who  had  laid  claim  to  the  English  throne.  This  was, 
indeed,  a  severe  blow;  however,  the  Jesuits,  after  a  time, 
became  reassured,  and  at  once  resolved,  after  that  several  con- 
spiracies instituted  by  them,  as  that  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
had  ended  in  nothing,  to  put  into  execution  an  act  of 
daring  which  left  everything  hitherto  thought  of  quite  in  the 
background  for  daring  rashness. 

This  took  place  in  the  year  1581,  and  the  plan  consisted  not 
only  in  the  murder  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  but,  at  the  same  time,  the 
assumption  of  the  throne  by  the  imprisoned  Mary  Stuart  as  ruler 
of  England.  Elizabeth,  however,  had  for  some  time  previously 
obtained  hints  that  dangerous  plots  against  her  life  and  her 
crown  were  being  hatched  in  the  Jesuit  institutions  at  Douay 
and  Rheiras ;  indeed,  the  plots  daily  gathered  strength,  inasmuch 
as  these  schools  and  colleges  served  as  refuges  for  all  the  dis- 
affected English,  for  all  conspirators  who  had  been  banished 
from  the  country,  in  a  word,  for  all  adventurous  and  fanatical 
Catholics  who,  for  some  reason  or  other,  were  obliged  to  flee 
from  their  own  native  country.  On  that  account  she  sent  some 
young  men  on  whose  fidelity  and  sagacity  she  could  trust,  the 
most  conspicuous  of  whom  were  called  Elliot,  Cradock,  Sled, 
Mundi,  and  Hill,  to  Bheims  and  Douay,  in  order  to  ascertain 

Ü.  6 


82 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


particulars  respecting^  the  Colleges,  and,  as  these  aforesaid 
youngsters  gave  themselves  out  as  expelled  and  persecuted 
Catholics,  they  found  no  difficulty  in  ohtaining  admission  into 
Jesuit  institutions.  They  soon  learned  that  three  Jesuits,  of  the 
names  of  Alexander  Briant,  Edmund  Campian,  and  Rudolph 
Serevin,  had  just  taken  their  departure  for  England  hy  different 
routes  and  well  disguised ;  they  further  ascertained  that  these 
three  were  expected  in  London  hy  fifty  selected  men,  completely 
armed  from  head  to  foot,  and  that  these  latter  had  dedared 
themselves  ready,  under  the  guidance  of  the  three  Jesuits,  to 
murder  Queen  Elizaheth,  with  her  favourite  Rohert  Dudley, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  Walsingham ; 
they  further  gathered  that,  immediately  on  the  accomplishment 
of  these  proposed  murders,  a  distinguished  person,  placing  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  English  Catholic  party,  would  seize  the  reins 
of  government,  with  the  cry  "  J^ong  live  Queen  Mnry  of  Scot- 
land and  Ensfland  !  **  All  this  they  discovered,  and,  of  course, 
quickly  contrived  to  make  Queen  Elizaheth  acquainted  with  the 
information.  The  consequence  of  this  was  that  the  three  Jesuits 
were  arrested  immediately  on  their  landing  in  Engrland,  and,  after 
their  criminal  intentions  had  heen  proved,  were  hanged  on  the 
Jst  Decemher  1581,  together  with  several  others  of  their  fellow- 
conspirators,  who,  fortunately  enough,  had  also  heen  seized. 

Thus  did  the  first  murderous  attempt  of  the  Jesuits  on  the 
life  of  Queen  Elizaheth  end  miserahly,  and,  what  was  still  worse, 
the  strictest  measures  were  now  taken  against  the  Jesuits,  as  well 
as  against  all  those  who  maintained  any  intimate  communication 
with  them.  Especially,  all  Englishmen  were  forhidden,  under 
punishment  of  death,  to  study  in  any  Jesuit  College  or  seminary, 
or  even  to  reside  therein,  and  all  who  were  hent  on  visiting 
the  continent  had  to  state  accurately  whither  they  had  the 
intention  of  going;  the  hlack  cohort,  too,  now  came  to  under- 
stand that  none  of  them  dare  put  foot'  again  on  English  soil, 
unless  they  had  a  desire  to  become  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  gallows  and  the  wheel. 

It  may  he  well  imagined  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  were 
seized  with  no  small  rage  on  hecoming  acquainted  with  all  this, 
and  they  at  once  hastened  to  extol  their  three  companions, 
especially  Campian,  as  martyrs,  saints,  and  heroes,  who  had  shed 
their  blood  for  the  good  of  the  faith.     Still,  this  kind  of  revenge 


THE   GUNPOWDER  PLOT  IN  ENGLAND. 


88 


could  not,  of  course,  he  sufficient  for  an  Order  such  as  theirs, 
but  they  thirsted  after  a  more  effectual  and  blood-thirstv  retalia- 
tion,  and  two  years  later  they  indeed  hoped  to  have  found  in 
William  Parry  the  right  man  for  this  purpose.  The  latter,  a 
man  of  noble  extraction,  who  had  become  much  reduced  in  cir- 
cumstances, betook  himself  to  the  Continent  in  1582,  in  order, 
by  some  means  or  other,  to  re-establish  himself ;  embracing  the 
Catholic  religion  in  Paris,  he  then  went  to  Venice,  where  he  entered 
into  intimate  relationship  with  the  Jesuits,  and,  in  particular,  with 
Father  Benedict  Palmio.  The  two  soon  thoroughly  understood 
one  another,  and  the  new  convert  eagerly  promised  that,  for  the 
honour  of  God,  and  in  order  to  release  the  Catholics  of  England 
from  their  frightful  oppressions,  he  would  stake  his  existence  to 
take  the  life  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Thereupon  he  took  his  de- 
parture for  Paris,  well  furnished  by  Palmio  with  money  and  letters 
of  recommendation  ;  there  he  had  a  long  conversation  with  the 
Father  Superior  Hannibal  Codret,  who  strongly  encouraged  him 
in  his  praiseworthy  undertaking,  and,  after  receiving  the  Sacra- 
ment for  the  safety  of  his  enterprise,  he  returned  to  England  in 
February  1584. 

On  arriving  in  London,  he  began  by  playing  the  part  of  a 
zealous  Protestant,  and  immediately  wrote  to  the  Queen  that  he 
had  important  disclosures  to  make  to  her  about  the  Popish 
machinations  which  were  hatching  against  her  in  France  and 
Italy,  as  he  had  succeeded,  while  on  his  Continental  travels,  in 
getting  at  the  bottom  of  several  secrets.  The  Queen  accorded 
him  an  interview,  and  he  there  represented  matters  so  plausibly, 
feigning,  at  the  same  time,  an  almost  extravagant  attachment 
to  her,  that  she  received  him  afterwards  several  times.  In 
this  way  he  succeeded  in  making  himself  acquainted  with  the 
opportunities  adapted  for  his  purpose,  and  he  at  once  determined 
to  accomplish  the  murder  as  soon  as  the  Queen,  as  she  was 
in  the  habit  of  doing,  took  a  walk  in  St.  James's  Park  without 
attendance.  As  he  considered  it,  however,  to  be  essentially 
necessary  that  a  boat  should  be  in  readiness  on  the  Thames,  in 
order  that  he  might  make  his  escape  in  it  from  the  rage  of  the 
people,  he  was  induced  to  make  a  friend  his  confidant  and 
abettor,  and  for  this  purpose  selected  a  cousin  of  his  own,  of  the 
name  of  Nevil,  who,  on  account  of  poverty,  brought  on  by  his 
folly,  appeared  to  be  well  fitted  for  the  purpose.     Nevil  entered 


84 


mSTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


into  the  project  with  zeal,  and  at  once  provided  himself  with  a 
boat  in  which,  in  order  to  accustom  the  people  to  its  appearance, 
he  daily  went  up  and  down  the  river. 

Just  at  this  time,  however,  while  Parry  was  waiting  for  a 
favourable  opportunity  for  committing  the  murder  of  Elizabeth — 
several  other  Jesuits,  well  disguised,  being  present  in  London  in 
order  to  further  the  movement  about  to  break  out  in  favour  of 
Mary  Stuart  and  the  Catholic  religion— the  Earl  of  Westmor- 
land, an  exiled  English  Catholic,  died  in  Paris,  childless ;  and 
at  once,  on  this  news  reaching  Nevil,  who  stood  in  very  near 
relationship  to  the  deceased,  he  reckoned  that  if  he  were  to  be 
the  discoverer  of  a  conspiracy  which  endangered  the  life  of  the 
Queen,  he  might  be  enabled  to  secure  for  himself  the  title  and 
property  of  the  deceased  nobleman.     Consequently  he  betook 
himself  straightway  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  disclosed  to 
him  the  whole  plot,  in  presence  of  the  minister  Walsingham, 
and  the  Vice-Chamberlain  Hunsdon,  whom  Leicester  had  quickly 
summoned  ;  of  course,  he  did  not  fail  to  represent  that  he  had 
only  entered  into  the  project  of  Parry  in  order  the  more  surely 
to   be   able   to   frustrate   the  frightful  crime  which  was   con- 
templated.    Be  this   as   it  may,   Parry  was   arrested   on   the 
instant,  and,  being  confronted  with  Nevil,  confessed  everything. 
Several  papers  were  also  found  on  him,  by  which,  besides  the 
above-named  Fathers  Palmio    and  Codret,  Father   Chreickton, 
together  with  Cardinal  Como,  were  shown  tobe  implicated,  and  in 
such  a  way  as  to  prove,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  moral  guilt  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  in  that  William  Parry  had  been  instigated,  and 
impelled  by  them  to   the  commission   of  the  intended   crime. 
Still,  it  was  unfortunately  not  possible  to  bring  punishment  on 
any  of  the  black  troop,  as  each  of  them  had  contrived  to  make 
his  escape  in  proper  time  ;  William  Parry,  however,  was  con- 
demned, as  guilty  of  high  treason,  to  a  most  fearful  death,  and 
rightly  underwent  this  sentence  on  the  2nd  March    1684.     He 
was  bound  to  the  gallows,  and  then   opened,  and,  while  still 
living,  his  heart,  liver,  and  bowels  were  torn  from  his  chest  and 
body,  and  then  burnt  in  a  quick  fire  beneath  the  gallows ;  his 
body  was  then  cut  into  four  parts,  which  were  nailed  to  the 
four  gates  of  London. 

For  two  years  after  this  frightful  spectacle,  the  Jesuits  main- 
tained peace,  at   least,  outwardly;  but  in  the  year  1586  they 


THE    GÜNtOWDEB   PLOT   IN   ENÖLAND. 


05 


again  succeeded  in  getting  up  a  new  conspiracy,  and  in  obtaining 
fresh  plotters  against  the  life  of  Queen  Ehzabeth. 

It  happened  that  Anthony  Babington,  a  young  man  of  good 
family,  from  Dothick  in  the  county  of  Derby,  took  a  journey,  in 
the  said  year,^  into  France ;  and  having  arrived  there,  he,  good 
Catholic  as  he  was,  allowed  himself  to  be  beguiled  to  enter 
secretly  into  the  College  of  Rheims,  in  order  to  complete  his 
education  there.  He  here  became  acquainted  with  Father 
Ballard,  and  soon  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with  him ;  the 
Father  thereupon  conversed  daily  with  him  about  the  unfortunate 
Mary  Stuart,  as  well  as  her  Papal  guaranteed  rights  to  the 
English  throne.  He  thus  kindled,  by  degrees,  in  the  heart  of 
Babington,  who  was,  be  it  said,  of  a  very  exalted  nature,  a  most 
fervent  sympathy  for  the  imprisoned  Queen,  and  as  he  now 
proceeded  to  show  him  her  likeness  (Mary  was  notoriously 
remarkable  for  her  charming  beauty)  this  sympathy  grew  to  be 
a  most  maddening  and  enthusiastic  admiration.  If  his  love  for 
the  prisoner  was  great,  his  hate  for  the  oppressor  was,  of  course, 
still  deeper,  and  the  young  man  at  once  swore  never  to  rest  or 
remain  quiet  until  the  tyrannical  Queen  Elizabeth  had  lost  her 
life  at  his  hands.  Yes,  indeed,  he  swore  a  solemn  vow  to 
murder  the  said  Queen,  as  then  he  would  snatch  the  charming 
Mary  out  of  prison,  in  order  that  she  might  adorn,  at  once,  the 
thrones  of  England  and  Scotland. 

Witü  such  thoughts  in  his  heart,  Babington  returned  to 
his  home ;  but  here  his  passion  appears  to  have  cooled  down 
somewhat.  He  did  not  make  any  preparation  to  give  eflect 
to  his  intention,  and  delayed,  indeed,  long  enough  to  give 
news  of  himself  to  Ballard.  Then  the  latter  became  impatient, 
and,  at  once,  secretly  embarked  for  England,  well  disguised,  in 
order  to  visit  his  young  friend  at  Dothick.  He  made  his 
appearance  there,  but  not  alone,  being  accompanied  by  a  ceitEiin 
John  Savage,  a  gloomy  fanatic,  wüo  was  a  great  enthusiast  for 
the  Papacy,  and,  in  this  society  Babington's  zeal  revived. 
The  project  to  murder  Queen  Elizabeth  was  again  determined 
upon,  and,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  murder  all  the  more 
surely,  the  three  conspirators  joined  nine  others,  ail  of  whom 
took  a  solemn  oath  to  the  Jesuit  Father  that  they  would  sooner 
perish  than  relinquish  this  great  ali'air.  How  could  tliey,  indeed, 
do  otherwise,  when  the  Father  represented  to  them,  in  the  most 


m% 


86 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GÜNPOWDEB  PLOT   IN   ENGLAND. 


87 


glowing  words,  the  uncommonly  great  service  they  would  perform 
aud  urged  that  not  a  moment  longer  should  be  allowed  to 
pass  before  carrying  it  out.  "  If  you  take  the  life  of  the  tyrant 
Eüzabeth/*  he  daily  cried  to  them,  '*  it  will  appear  as  if  you  had 
killed  a  heathenish  idol  slave,  or  one  accursed  of  God,  and  you 
commit  no  sin  against  either  God  or  man.  On  the  other  hand, 
you  may  be  assured  of  a  crown  of  heavenly  immortality,  and  may 
also,  if  you  succeed,  reckon  upon  a  brilliant  earthly  reward." 

Impelled  by  this  and  such-like  discourses,  the  conspirators 
selected  the  24th  of  August,  the  anniversary  of  the  night  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  for  the  perpetration  of  the  crime.  But  what  a 
fatality  was  •  this  !  By  some  accident  the  Government  became 
acquainted  with  their  frightful  intention,  and  managed  to  seize 
upon  them  all,  without  exception,  including  the  Jesuit  Ballard. 
They  were,  of  course,  instantly  brought  to  trial,  and,  on  the 
1st  October,  executed  in  the  same  barbarous  way  in  which  Parry 
had  been  deprived  of  life  two  years  before.  Their  own  execution, 
however,  was  not  the  least  of  it ;  the  chief  thing  was,  that  as  it 
came  out  in  the  examinauon  of  Mary  Stuart,  that  she  knew 
of  the  circumstance  and  had  an  understanding  in  the  matter  with 
them,  she,  too,  was  brought  to  trial,  and  beheaded,  on  the  Öth 
February  1ÖÖ7,  by  order  of  the  Parliament. 

One  would  now  have  thought  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  would 
have  ceased  to  have  made  any  further  attempt  on  the  throne  and 
life  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  after  so  many  efforts  had  resulted  in 
merely  bringing  their  instruments  to  the  scaiibld ;  but  it  was  ex- 
actly the  reverse,  for  now,  after  the  execution  of  Mary  Stuart, 
they  became  perfectly  furious,  and,  on  that  account,  set  every  lever 
in  action  in  order  to  attain  their  end.     Instigated  by  them,  there- 
fore. King  Philip  II.  prepared  that  grand  Armada  with  which  he 
contemplated  the  easy  conquest  of  England ;  the  waters  of  the 
ocean,  indeed,  had  never  before  seen  such  a  fleet !     At  the  same 
time  Pope  Sixtus  V.  thundered  forth  a  new  Bull  ol  Excommuni- 
cation against  Elizabeth,  in  which  he  not  only  declared  her  to  be 
unworthy  of  the  throne  as  a  heretic  and  bastard,  but  empowered 
anyone  to  lay  hands  on  her,  and  to  deliver  her  over,  either  as  a 
prisoner  or  dead,  to  King  Phihp  as  the  head  of  the  Catholics. 
But  the  Armada—"  the  Invincible,"  as  it  was  arrogantly  denomi- 
nated— was  wrecked  in  a  storm  on  the  chalk  cliffs  of  England, 
and  the  Papal  lightning  was  consumed  by  the  affection  of  the 


English  for  their  Queen,  without  the  slightest  harm  being 
produced  thereby.  The  Jesuits  again  proceeded  to  prosecute 
their  old  attempts  at  murder,  and  Father  Holte  succeeded, 
in  the  year  1092,  in  working  upon  a  Dutchman  of  the 
name  of  Patrick  Cullen  in  such  a  way  that  he  swore  upon 
the  Host  he  would  take  the  life  of  the  usurper  Elizabeth.  His 
project,  also,  failed ;  for  hardly  had  he  set  foot  on  English  ground 
than  he  was  arrested  and  executed.  Nor  did  it  go  better  with 
the  conspirators  Williams  and  Yorke,  whom  the  same  Jesuit 
Fathers  won  over,  in  1594,  for  such  murderous  undertakings, 
and  in  dying  they  cursed  those  who  had  hounded  them  on  to 
the  bloody  enterprise.  The  last  one  to  make  any  attempt  was 
Edward  Squiere,  to  whom  Father  Kichard  Walpode,  a  Jesuit, 
himself  delivered  over  the  poison  which  was  to  remove  the 
ii^nglish  Queen  from  the  world.  He,  equally  with  his  predeces- 
sors, ended  his  existence  on  the  scaffold,  whilst  his  seducer,  the 
worthy  Father,  scoffed  at  his  folly  in  allowing  himself  to  be 
seized,  he  himself  having  made  his  escape  to  Spain. 

At  length  Elizabeth  died,  on  the  24th  March  1603,  having,  on 
the  loth  November  1602,  shortly  before  her  death,  issued  a 
severe  edict  against  the  Jesuits,  as  the  authors  of  all  the 
murderous  attempts  against  her,  declaring  them,  and  all  of 
their  way  of  thinking,  to  be  outlaws  for  ever  throughout 
her  dominions. 

The  rejoicing  among  the  sons  of  Loyola  was,  of  course,  great 
when  the  news  of  her  death  reached  them,  as  in  Elizabeth  their 
mortal  enemy  had  departed  this  life.  Besides,  they  might  dare 
to  hope  that  the  new  King,  James  I.,  the  son  of  Mary  Stuart, 
would  afford  protection  to  the  Catholics,  and  especially  to  the 
members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  had  done  so  much  for  his 
unfortunate  mother,  and  that  he  would  treat  them,  indeed,  as 
his  dearest  friends,  it  was  true,  indeed,  that  he  acknowledged 
the  Protestant  religion,  the  same  as  that  to  which  his  Scottish 
subjects  belonged,  and  distinguished  himself  as  well  read  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures;  but  the  Jesuits  conceived  that  this  was  only 
a  mask  not  to  forfeit  the  throne  of  Scotland  and  England,  and 
they  hoped  that  he  would  throw  off  the  guise  as  soon  as  the 
two  crowns  had  been  placed  on  his  head.  They  trusted  this 
the  more  as  J  ames  I.  was  remarkable  lor  a  certain  indolence  of 
character  which  frequently  made  him,  to  a  considerable  extent, 


.^Jv-' 


60 


filSTORT   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GUNPOWDER  PLOT  IN  ENGLAND. 


d9 


the  mere  sport  of  his  Court,  and  they  therefore  awaited  with 
auxiety  the  first  governmental  transactions  of  the  new  monarch. 
These  did  not  turn  out,  by  any  means,  as  they  had  anticipated, 
for  although  by  a  published  decree  the  law  promised  at  once 
complete  toleration  to  the  Cathohcs,  and  accorded  a  pardon 
to  the  conspirators  condemned,  under  Elizabeth,  to  strict 
imprisonment,  James  declared  at  the  same  time,  on  the 
advice  of  his  influential  minister,  Robert  Cecil,  Earl  of  SaUs- 
bury,  that  England  should  remain  now,  as  before,  closed 
against  the  Jesuits,  and  that  no  change  would  be  made  in 
regard  to  the  ordinances  of  Elizabeth  against  them,  i'rom 
this  the  monarch  would  not  allow  himself  to  be  afterwards 
diverted,  and,  indeed,  principally  on  the  ground  that,  from  his 
quiet  temperament,  he  was,  above  everything,  a  lover  of  peace, 
while  he  was  firmly  convinced  that  he  might  ward  ofl*  insurrec- 
tions and  disturbances  from  his  kingdom  by  keeping  the  Jesuits 
at  a  distance.  That  was,  indeed,  a  severe  blow  to  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  Jesuits,  and,  even  on  this  account,  their  rage  knew 
no  bounds.  They  therefore  resolved  to  revenge  themselves  in 
such  a  way  as  had  never  been  heard  of  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  They  determined  to  annihilate  the  King,  with  his 
whole  family,  together  with  the  entire* heads  of  Protestantism  in 
England,  at  one  blow. 

Before  everything,  on  this  account,  it  became  a  question  to 
form  a  party  in  England  who  might  take  advantage  of  the  con- 
fusion caused  by  the  first  great  scene  of  murder,  in  order,  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  to  overthrow  the  Protestants.  Consequently, 
a  pretender  to  the  throne  must  first  of  all  be  found,  who,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  devotion  to  Cathohcism,  might  have  the  appearance 
of  having  right  on  his  side.  Lastly,  the  men  had  to  be  dis- 
covered who  were  fit  to  bring  to  a  conclusion  so  formidable  an 
undertaking  as  that  which  was  in  contemplation,  and  such  men 
were,  indeed,  not  to  be  picked  up  in  the  streets. 

A  great  and  diflicult  task  thus  lay  before  them;  yes,  indeed, 
a  very  great  and  very  difficult  one,  and,  on  that  account,  it  was 
resolved  that  the  Chief,  or  Director,  of  Anglo-Jesuit  afl'airs,  the 
Provincial  Henry  Garnet,  should  proceed  himself  in  person  to 
the  scene  of  operations,  accompanied  by  several  members  selected 
with  the  greatest  care,  as  it  was  desired  to  avoid,  at  all  hazards, 
the  chance  of  any  misadventure  taking  place.     Garnet  himself. 


therefore,  choosing  his  people,  among  whom  were  especially 
remarkable  Fathers  Oswald  Tesmond,  John  Gerard,  and  P. 
Oldecorn,  took  his  departure  for  the  British  Islands.  They  did 
not,  however,  travel  in  company,  but  singly,  in  order  not  to 
arouse  observation.  Neither  did  they  journey  in  Jesuit  attire, 
or  even  under  their  own  names,  but  one  gave  himself  out  as 
a  merchant,  another  as  a  mechanic,  and  a  third  and  fourth 
as  old  soldiers,  or  whatever  else  they  chose.  And  as  regards 
their  names :  Oldecorn  called  himself  Hall ;  Gerard,  to-day  Brook 
and  to-morrow  Lee  ;  Tesmond,  Greenwell,  as  well  as  Greenwood ; 
Garnet,  too,  was  at  one  time  Wally,  at  another  Darcey,  at  an- 
other Roberts,  at  another  Farmer,  at  another  Henry,  at  another 
Philipps. 

Having  arrived  in  England,  they  betook  themselves  to  those 
Catholics  who  had  been  previously  pointed  out  by  their  spies  as 
being  the  most  zealous,  and  received  from  them  in  turn  the 
addresses  of  other  families  who  might  be  trusted  as  regards 
political  matters.  They  thus,  by  degrees,  visited  the  whole  of 
those  persons  in  England  who  still  adhered  to  the  Catholic  per- 
suasion. Before  Protestants,  however,  they  acted  as  the  most 
zealous  Puritans ;  but  everywhere  they  taught  that  a  King  devoted 
to  heresy  could  never  be  a  proper  monarch,  nor  could  he  demand 
the  obedience  of  his  subjects.  To  this,  however,  they  added 
that  King  James  1.  was  not  of  legitimate  birth,  or,  at  all 
events,  there  was  great  doubt  about  it,  and,  consequently,  that  it 
would  be  a  most  serviceable  work  in  every  respect  to  get  rid 
of  him  as  a  heretic  and  usurper.  The  sons  of  Loyola,  however, 
did  not  remain  satisfied  merely  with  this,  but  pointed  out 
the  individual  who  alone  liad  a  right  to  the  English  throne, 
in  the  person  of  Arabella  Stuart,  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Lennox,  who  was  a  direct  descendant  of  King  Henry  Vll. 
The  beautiful  Arabella,  too,  was  prepared  to  accept  the  crown 
at  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  and  it  was  only,  therefore,  requisite 
that  the  throne  should  become  vacant,  in  order  that  the  Jesuit 
candidate  should  be  enabled  to  ascend  it.  In  other  words,  it 
now  only  remained  for  them  to  find  the  proper  men  in  order  to 
remove  from  the  world  King  James,  with  his  whole  family  and 
the  heads  of  the  Protestant  party ;  but  this  the  most  difficult 
portion  of  this  most  difficult  problem  still  remained  to  be  solved. 
It  was  solved,  however,  up  to  a  certain  point,  and  certainly  xn 


öo 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


such  a  way  as  to  entitle  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  all  credit.  Pro- 
viuciai  Garnet  had  previously  made  ibe  acquaintance,  on  ihe 
Continent,  of  Robert  Catesby,  a  good  Enghsh  Catholic,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  nobleman  of  a  family  of  consideration ;  and 
this  Catesby,  not  having  at  that  time  attained  a  sutiiciently  high 
position  in  the  State,  was,  from  ambition,  not  disinclined  to 
disturb  the  order  of  things  in  England.  It  was  to  him,  there- 
fore, that  Garnet  applied  on  his  arrival  in  the  British  Islands, 
and  their  secret  conversations  soon  brought  it  about  that  the 
nobleman  declared  himself  ready  to  carry  uut  the  IrightfuUy 
daring  deed  required  of  him.  He  was  not,  however,  by  himseli* 
equal  to  the  task,  so  it  was  requisite  that  he  should  obtain  several 
accomplices,  whose  iron  will,  as  well  as  whose  strength  and 
courage,  could  be  depended  upon  no  less  than  their  absolute 
secrecy  and  their  enthusiasm  for  the  matter  in  hand. 

Consequently,  it  was  necessary  to  be  most  circumspect  in  the 
selection,  and,  as  Catesby  always  took  counsel  with  Garnet  and 
the  other  above-named  Jesuits  before  he  made  the  hrst  communi- 
cations to  a  new  conspirator,  or  even,  indeed,  took  steps  to  secure 
one.  It  was  well  into  the  year  lb04  before  the  requisite  number 
was  complete.  The  names  of  these  were  as  follows  :  Thomas 
Percy,  a  young  prolligate  and  spendthrift,  but  bold  even  to  rash- 
ness, from  the  celebrated  family  of  the  Earls  of  Northumber- 
land ;  Thomas  and  Kobert  Winter,  two  brothers,  who  had  suüered 
much  from  persecution  under  the  government  ot  Elizabeth  on 
account  of  their  Catholic  faith ;  Guy  Eawkes,  a  wild  soldier,  for- 
merly an  officer  in  the  »Spanish  service,  whose  well- scarred  face 
bore  evidence  of  his  former  deeds  ;  Erancis  Tresham  andAmbrose 
liookwood,  both  of  noble  blood,  and  intimate  friends  ol  Catesby; 
Eberhard  Digby,  a  man  of  considerable  means  and  great  talents, 
who,  however,  felt  himself  aggrieved,  as  a  Catholic,  m  the  neglect 
of  the  laith ;  Eobert  Keyes,  Christopher  WrigljL,  and  John 
Grant,  all  affected  with  similar  ambiuon;  lastly,  Tom  Bates, 
only,  indeed,  a  servant  of  Catesby,  but  a  remarkuDly  sagacious 
and  daring  comrade,  just  the  man  for  such  a  purpose,  as  he 
had  been  initiated  into  his  master'^  secret  from  the  beginning. 
Btill,  Catesby  considered  it  well,  belore  the  formal  commence- 
ment of  the  conspiracy,  that  this  latter,  on  account  of  his  vacil- 
lating scruples  of  conscience,  should  be  especially  schooled 
by  father  Oswald  Tesmond,  out  of  whose  hands  he  actually 


THE   GUNPOWDEB  PLOT   IN   ENGLAND. 


91 


emerged  as  one  of  the  most  useful  and  active  members  of  the 
plot. 

Such  were  the  men  whom  Catesby,  by  degrees,  procured  for 
his  murderous  plan,  without,  at  the  commencement,  communi- 
cating to  them  "  the  hour  and  the  when,"  withholding  this  for 
a  later  period.  At  last,  however,  towards  the  end  of  the  year 
1604,  he  considered  the  matter  ripe  for  action,  and  thereupon 
called  them  together,  on  a  dark  November  night,  to  his  dwelling, 
where,  besides  himself.  Fathers  Garnet  and  Gerard  were  already 
waiting.  The  hrst  thing  was  that  they  all  confessed  to  Eather 
Gerard,  and,  during  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament,  re- 
peated the  following  solemn  oath : — 

"I  swear,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  of  the  Sacra- 
ment of  which  1  have  the  intention  to  partake,  that  1  will  never 
reveal,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  either  by  word  or  in  any 
other  way,  anything  of  what  has  already  been  confided  to  me, 
or  will  be  confided ;  I  swear  that  I  will  never  draw  back  from 
the  accomphshment  of  our  undertaking  without  the  consent 
of  my  fellow-accomplices;  I  swear,  lastly,  that  1  am  ready  to 
sacrilice  my  life  and  limbs  for  the  only  saving  religion,  or  for 
what  may  be  ordered  for  me  by  the  priest.** 

After  the  whole  twelve  had  now  taken  the  oath,  Catesby, 
as  leader,  proceeded  to  divulge  his  plan  before  the  assem- 
blage, and  he  did  so,  notwithstanding  its  enormity,  with 
such  coolness  and  precision  as  pass  the  bounds  of  astonish- 
ment. 

**  We  can,"  said  he,  **  get  rid  of  the  King  in  a  hundred 
different  ways.  But  how  would  that  help  us  were  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  his  first-born,  the  Duke  of  York,  his  second  son,  as 
well  as  his  wife  and  daughter,  to  be  allowed  to  survive  ? 
Besides,  were  all  these  dead,  there  would  still  remain  a 
Parliament  which  would  proceed  against  us  with  the  most 
decided  determination  ;  there  would  also  remain  all  the  powerful 
lords  and  barons  whom,  should  they  place  themselves  at  the  head 
of  the  Protestants,  we  could  not  for  any  length  of  time  with- 
stand. We  can,  therefore,  only  promise  for  ourselves  a  sure  and 
certain  result  when  we  remove  out  of  the  world  the  whole  of 
the  above-mentioned  people  at  one  blow,  and  in  order  to  carry 
out  such  a  great  undertaking  it  is,  indeed,  imperatively  necessary 
ibr  us  to  treat  all  as  one  man.     You  look  at  me  with  astonish- 


92 


flIBtORY  Ol*   TflE  JESUITS. 


ment,  and  ask  how  can  it  be  possible  to  carry  out  such  a  great 
stroke  ?  1  reply,  however,  tliat  it  is  quite  feasible,  in  tins  way  : 
we  must  form  a  large  mine  under  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and 
fill  It  up  with  gunpowder ;  when,  then,  the  Parliament  is  opened 
by  the  King,  who  always  appears  accompanied  by  the  whole  of 
his  family,  we  will  set  fire  to  the  mine,  and  then  His  Majesty 
with  the  Koyal  Family,  as  well  as  all  the  members  of  Parliament, 
will  be  buried  under  the  ruins  of  the  palace." 

Such  was  Catesby's^plan,  and,  assuredly,  never  before  had 
an  idea  of  murder  so  fearful  entered  into  the  human  brain. 
Prom  the  hideousness  of  the  thought,  the  deepest  silence  at 
first  reigned  among  the  eleven  invited  guests,  and  when 
Catesby  ended,  their  deep  breathing  could  alone  be  heard. 

Guy  Pawkes  then  rose,  advanced  towards  Catesby  with  fiaming 
eyes,  and,  in  silence,  firmly  shook  the  right  hand  of  the  latter. 
Several  now  did  likewise,  as  proof  ot  their  enure  approval  of  the 
tremendous  project,  notwithstandiug  its  enormity,  öome,  however, 
hesitated,  as  if  scruples  of  conscience  had  seized  them,  and  one  of 
them,  Thomas  Winter,  ventured  to  give  expression  to  those  scruples 
in  words.  "  Among  the  lords  and  other  members  of  Parliament," 
said  he,  *'  there  are  several  who  belong  to  our  own,  the  only 
saving  faith,  and  the  same  is  also  the  case  with  regard  to  the 
thousands  of  spectators  which  the  spectacle  of  the  opening  of 
Parliament  usually  collects  together,  and  many  of  those  must,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  also  lose  their  lives  on  the  blowing  up  of  the 
palace.  Dare  we,  then,  perpetrate  the  great  sin  of  slaying 
our  own  fellow- believers,  and,  without  warning,  hurl  them  to 
destruction,  without  their  having  had  any  opportunity  for  con- 
fession and  absolution  ?  " 

Upon  such  a  suggestion  Catesby  seemed  irresolute,  and  had 
nothing  to  say  in  reply;  but  the  Pather  Provincial,  that  is, 
Henry  Garnet,  whose  utterances  were  looked  upou  as  oracular 
by  all  Enghsh  Catholics,  instantly  took  up  the  discussion,  and 
declared  without  hesitation  that  the  scruples  of  lliomas  Winter 
were  without  the  smallest  justification.  '*  There  are  always  in  a 
besieged  fortress  friends  ol  the  besiegers,"  thus  his  explanation 
proceeded,  "  who  sufier  from  the  cannon ;  but  do  people  leave  ofi' 
firing  on  that  account?  and  much  less  do  they  refrain  from 
storming.  Catesby 's  plan,  then,  ought  certainly  to  be  accepted, 
as  it  would  be,  without  doubt,  most  advantageous  to  the  Catholic 


THE   GUNPOWDER   PLOT  IN   ENGLAND. 


93 


\\ 


party,  and  by  the  blowing  up  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  a  much 
larger  number  of  heretics  than  of  true  believers  would  be 
destroyed ;  all,  therefore,  in  common,  must  be  consigned  to 
destruction." 

By  this  speech  on  the  part  of  Garnet  wavering  thoughts  were 
removed,  and  all  present  at  once  gave  their  hands  to  Catesby  in 
indication  of  their  thorough  agreement  with  him;  he,  there- 
upon, disclosed  the  further  details  of  his  plan,  and  also  gave 
information  regarding  the  place  whence  the  mine  might  be  con- 
structed. In  short,  during  that  night  all  was  arranged  in  regard 
to  the  carrying  out  of  this  fearful  project  of  murder  which  goes 
in  history  by  the  name  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot ;  and  before 
morning  the  conspirators  separated,  the  Provincial  conjuring 
them  in  a  fervent  exhortation  to  remain  true  and  stead- 
fast to  the  duties  they  had  undertaken.  He  concluded  by 
praying  with  them  and  blessing  them  :  he  cursed,  however,  their 
enemies,  consigning  them  to  the  lowest  depths  of  hell ;  and,  in 
order  that  words  might  be  replaced  by  deeds,  raising  his  hands 
towards  heaven,  he  exclaimed,  "0  God!  annihilate  a  faithless 
nation,  annihilate  her  from  the  land  of  the  living,  in  order  that 
with  full  joy  we  may  be  enabled  to  ofibr  up  becoming  praise  to 
Jesus  Christ." 

The  first  thing  that  now  took  place  was  that  Thomas  Percy, 
by  Catesby 's  direction,  hired  a  certain  house,  which  the  owner 
thereof  had  for  some  time  past  tried  to  let,  without  being  able  to 
find  a  tenant,  owing  to  its  rather  dilapidated  condition.  It  was 
serviceable,  however,  not  for  its  accommodation  so  much  as  for  its 
situation,  as  at  the  back  of  it  there  was  a  small  garden  sur- 
rounded by  a  high  wall,  which  prevented  all  curious  people  from 
observing  what  was  going  on  inside,  while  it  abutted  on  the 
court  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster,  in  which  the  Pariiament 
assembled.  Scarcely  had  Percy  taken  possession  of  the  said 
house,  when  the  other  conspirators  assembled  there ;  this  they 
did.  however,  not  openly  before  all  the  world,  but  secretly,  so 
that  no  one  should  remark  it,  and  even  the  next  neighbour 
might  have  been  able  to  swear  that  it  was  inhabited  alone  by 
Percy  and  his  servant,  which  latter  part  was  played  by  Thomas 
Bates.  With  equal  secrecy  were  the  necessary  means  of  living 
brought  into  the  house,  as,  of  course,  for  so  many  men  what 
would  be  sufficient  for  Percy  and  his  servant  was  not  enough, 


*  %  •  *-* 


?*  '■  ^*w     *^ 


94 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS, 


U\ 


and  a  daily  supply  must  needs  be  provided.  The  procuring  of 
picks,  shovels,  handspikes  and  similar  implenents  by  which  the 
excavation  of  the  mine  might  be  effected,  was  set  about  with 
the  greatest  circumspection,  and  several  weeks  passed  before  all 
the  preparations  were  concluded. 

At  length,  on  the  night  between  the  10th  and  11th  of  Decem- 
ber, the  work  was  begun,  and  the  twelve  men  did  their  utmost, 
night  and  day,  from  this  period,  being  relieved  from  time  to  time. 
They  had,  however,  a  difficult  task  before  them,  as  the  Parlia- 
ment was  to  open  on  the  7th  of  February  1605,  and  if  the  mine 
happened  not  to  be  ready  by  that  time,  their  whole  undertaking 
would  be  a  failure. 

Fortunately  for  them,  the  earth  of  the  garden  was,  for  the  most 
part,  of  a  light  nature,  and  offered  no  great  resistance  to  their 
picks  and  shovels ;  and  another  fortunate  circumstance  for  them 
was  that  they  were  seldom  disturbed  in  their  operations  by 
possible  listeners  from  outside.  Tn  spite  of  this  they  were  in 
sheer  despair,  on  the  thought  of  having  to  abandon  the  whole 
thing,  when  they  came  to  the  uncommonly  hard  foundation-walls 
of  the  palace,  the  boring  through  of  which  was  far  more  difficult 
than  they  previously  had  conceived.  They  now  learned,  however, 
to  their  unspeakable  joy  that  the  opening  of  Parliament  had  been 
indefinitely  postponed,  and  that  it  would  not  take  place  for  several 
months.  Therefore  they  worked  with  renewed  vigour,  and  about 
March  the  nine-feet-thick  wall  was  broken  through,  and  re- 
duced to  a  thin  partition.  But  how  should  they  then  proceed 
to  remove  this  latter  ?  When,  heaven  and  earth  !  what  did 
they  now  hear?  Loud  voices  on  the  other  side;  so  that  there 
was  no  doubt  of  their  secret  having  been  discovered  !  They 
instantly  quitted  the  mine,  and  betook  themselves  to  their  house 
to^  provide  themselves  with  arms,  as  they  were  resolved  to  sell 
their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible. 

Alone  Guy  Fawkes,  the  most  audacious  and  cold-blooded, 
remained  behind,  and  had  the  boldness  to  put  his  head  through 
a  hole  which  had  already  been  made  in  the  wall  in  order  to  see 
what  was  going  on  on  the  other  side.  And  what  did  he  now  see 
and  hear  ?  Certainly  nothing  to  occasion  anxiety,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  something  rather  to  make  him  rejoice.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  wall  there  was  a  large  cellar,  which  extended  imme- 
diately under  the  great  hall  of  the  House  of  Lords,     This  cellar 


aiilliiBlliMliliiiiiiiiliiliiiiiiiliiiii 


THE   GUNPOWDER  PLOT  IN  ENGLAND. 


95 


had  been  rented  by  a  dealer  in  coals  and  wood,  but,  as  the  latter 
had  just  died,  his  heir  was  removing  the  goods  in  order  not  to 
be  obliged  to  pay  the  rent  any  longer.  Fawkes,  of  course,  did 
not  delay  a  moment  in  relieving  his  fellow-conspirators  of  their 
unnecessary  anxietv,  and  they  at  once  saw  the  great  advantage 
from  the  fact  now  communicated  to  them.  In  truth,  the  benefit 
was  immense. 

Percy  was  forthwith  commissioned  to  hire  the  cellar,  and 
also  to  purchase  the  whole  supply  of  wood  and  coal  from  the 
heir.  Percv  soon  brought  this  commission  to  a  fortunate  con- 
clusion, and  the  conspirators  then  possessed  a  large  vault*  under 
• 

the  Ohamber  of  Peers,  into  which  they  might  convev  as  much 
gunpowder,  bv  means  of  their  mine,  as  they  required,  without 
heinof  remarked  by  anyone.  This,  in  fact,  they  accomplished, 
and  by  desrrees  introduced  into  the  cellar  not  less  than  thirty-six 
casks  filled  with  e^unpowder — explosive  material  more  than  suffi- 
cient to  blow  the  Palace  of  Westminster  and  all  its  surround- 
in  srs  into  the  air.  They  covered  over  these  casks,  too,  so 
artfully  with  wood,  coal,  and  bundles  of  brushwood,  that  no 
one  would  entertain  any  suspicion  whatever,  even  if  he  had 
succeeded  in  inspecting  the  cellar  without  their  knowledge. 
Resides,  they  constructed  quite  a  wall  of  light  brushwood  before 
the  entrance  to  their  mine,  in  order  to  conceal  this  from  the 
observation  of  the  uninitiated ;  and  so,  consequently,  it  resulted 
that  the  frisrhtful  secret  was  well  preserved. 

In  the  meantime  the  Opening  of  Parliament  was  definitely 
fixed  for  the  5th  November  1605 — a  Tuesday — while  the  con- 
spirators had  completed  their  last  preparations  in  October. 
Amonsr  these  was  the  mission  of  Sir  Edward  Bavnham,  a 
newly-acquired  conspirator,  whom  Provincial  Garnet  had  seduced, 
to  Aquaviva.  the  General  of  the  Order  in  Rome,  in  order  to 
convey  despatches  to  him  ;  Fathers  Stanley  and  Owen,  two 
Enorlishmen,  whom  the  same  zealous  Father  had  recently 
ordered  from  Donav,  were  also  directed  to  betake  themselves 
immediately  to  Madrid,  in  order  to  move  Philip  II.  to  send 
over  a  Snnnish  army  in  support  of  the  Catholic  cause  in 
Ensrland  as  soon  as  the  blow  had  been  struck  in  London. 
Besides,  Catesbv  had  ordered  Sir  Everard  Digbv  to  the  county 
of  Warwick,  in  order  to  overpower  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
youngest  daughter  of  the  English  King,  who  was  then  on  a  visit 


^1 


^m 


"•wi 


9& 


fflSTOKY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


there  to  Lord  Harrington;  not  a  single  member  of  the  family  of 
James  L,  indeed,  was  to  be  spared.  Thus  everything  had  been 
done  for  the  best,  and  the  authors  of  the  plot  were  congratu^ 
lating  themselves  on  the  near  success  of  their  undertaking. 

It  now  happened,  on  the  evening  of  the  28th  October,  that  a 
member  of  Parliament,  Lord  Monteagle,  received  an  anonymous 
letter,  written  in  a  disguised  hand,  which  was  delivered  to  his 
seiTant  by  a  stranger  who  did  not  wait  for  an  answer.  This  letter 
was  couched  in  these  words : 

'*  The  friendship  which  I  entertain  for  yourself  and  some  of 
your  associates,  induces  me  to  watch  over  your  preservation.     If 
you  set  any  value  on  your  life,  manage  to  find  an  excuse  from 
appearing  in  the  next  Parliament,  as  God  and  man  have  deter- 
mined that  the  godlessness  of  this  age  will  meet  with  punishment. 
Do  not  neglect  this  advice  which  I  give  you,  but  immediately  go 
as  fast  as  possible  to  your  estate.     A  frightful  blow  will  over- 
take Parliament,  and  the  hand  fronJ  which  it  comes  will  not  be 
seen.     Indeed,  the  danger  will  be  over  in  as  short  a  time  as  is 
required  to  burn  this  letter.     I  hope  that  God,  to  whom  I  pray, 
may  take  you  under  his  protection,  and  that  you  will  make 
a  good  use  of  what  I  now  disclose  to  you." 

Lord  Monteagle  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  this  letter, 
while,  Catholic  as  he  was,  fearing  that  he  might  later  on  get 
into  trouble  were  he  to  keep  it  secret,  he  hastened  with  it  to 
Cecil,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  the  Secretary  of  State.     The  latter, 
also,  could  not  come  to  any  clear  conclusion,  but,  smiling,  gave 
it  aJ  his  opinion  that  it  was  a  foolish  joke,  in  order  to  work 
upon  the  fears  of  Lord  Monteagle.     He  still  considered  it  his 
duty  to  show  the  letter  to  the  King,  in  order  to  receive  his  orders 
concerning  it ;  and  upon  him  the  writing  had  a  very  different 
effect.     James  I.  did  not  belong  to  the  most  courageous  among 
men,  and,  consequently,  he  was  not  a  little  frightened  about  the 
threatening  words  used  by  the  unknown  warner.     '*  A  frightful 
blow/'    said   he  to  himself,    "which  will  fall  without  anyone 
knowing  whence  it  comes- a  danger  which  passes  over  in   as 
short  a  time  as  is  required  to  burn  this  letter- before  God !  the 
writer  can  only  refer  to  the  effect  produced  by  the  explosion  of 
gunpowder."     A  frightful  suspicion  took  hold  of  his  mind,  and, 
after  a  conference  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  he  commissioned 
the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  then  Lord  Chamberlain,  to  examine  care- 


fi< 


THE   GÜNPOWDEB  PLOT   IN   ENGLAND. 


97 


fully  all  the  vaults  underneath  the  Palace  of  Westminster, 
particularly  as  regards  the  Parliament  Hall,  besides  the  whole 
of  the  cellars  of  the  adjoining  neighbourhood.  It  was  necessary, 
however,  in  order  not  to  give  any  previous  warning  to  the 
authors  of  the  conspiracy,  should  such,  indeed,  exist,  as  well  as 
not  to  alarm  unnecessarily  the  English  people  in  case  the 
whole  affair  turned  out  to  be  nothing  after  all,  that  the  search 
should  take  place  on  the  night  previous  to  the  appointed  sitting 
of  Parliament.  It  was,  therefore,  effected  in  the  night  between 
the  4th  and  5th  of  November.  The  Earl  of  Suffolk  accompanied 
by  a  company  of  Guards,  and  led  by  Winhyard,  the  keeper  of 
the  Palace,  descended  into  the  vaults  at  Westminster.  He  found, 
however,  nothing  at  all  suspicious  in  the  cellar  hired  by  Percy 
that  could  in  any  way  give  rise  to  any  fear,  save  that  a  fellow 
was  discovered,  of  the  name  of  Johnson,  who  gave  himself 
out  as  a  servant  of  Percy,  the  hirer  of  the  cellar,  and  was 
apparently  occupied  in  arranging  the  firing  material,  of  which, 
as  he  said,  a  large  supply  had  just  been  purchased. 

To  this  effect  ran  the  report  submitted  by  Suffolk  to  the  King, 
surrounded  by  his  Ministers.  The  Ministerial  Council,  however, 
considered  it  to  be  most  extraordinary  that  a  private  individual 
hke  Percy  should  possess  such  a  large  supply  of  coals,  and  not 
less  remarkable  that  Percy's  servant  should  be  found  prowling 
about  the  cellar  at  such  a  late  hour  of  night.  On  that  account 
a  man  of  more  sagacity  than  the  Lord  Chamberlain  was  hastily 
summoned,  in  the  person  of  Thomas  Knevet,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
who  was  ordered  not  only  to  make  a  more  accurate  survey  of  the 
Parliament  cellar,  but  al&o  to  direct  his  attention  to  the  house 
adjoining  hired  by  Percy.  Sir  Thomas  Knevet  at  once  set 
about  this  with  the  necessary  guard,  and  an  hour  after  mid- 
night, also  conducted  by  Winhyard,  entered  Percy's  large  cellar. 
What  was  there  ?  Again  no  one  but  the  man  representing 
himself  to  be  Percy's  servant,  of  the  name  of  Johnson,  standing 
behind  the  door  with  a  dark-lantern.  Sir  Thomas  ordered  a 
constable  to  apprehend  the  man  and  this  was  immediately 
effected,  in  spite  of  his  desperate  resistance.  Upon  him  was 
found  a  piece  of  tinder,  three  matches,  a  dagger,  and  a  pistol. 
It  was  also  noticed  that  he  was  booted  and  spurred,  like  a  man 
who  was  prepared  to  take  a  journey  on  horseback.  This  was  in 
the  highest  degree  remarkable,  and  Sir  Thomas  perceiving  that 

n.  7 


98 


HISTOBT  07  THB  JESUITS. 


THE   QÜNPOTTBBB  PLOT  IN  SNOLAKD. 


90 


there  was  here  some  foul  play,  ordered  further  that  the  whole  of 
the  firing  material  should  he  thoroughly  examined.  This  was 
done  accordingly,  and  then  the  true  nature  of  the  alleged  coal- 
cellar  was  revealed,  and,  to  the  intense  horror  of  those  present, 
the  thirty-six  barrels  of  gunpowder  were  discovered,  with  which, 
a  few  hours  later,  the  Palace  of  Westminster  would  have  been 
blown  into  the  air. 

The  rest  is  soon  told.  The  alleged  Johnson  was  that  very 
night — it  was  now  4  o'clock  in  the  morning — conducted  to  the 
royal  palace,  where  a  ministerial  council,  under  the  presidency 
of  James  I.,  was  sitting,  and  a  strict  examination  of  the  prisoner 
was  instituted.  He  acknowledged  Guy  Fawkes  to  be  his  name, 
as  also  that  it  was  the  intention  to  blow  up  the  Palace  of  West- 
minster at  the  opening  of  Parliament.  He  exhibited  no  regret, 
but  was  furious,  on  the  other  hand,  that  his  plan  had  not  been 
successful.  He  also  obstinately  refused  to  give  up  the  names  of 
the  conspirators,  and  wished  to  make  it  out  that  he  was  alone 
concerned  without  any  assistance.  Two  days  later,  however, 
after  he  thought  there  had  been  sufficient  time  for  them  to  effect 
their  escape,  he  made  a  full  confession,  on  being  submitted  to 
torture,  and,  thereupon,  it  was  attempted  to  seize  all  the  con- 
spirators. These  had  been  warned  by  a  messenger  from  Father 
Tesmond,  who  had  been  made  aware  of  the  arrest  of  Guy 
Fawkes,  and  they  had  taken  flight  to  Warwickshire,  whither 
Digby  had  already  proceeded  in  order  to  seize  the  Princess 
Elizabeth,  and  had  collected  a  small  following  about  him.  As, 
however,  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  Richard  Wabh,  at  the  head 
of  several  thousand  soldiers  at  once  marched  against  them,  they 
escaped,  with  several  of  their  friends  who  still  adhered  to  them, 
into  the  county  of  Stafford  to  the  castle  of  Holbeach,  the  possessor 
of  which,  Stephen  Littleton,  as  a  good  Catholic,  did  not  refuse  to 
receive  them*  They  here  wished  to  defend  themselves  to  the  last, 
as  they  thought  it  better  to  die  with  arms  in  their  hands  than 
to  end  their  lives  miserably  on  the  scaffold.  As,  however,  by 
accident,  their  supply  of  gunpowder  (which,  in  consequence  of 
becoming  wet,  had  been  laid  upon  a  stone  to  dry)  took  fire  and 
burnt  some  of  them — they  numbered  in  all  some  eighty — it 
resulted  that  they  were  no  longer  able  to  defend  themselves. 
Thus  the  royal  troops  succeeded  with  ease  in  penetrating  into 
the  castle^  and»  in  the  first  fight»  Bobert  Key  es,  Christopher 


Wright,  and  about  a  dozen  more  were  slain,  while  Grant,  Bigby, 
Rookwood,  and  Bates,  with  ten  of  their  companions,  had  to  give 
themselves  up  as  prisoners.  Robert  Winter,  Francis  Tresham, 
Stephen  Littleton,  and  some  others,  succeeded  in  escaping, 
but  were  likewise  arrested  in  a  few  days  afterwards,  and  all 
three  swore  they  would  sooner  die  than  give  themselves  up, 
and  in  the  case  of  two  this  oath  was  fulfilled ;  subsequently 
Catesby  and  Percy  were  killed  by  musket-shots  after  a  long 
and  brave  resistance.  Robert  Winter  vias  caught  alive  by  his 
enemies,  although  severely  wounded. 

The  whole  of  the  prisoners  were  at  once  brought  into  the 
Tower  of  London,  in  which  also  Guy  Fawkes  lay.  They  were 
all  examined,  one  after  the  other,  and  confessed  their  guilt, 
without  its  being  necessary  to  put  them  to  torture.  The  crime 
of  high  treason  was  thus  proven,  and  on  that  account  the  sen- 
tence could  be  no  other  than  death  "  at  the  hands  of  the 
executioner  "  ;  and  this  sentence  was,  indeed,  carried  out  on  all 
the  above-named,  in  the  public  place  before  the  Palace  of  West- 
minster, on  the  30th  January  1606,  and  those  implicated  in  a 
smaller  degree,  who  had  first  given  support  to  the  chief  conspirfer 
tors  in  the  county  of  Warwick,  got  off  by  punishment  of  imprison- 
ment and  banishment  for  life  from  Great  Britain, 

Justice  was,  however,  not  satisfied  with  these  victims  as  long 

as  the  authors  of  the  plot  were  at  liberty,  and  that  these  were 

to  be  sought  for  among  the  Jesuits  the  English  Government 

entertained    not   the    slightest    doubt.     This   was    sufficiently 

proved  from  certain  letters  which  had  been  seized,  and  if  the 

conspirators  during  their  examinations  had  not,  as  a  rule,  ex* 

pressed  very  much  implicating    the    highly-esteemed  Fathers, 

there  were,  at  least,  certain  statements  made  which  incontestably 

proved  the  sympathy  of  Fathers  Garnet,  Gerard,  Tesmond,  and 

Oldecorn  in  the  frightful  undertaking.     The  Government,  coU' 

sequently,  made  it  known  by  an  especial   edict,  on  the  loth 

January  1606,  which  was  attached  to  the  church  doors  all  over 

the  kingdom,  that  no  one,  under  the  most  severe  penalty,  should 

shelter  the  four  äbove-«named  Jesuits,  or  render  them  the  least 

protection,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  should  make  prisoners  of 

them  wherever  they  might  be  found,  and  deliver  them  into  the 

hands  of  justice  ;  and  to  secure  this  a  large  reward  was  held  out* 

Much  importance  wag  apparently  attached  by  the  King  and  his 


100 


mSTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


counsellors  to  the  arrest  of  the  Loyolites  mentioned,  not  so  much 
that  they  might  be  punished,  but  rather  in  order  to  show  the 
world  what  a  nefarious  aim  the  Society  of  Jesus  pursued,  and 
with  what  infamous  means  it  went  to  work.  But,  in  spite  of 
everything,  Fathers  Gerard  and  Tesmond  succeeded  in  making 
their  escape  to  the  continent  to  France,  and  the  two  others, 
Garnet  and  Oldecom,  were  likewise  very  nearly  saved.  These 
latter  had  fled,  along  with  an  equally  true  and  faithful  servant  of 
Garnet,  to  Kenlip,  into  the  castle  belonging  to  a  good  Catholic 
of  the  name  of  Abington,  and  were  concealed  for  some  length 
of  time  in  a  chimney  that  remained  undiscovered  in  some  out-of- 
the-way  comer,  although  it  was  known  that  they  were  in  the  castle. 
At  last,  however,  all  the  domestics  of  Abington,  without  one 
single  exception,  were  removed,  and  the  lord  of  the  castle  was 
carefully  watched  night  and  day,  when  the  three  fugitives,  impelled 
by  hunger,  issued  from  their  retreat,  and  were  at  once  brought 
to  the  Tower  of  London,  where  they  arrived  at  the  beginning  of 
February.  The  joy  at  this  capture  was  very  great ;  it  was,  still, 
somewhat  lessened  by  the  circumstance  that  the  servant  of 
Garnet,  on  the  very  first  night,  ripped  up  his  abdomen  with  a 
knife  that  he  had  contrived  to  conceal,  in  order  that  he  might 
die — which,  indeed,  occurred — before  being  put  to  torture, 
through  the  pain  of  which  he  might  be  compelled  to  make  a 
confession. 

Still  more  vexatious  was  it  for  the  investigating  judges 
that  Garnet  and  Oldecom  obstinately  denied  all  complicity  in 
the  conspiracy,  or  even  any  knowledge  of  it,  and  for  a  long 
time  resisted  all  remonstrance  in  overcoming  their  deliberate 
lying.  At  last  resort  was  had  to  artifice,  and  this  was  success- 
ful in  eliciting  the  tmth.  One  of  the  prison  attendants  repre- 
sented himself  to  be  a  zealous  but  secret  Catholic,  and  played 
the  part  so  well  that  after  a  little  time  Gamet  gave  him  his 
entire  confidence.  The  consequence  was  that  he  entrusted  to 
his  care  letters  to  his  fellow  prisoner  Oldecom  as  well  as  to 
several  well-to-do  Catholics  living  in  London.  These  docu- 
ments now  clearly  revealed  the  tmth  of  what  the  two  Fathers  had 
denied  with  such  pertinacious  obstinacy,  and,  after  being  made  to 
confess,  they  were  condemned  to  death  for  high  treason.  This 
sentence  was  also  carried  out  on  the  3rd  of  May  1606  with  all 
the  barbarity  formerly  attaching  to  such  executions,  and  the  two 


II 


THE   GUNPOWDEB  PLOT  IN  ENGLAND. 


101 


miscreants  died  the  death  they  had  deserved  two  or  three  times 
over  at  least. 

Such  was  the  end  of  that  Jesuit  Catholic  scheme  which,  under 
the  name  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  attained  such  celebrity,  and 
one  may  well  understand  how  it  is  that  the  English  nation 
henceforward  has  entertained  such  an  intense  hatred,  such  an 
invincible  disgust,  towards  everything  connected  with  Jesuitism. 

As  to  this  hatred,  James  I.  showed  all  his  subjects  a  good 
example,  for  whenever  afterwards  any  member  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  dared  to  touch,  far  less  to  pass,  the  frontier  of  his  kingdom, 
even  were  the  man's  intentions  perfectly  friendly,  he  was  most 
certain  to  be  executed,  could  he  only  be  caught.  From  this, 
then,  a  peculiar  panic  came  over  the  aforesaid  Society,  and  they 
henceforth  ceased  to  disobey  the  command  of  the  King.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  revenged  themselves  by  calumniating  the 
latter  in  the  most  shameful  manner,  translating,  at  the  same 
time,  the  conspirator  Garnet,  as  a  martyr  and  hero  of  the  faith, 
directly  into  heaven.  After  the  death  of  James  I.  the  sons  of 
Loyola  believed  that  they  might  again  dare  to  raise  their  head 
with  boldness,  as  his  successor,  Charles  I.,  had  for  his  spouse  a 
Catholic  princess  of  the  French  royal  family,  he  himself  being  only 
too  pleased  to  do  exactly  what  his  spouse  desired.  The  Queen, 
moreover,  was  of  a  very  religious  tum  of  mind,  and  her  spiritual 
adviser  especially  favoured  the  Order  of  Jesus.  What  wonder 
was  it,  then,  that  the  Jesuits  now  completely  altered  their  tactics, 
and,  forsaking  blood  and  iron,  strove  to  attain  their  end  by  flat- 
tering words.  They  had,  indeed,  ground  for  hope  that  they 
might  in  time  gain  over  the  King  to  their  side,  and,  through 
his  favour,  be  enabled  to  make  a  glorious  entrance  into  Eng- 
land. They  had  reason  to  anticipate  this,  inasmuch  as  King 
Charles  promised  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  that,  on  ascending 
the  throne,  he  would  make  the  Catholic  religion  the  national 
faith,  and,  in  fact,  he  commenced  his  reign  by  filling  up  all 
the  most  important  State  appointments  with  Catholics  only. 
Still  the  accomplishment  of  the  Jesuit  hopes  was  never  realized, 
but,  on  the  other  hand.  King  Charles  expiated  on  the  scafibld  the 
errors  in  his  mode  of  Govemment ;  and  with  his  death  Catho- 
licism lost  for  a  long  time  all  influence  in  the  British  Isles. 

It  was  otherwise  under  Charles  11.,  who,  as  is  well  known,  was 
restored  to  the  throne  of  his  father  after  the  death  of  Cromwell. 


102 


mSTOBT  OF  THB  JESXnTS. 


THE  6TTirP0\n)EB  PLOT  IN  BNOLAND. 


103 


This  monatch  was  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his  mistress, 
while  he  was  looked  after  by  Father  La  Chaise,  the  celebrated 
Confessor  of  Louis  XIV. ;  hence  it  is  apparent  what  means,  the 
Jesuits  employed,  and  it  may  be  well  imagined  that  the  interests 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  were  not  lost  sight  of.  At  the  same  time 
the  Queen,  who,  as  a  Portuguese  princess,  acknowledged,  of 
course,  the  strictest  Catholicism,  brought  with  her  to  London 
a  Jesuit  of  the  name  of  Antony  Fernandez  as  Father  Confessor, 
and  this  spiritual  adviser  ruled  her  so  completely  that  she 
made  all  his  wishes  her  own 

Thirdly,  the  Duke  of  York,  the  brother  and  probable  successor 
of  the  King,  who  had  no  legitimate  children,  ruling  as  he  did 
the  whole  Council  of  State,  very  soon  went  over  secretly  to  the 
only  saving  faith,  and  through  the  persuasion  of  his  Con- 
fessor, the  Jesuit  Father  Simons,  took  this  difficult  step  so 
publicly  that  the  English  could  no  longer  entertain  any  doubt 
about  his  way  of  thinking.  It  is  thus  seen  that  King  Charles 
lived  in  an  almost  thoroughly  Catholic  atmosphere,  that  is,  in 
one  impregnated  with  the  purest  Jesuitism,  and,  such  being  the 
case,  who  could  take  it  amiss  when  the  sons  of  Loyola  gave  it 
as  their  opinion  that  the  King  must,  for  good  or  evil,  sooner  or 
later  equally  openly  embrace  Catholicism.  They  nourished 
the  hope,  indeed,  that  he  would  not  only  revoke  the  strict 
laws  which  were  still  in  force  against  the  Jesuits,  but  even 
introduce  the  latter  into  England.  Still,  it  happened  that 
Charles  IL,  not  forgetting  the  sad  fate  of  his  father,  lest  the 
same  might  befal  himself,  was  neither  an  open  public  apos- 
tate from  the  Episcopalian  Church,  nor  did  he  alter  the  laws 
against  the  Jesuits,  so  that  the  latter  were  merely  tolerated,  but 
not  by  any  means  regularly  installed  at  Court. 

The  wind  now,  however,  suddenly  changed  its  direction,  as 
Charles  IL  at  length  died,  in  the  year  1685,  and  the  Duke  of 
York,  under  the  title  of  James  IL,  ascended  the  English  throne. 
Now,  indeed,  had  the  sons  of  Loyola  true  cause  for  rejoicing,  as 
the  new  King  allowed  himself  to  be  entirely  governed  by  Father 
Peters,  the  successor  of  Father  Simons,  and  the  whole  machine 
of  the  State  moved  according  to  the  principles  and  orders  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  It  was  a  pity  for  them,  however,  that  the 
English  people  were  not  overcome  by  such  lethargy  as  to  allow 
the  nation  to  be  long  oppressed  by  despotism ;  it  was,  indeed,  a 


pity  that  the  Protestants  were  not  afraid  to  raise  a  revolution 
when  their  freedom  of  conscience  and  their  religion  was  in  ques- 
tion ;  it  was,  indeed,  a  pity  that  after  three  years  the  Bling  was 
left  with  no  followers  except  the  couple  of  Jesuit  Fathers  and 
the  Jesuit  friends  into  whose  arms  he  had  thrown  himself,  and 
that  he  was  obliged  to  take  flight  to  France  on  the  landing  of 
his  Protestant  brother-in-law,  William  III.,  Prince  of  Orange. 
The  encouragement  given  to  Jesuitism  cost  the  foolish  James  IL 
his  throne,  and  all  the  trouble  taken  by  himself  and  his 
descendants  failed  to  regain  it.  With  him,  also,  the  sons  of 
Loyola  had  to  take  their  departure  out  of  Britain,  and  their 
return  was  debarred  for  ever  by  the  atrictegt  laws. 


V 


>        III!     ^>*^i<>^ 


104 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


CHAPTEB   m. 

THE   ATTEMPTS   ON   THE   LIVES   OF   PBINCES  WILLIAM  AND 

MORICE   OF   ORANGE. 


As  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  and  of  Zeeland  were  driven 
into  despair  by  the  despotic  cruelty  of  Phih'p  II.,  who  wished  to 
rob  them  at  once  of  their  religious  and  their  political  liberty,  the 
standard  of  rebellion  was  at  length  raised,  towards  the  end  of  the 
second  half  of  the  16th  century ;  and  in  their  fury,  shrinking 
from  no  danger,  although  they  were  by  far  weaker  and  less 
powerful,  they  totally  threw  oflP  the  Spanish  yoke,  but  only 
after  a  period  of  strife  extending  over  nearly  forty  years,  re- 
specting which  the  reader  has  no  doubt  already  made  himself 
acquainted  from  the  history  of  the  worid.  It  would,  therefore, 
only  be  waste  of  time  to  describe  the  particulars  of  this  stupen- 
dous war.  I  must  not,  however,  omit  to  add  that  the  Jesuits, 
from  its  very  commencement,  took  a  most  zealous  part  in  it  ; 
while  King  Philip,  the  despot  and  tyrant,  found  no  more 
strenuous  friends,  and  the  Dutch,  who  were  contending  for  their 
freedom  and  faith,  no  more  bitter  and  implacable  enemies,  than 
the  sons  of  Loyola. 

All  means  were  right  for  them,  if  they  only  tended  towards 
injury  to  the  Dutch  or  advantage  to  the  King  of  Spain,  and  they 
refrained  as  little  from  violence  as  from  deceit  and  cunning. 
Thus  it  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  they  kept  supplies  of 
weapons  and  powder  for  the  Spaniards  in  their  different  colleges 
at  Antwerp,   Doornick,  Bruges,   Maestrick,  Groningen,  Nym- 


ASSASSINATION   OP   THE   PBINOE   OF   ORANGE. 


105 


wegen,    Herzogenbush,  Breda,  and  elsewheife,  and  in  Utrecht 
they  did  not  avoid  playing  the  part  of  traitors  when  they  desired 
to  deliver  the  town  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.      On  that 
account  the  Rector  of  the  College  there.  Father  John  Baptist 
Bodden,  as  well  as  the  Procurator,  Gerard  Posman,  and  the 
Coadjutor,  Philip  Nottin,  were  brought  to  trial,  and  these  three 
were  beheaded  in  the  public  market-place,  by  demand  of  the 
Court  of  Justice,  on  their  treachery  being  proved.     Many  others 
of  them  equally  deserved  the  same  fate,   as  they  secretly  prac- 
tised, everywhere,  treachery  against  the  Dutch  people,  and  on 
that  account  the  latter  were  often  so  furious  against  the  fraternity 
that  the  whole  attention  of  the  magistrates  and  oflBcials  was 
required   to   protect   them   and   prevent    their    being   torn    in 
pieces.     Above   everything,  hatred   against   them  was  aroused 
by  the    shameful   way   of    proceeding  of    which    they    were 
guilty  against  the  House  of  Orange,  and  if  at  that  time  when 
they  were  carrying  on  their  fiendish  proceedings  they  could  have 
been  got  hold  of,  not  a  single  one  of  them  would  have  escaped 
with  their  lives.     It  is  known  from   history  that  William    I., 
Prince  of  Orange  and  Duke  of  Nassau,  who  went  by  the  name 
of  the  *'  Silent  One,"  not  only  played  an  important  part  in  the 
Dutch  war  of  emancipation  from  the  Spanish  yoke,  but  that  he 
may  likewise  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Dutch  freedom.     It 
was  he  who,  in  1570,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  great 
movement,  and  the  States  General  had  him  alone  to  thank,  on 
account  of  his  sagacity,  bravery,  and  talent,  that  they  were  not 
entirely  subdued  at  the   commencement  by   the   overpowering 
might  of  Spain.     Under  these  circumstances,  it  need  not  be  won- 
dered at  that  the  "  Silent  One"  especially  incurred  the  hatred  of 
King  Philip   and   his  friends  the  Jesuits.     Can   there  be   any 
wonder,   then,  that  the  latter  determined  to  proceed   by   any 
means,  even   the  most  extreme,  to   rid  themselves   of  such  a 
powerful  antagonist  ?     Verily,  indeed,  if  anywhere,  it  was  here, 
in  connection  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  that  there  was  occa- 
sion for  practically  carrying  out  their  doctrine  of  allowable  regi- 
cide, as  there  lived  no  man  on  earth  at  that  time  who  put  more 
hindrance  in  the  way  of  the  Jesuit  plans  than  he,  and,  espe- 
cially there  was  no  one  who  might  be  substituted  for  him.     Then 
down  with  him,  the  intensely  hated  enemy  ;  then  down  with  him 
by  means  of  powder  and  lead,  by  poison  or  dagger,  in  order 


106 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


that  over  bis  corpse  the  Dutch  nation  might  again  be  fettered  in 
the  old  yoke  of  tyranny  and  superstition. 

The  first  to  attempt  murder  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  made 
by  John  Jauregay,  a  youth  not  five-and-twenty  years  old,  and 
the  circumstances  were  as  follows  : — 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1 582  a  Spaniard,  of  the  name  of 
Caspar  Anastro,  established  at  Antwerp,  was  on  the  point  of 
making  himself  bankrupt ;  and,  lamenting,  he  told  his  sad  tale 
to   his  confidential  friend,  who,  under   the   name   of  Juan   de 
Ysunka,  lived  with   him,  but  who,  in  truth,  was  no  other  than  a 
secret  Jesuit,  as  at  that  time  no  member  of  the  Order  dare  show 
himself  publicly  in   Antwerp.     Sometime  after  this,  his  friend 
Ysunka,  who  in  the  interim  had  executed  a  short  journey  in 
order,  no  doubt,  to  consult  his  superiors,  made  him  a  proposi- 
tion, under  the  seal  of  perfect  secrecy,  by  means  of  which  he 
might  extricate  himself  from  his  fatal  position,  and  it  was  truly 
a  very  meritorious  means  of  doing  so.     Anastro  now,  of  course, 
desired  to  know  at  once   the  particulars,  and  was  informed  that 
they  related  to  the  murder  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  for  which  deed 
the  sum  of  80,000  ducats  would  be  granted.     This  offer  excited 
him  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  and,  as  Ysunka  understood  how 
to  work  upon  his  friend  in  connection  with  religious  fanaticism, 
he  promised  the  latter  that,  should  he  succeed  in  freeing  the 
world  of  this  hideous  heretic,  he  should  obtain  a  place  in  Para- 
dise, exactly  in  the  middle  between  Jesus  Christ  and  Mary  !   The 
man  engaged,  at  length,  to  undertake  the  murder.     But  between 
talking  and  accomplishment  there  is  an  immense  difference,  and 
one  who  is  vile  enough  to  wish  to  commit  a  shameful  deed,  does 
not  on  that  account  always  at  the  same  time  possess  the  power 
of  accomplishing  it.     This  at  once  showed  itself  in  Anastro,  who 
was  much  too  great  a  coward  to  attempt  the  contemplated  murder. 
On  the  contrary,  he  applied  to  a  cashier  of  his,  of  the  name  of 
Venero,  who  had  already  been  many  years  in  his  employment, 
and  was  acquainted  with  all  his  secrets,  although,  perhaps,  not  ' 
this  one,  desiring  to  know  whether  he  in  person  would  be  willing 
to  enter  into  the  scheme,  of  course  in  consideration  of  sharing  the 
reward,  or,  at  least,  would  name  some  individual  who  would  carry 
out  the  deed.     Venero  decidedly  declined  for  himself,  although 
not  from  abhorrence  but  from  fright.     However,  he  knew  a  fana- 
tical young  man  of  the  name  of  John  Jauregay,  and  at  once 


ASSASSINATION  OP   THE  PRINCE   OP   OBANGB.         107 

proposed  to  secure  him  for  the  affair.  Ysunka  as  well  as 
Anastro  consented,  and  all  three  now  worked  upon  the  young 
fanatic,  with  whom  they  at  once  entered  into  communication,  in 
such  a  way  that  he  was  seized  with  the  most  zealous  enthu- 
siasm. He  swore,  therefore,  to  remove  out  of  the  world  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  the  arch  enemy  of  Catholic  views,  in  order  to 
do  a  service  to  Heaven,  and  fixed  upon  the  18th  May  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  deed.  He  thereupon  took  the  Sacrament 
from  his  ordinary  Father  Confessor,  Antony  Timefman,  a 
Dominican  monk,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  praiseworthy  enter- 
prise, undertaken  purely  for  the  honour  of  God  ;  indeed,  the  con- 
spirator longed  for  the  hour  in  which  he  had  arranged  to  commit 
the  deed.  The  author  of  the  shameful  act,  however,  the  said  Juan 
de  Ysunka,  did  not  display  much  courage,  but  suddenly  disap- 
peared from  Antwerp,  with  his  friend  CasparAnastro,andthe  two 
put  themselves  in  safety  with  the  Prince  of  Parma  in  the  town 
of  Tourney.  They  thought  that  the  youth,  were  he  to  be  taken 
prisoner  and  subjected  to  torture,  might  give  up  their  names,  in 
which  case  their  days  on  earth  would,  of  course,. be  numbered  as 
soon  as  they  were  caught ;  but  in  Tourney  their  friends  the 
Spaniards  were  in  the  ascendant,  and  thence  they  might  bid 
defiance  to  the  Judgment  Court  of  Orange. 

At  length  came  the  long-expected  day  on  which  Jauregay  was 
to  accomplish  his  blood-thirsty  intention.  It  was  a  Sunday,  and 
the  Prince  of  Orange  betook  himself  to  the  church,  as  he  was 
accustomed  to  do  every  Sabbath,  in  order  to  be  present  at  public 
worship.  Jauregay  followed  on  foot,  dressed  in  his  holiday 
attire,  but  he  was  unable  to  get  near  the  Prince  on  account  of 
the  large  number  of  his  attendants.  From  the  church.  Orange 
returned  to  the  Citadel  in  which  he  resided,  and  placed  himself 
there  at  the  open  door,  so  that  everyone  was  able  to  see  him 
with  his  family  and  some  friends  at  table.  Dinner  being 
ended,  it  was  intimated  to  him  that  a  supplicant  wished  to  speak 
with  him,  and  he  at  once  rose  in  order  to  go  from  the  dining- 
room  into  an  adjoining  apartment.  Just  as  he  entered  a  shot 
was  heard,  and  he  felt  himself  hit  by  a  ball  which  penetrated 
below  his  right  ear,  passing  through  the  artery  and  the  left 
cheek,  whence  it  issued.  He  fell  down  as  if  he  had  tumbled 
from  the  heavens,  as  the  shot  had  been  fired  so  near  him  that 
even  his  hair  was  set  on  fire  by  the  explosion  of  the  powder,  and 


r***^^  ,>  •ym  ^  v  w^  trr-jn 


j^ j.j'ttJ^^^L-  jt-  ^^a: 


108 


HISTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS, 


he,  at  first,  thought  that  the  Citadel  was  ahout  to  come  down 
on  the  top  of  him.  The  fainting-fit  did  not,  however,  last  very 
long,  and  when  he  came  to  his  senses  he  was  informed  that 
a  murderer  had  fired  at  him.  "  Save  his  life,"  he  exclaimed, 
'•  and  as  soon  as  I  am  hound  up  hring  him  before  me,  as  I  wish 
to  examine  him  myself."  A  most  courageous  order,  certainly, 
which  placed  the  excellence  of  his  character  in  a  most  charming 
light.  Moreover,  a  most  sagacious  direction,  because,  in  this 
way  only  might  it  be  possible  to  discover,  with  certainty,  who 
were  the  true  authors  of  the  afi*air,  it  being  most  important 
to  ascertain  this  fact.  Unfortunately  this  order  was  given  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  too  late,  as  the  guests  of  Orange,  on  the  shot 
being  first  fired,  threw  themselves  on  the  assassin,  and  literally 
hewed  him  to  pieces  with  their  swords. 

As  no  one  knew  who  he  was,  it  at  first  seemed  that  no 
information  would  be  obtained,  but  on  searching  the  pockets  of 
his  clothes  a  Jesuit  catechism  was  found,  as  also  a  memorandum- 
book  in  which  everything  was  noted  that  it  was  desired  to  know. 
It  was  hence  ascertained  not  only  who  he  was  himself,  but  also 
who  were  his  guilty  accomplices,  and  at  once  all  available  means 
were  set  in  motion  in  order  to  catch  hold  of  the  ill-doers.  But, 
from  the  circumstances  already  stated  above,  they  were  only 
successful  in  the  case  of  Venero,  the  former  cashier  of  Anastro, 
as  well  as  of  Timerman,  the  Dominican  monk,  and,  on  the  two 
being  subjected  to  torture,  a  full  confession  was  obtained  ;  they 
were,  therefore,  of  course,  according  to  the  custom  of  those  days, 
sentenced  to  a  death  of  martyrdom.  This  sentence  was,  how- 
ever, only  partially  carried  into  execution,  that  is  to  say,  the 
magnanimous  William  remitted  the  torture,  and  consigned  them 
to  death  by  strangulation,  after  which  their  bodies  were  cut  into 
four  pieces,  and  attached  to  high  stakes  in  order  to  give  a  terrible 
example.  There  they  remained  during  four  years,  until,  in  1580, 
the  Spaniards  entered  into  Antwerp,  when  the  Jesuits,  who 
everywhere  accompanied  the  Spaniards  in  captured  places,  took 
them  down,  and  accorded  to  them  a  solemn  burial,  treating 
them,  moreover,  as  martyrs,  who  had  met  with  the  death  of 
heroes  in  a  good  cause. 

William  of  Orange  recovered  completely  from  the  severe 
wound  which  the  fanatical  Jesuit  emissary  had  inflicted  on  him, 
but  he  recovered  only  to  succumb,  some  years  later,  to  a  new 


ASSASSINATION   OF   THE   PBIKOE    OF   OBANGE. 


109 


/ 


attack  made  by  the  Jesuits,  notwithstanding  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola  had,  immediately  after  the  attempted  murder  above  de- 
scribed,^been  banished  out  of  all  the  provinces  of  Holland,  and  a 
regular  hunt  made  for  everyone  who  might  be  considered  as  asso- 
ciated with  them  secretly,  or  regarded  as  true  members  in  disguise. 

Now  for  this  affair.  It  was  in  the  first  days  of  May  1583, 
that  the  Silent  One  received  at  his  house  a  Burgundian,  who  was 
presented  to  him  not  only  as  a  zealous  reformer,  as  well  as  the 
son  of  a  martyr  for  the  new  religion,  but  who,  also,  produced  the 
highest  letters  of  recommendation.  This  creature,  called  by  his 
true  name,  was  Balthasar  Geraerts,  or  Gerhard,  but  he  termed 
himself  Balthasar  Guyon,  and  his  credentials  stated  that  he 
was  the  son  of  a  certain  Guyon  who  had  been  executed  a  few 
years  before  in  Besan9on  on  account  of  his  Huguenot  faith.  As 
with  his  name,  so  also  with  his  professions.  He  carried  on  a  false 
game,  as  he  affected  great  zeal  for  the  Protestant  religion, 
attended  the  Protestant  Church  regularly,  and  was  never  to  be 
seen  without  having  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  while  he  was  as 
fanatical  a  Catholic  as  there  could  be.  But  all  this  only  came 
to  light  subsequently,  as,  on  his  first  appearance  at  the  Court  of 
Orange,  he  contrived  to  conduct  himself  so  well  that  no  one 
had  the  slightest  doubt  regarding  the  truth  of  his  assertions. 

The  Silent  One,  therefore,  took  him  into  his  service,  and 
employed  him  in  all  kinds  of  missions  which  required  thought 
and  adroitness,  and,  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of  languages, 
selected  him  to  act  as  spy  in  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  From 
one  of  these  missions  Gerhard  returned  to  Delft,  in  the  beginning 
of  July  1584,  where  William  of  Orange  then  stayed,  and  was  at 
once  admitted,  without  difficulty,  to  the  Prince,  who  was  still 
in  bed.  He  rendered  to  him  so  accurate  a  report  concerning 
everything  he  had  learned,  and  the  Silent  One  expressed  himself  so 
satisfied  with  his  skilful  emissary  that  he  issued  an  order  to  pay 
Gerhard  a  considerable  sum  of  money  as  a  reward  for  his  ser- 
vices. Besides,  his  master  observed  to  him  personally  that  he 
would  shortly  entrust  him  with  a  new  weighty  mission,  and  that 
he  must,  therefore,  come  to  him  again  in  a  few  days  to  the  castle. 
They  separated,  as  it  seemed,  very  much  pleased  with  each 
other ;  and  the  suite  of  Orange  looked  upon  Guyon  as  a  most 
favourite  and  useful  servant  of  their  lord,  in  whom,  from  his 
coming  and  going,  the  greatest  confidence  might  be  placed. 


no 


filStOÄY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


ASSASSINATION  OP  THE   I»RINOB   OS*  OEANÖE.         Ill 


Gerhard  appeared  again  at  the  palace  on  the  morning  of  the  1 0th 
July,  and  caused  himself  to  be  announced  to  the  Prince  ;  but  he, 
being  engaged  otherwise,  did  not  receive  him,  but  put  him  ofif 
until  the  afternoon.  Gerhard  now  went  into  the  court  below,  and 
lingered  about  until  nearly  1  o'clock  after  mid-day.  Just  about 
this  time  William  had  to  proceed  to  the  Senate,  and  passed 
through  the  court,  accompanied  by  only  a  few  attendants. 

Gerhard  now,  advancing  quickly  towards  him  as  if  he  had 
something  to  say,  and  coming  up  quite  close,  fired  a  pistol  at 
him  loaded  with  three  bullets.  With  the  exclamation  "God 
have  mercy  on  thee,  my  soul,  and  my  people ! "  William  of  Orange 
fell  down,  feeling  himself  to  be  mortally  wounded.  He  was 
raised  and  carried  into  his  apartments,  and  the  doctors  were  quickly 
summoned,  but  before  they  arrived  he  had  already  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  wife,  without  his  being  able  to  utter  another  word. 
In  the  meantime  the  murderer,  as  soon  as  he  had  fired  the 
shot,  took  to  flight,  and,  under  the  general  confusion  into  which 
everyone  was  thrown,  succeeded  in  reaching  the  wedls  of  Delft 
unharmed.  But  here,  just  as  he  was  about  clearing  the  ditch, 
the  Prince's  guard,  who  had  at  length  been  emboldened  to 
pursue  him,  threw  themselves  upon  him  with  cries  of  rage,  and 
easily  overpowered  him.  The  Council  of  State  then  immediately 
assembled  in  order  to  proceed  with  the  examination  of  the 
murderer,  and  he  at  once  made  quite  a  candid  confession. 

"  His  name,"  he  said,  "  was  Balthasar  Gerhard.  He  was 
bom  at  Bille  in  Franche-Comt6,  and  he  was  twenty-six  years  of 
age."  He  went  on  to  say,  further,  that  he  had  procured  his  false 
papers  through  his  having  entered  the  service,  several  years  before, 
of  Count  Mansfeld,  as  secretary,  under  the  name  of  Jean  Dupre, 
when  he  procured  a  blank  paper  provided  with  the  signature  of 
the  Count,  which  he  filled  up.  The  desire,  however,  to  murder  the 
Prince  of  Orange  had  seized  upon  him  most  powerfully,  having 
arisen  from  the  ineflfectual  attempt  of  Jauregay  becoming  known. 
His  scruples  of  conscience,  however,  had  for  some  time  held  him 
back  from  the  accomplishment  of  the  crime,  and  he  would  probably 
never  have  been  equal  to  it  had  he  not,  in  the  course  of  the  pre- 
ceding month  of  March,  gone  to  Treves,  where  his  business  had 
taken  him,  and  where  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Jesuit 
Father,  with  whom  he  took  counsel,  and  by  whom  he  was  not 
only  strengthened  in  his  intention,  but  taught  that  such  a  murder 


would  be  a  work  of  immense   advantage ;  indeed,   that  if  he 
ever  contrived  to  cause  the  death  he  would  be  certain  to  obtain 
a  place  in  Paradise,  and  be  received  among  the  number  of  the 
holy   martyrs.      Still,    not   bein^    perfectly    satisfied    by    the 
counsel  of  this  individual  Father,  he  at  once  applied  to  three 
other  Fathers  one  after  the  other,  all  being  members  of  the 
said  Order,  and,  having  confessed  to  them,  he  obtained  from  all 
the  same  assurance  of  eternal  bliss.    This  determination  had  thus 
come  to  maturity,  and  he  had  accomplished  the  deed  without  ex- 
periencing the  slightest  compunction.    Gerhard  confessed  all  this 
with  the  greatest  freedom  in  his  first  examination ;  he  would  not, 
however,  divulge  the  names  of  the  four  Jesuits,  and  declared 
that  he  was  unacquainted  with  them.     On  the  following  day,  the 
11th  of  July,  he  was  subjected  to  torture  in  order  to  elicit  the 
whole  truth,  but  he  added  nothing  more  than  that,  some  weeks 
previous,  while  travelling  from  Treves  to  Tourney,  he  had  dis- 
closed his  design  to  the  Prince  of  Parma,  Lieutenant  of  the  King 
of  Spain  and  Governor  of  Holland,  and  that  he  had  been  zealously 
strengthened  in  it  by  him,  as  well  as  by  Christopher  d'Assom- 
ville,  President  of  the  Council  of  Regency,  who  had  been  sum- 
moned purposely  on  that  account,  by  whom  he  was  deluged  with 
promises  and  brilliant  hopes.     In  a  later  examination,  conducted 
on  July  12th,  he  repeated  these  statements,  and  as  there  was  not 
the  least  ground  for  entertaining  any  doubt  about  the  matter,  he 
was  thereupon  sentenced  to  suffer  death  on  the  14th  of  that  month, 
not  merely  an  ordinary  kind  of  death,  but  one  sharpened  by  the 
most  frightful  tortures.    First  of  all,  the  hand  with  which  he  had 
fired  the  shot  was  burnt  with  a  red-hot  iron,  then  the  fleshy  parts 
of  his  body  were  torn  out  with  red-hot  tongs,   he  was    then 
hacked,  while  still  living,  into  four  pieces,  and  the  fourth,  the 
breast,  was  opened  by  the  executioner  with  a  rapid  blow,  and 
his  still  beating  heart  thrown  in  his  face,  while  they  cried  out, 
**  Murderer,  remember  our  murdered  father !  " 

The  horrible  scene  of  torture  lasted  for  upwards  of  two 
hours,  and  then,  even  as  the  last  quiver  of  the  divided  members 
ceased,  the  matter  was  still  not  yet  ended,  as  the  four  quarters 
were  fastened  by  chains  on  the  four  chief  bastions  of  the  town, 
and  the  head,  detached  from  the  trunk  of  the  criminal,  was 
placed  on  the  highest  summit  of  the  tower. 

Such  was  the   end  of  Balthasar  Gerhard,  the  murderer  of 


112 


HISTORY  OF   THE  JESUITS- 


William  of  Orange,  the  Silent  Prince  ;  and  cruel  aa  the  punish- 
ment had  heen,  the  Dutch  judged  it  to  be  much  too  mild. 
Philip  II.,  on  the  other  hand,  raised  the  family  of  the  murderer 
among  the  nobility,  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  proclaimed,  from 
all  the  pulpits  of  which  they  had  command,  the  sound  of  his 
praises  and  heroic  courage.  Indeed,  they  instituted  solemn 
processions  in  his  honour,  in  which  his  likeness  was  borne 
aloft,  as  that  of  a  martyr,  as  they  believed  that  after  the  death 
of  the  great  Orange  the  Dutch  rebellion  would  be  with  ease 
subdued,  and,  with  it,  heresy  extirpated.  Thereupon,  they 
hoped  not  only  to  come  again  into  possession  of  all  their 
fat  pastures,  but  trusted  that  their  dominion  should  be  still 
further  extended,  so  that  soon  the  whole  of  Holland  would  be 
under  their  subjection. 

These  hopes,   however,   did  not  meet  with  accomplishment; 
no,  indeed,  for   they  completely  failed.     The  Silent   One  had 
a  son,  the  Prince  Morice  of  Orange,  whom  the  States-General 
at  once,  notwithstanding  his  youth,  elected  to  be  their  Stadt- 
holder,  as  also  their  chief  and  commander,  and  he  excelled  even 
his  father  in  military  talent  and  courage.     The  Spaniards  lost, 
much  more  territory  than  ever  before  in  Holland,  and  in  a  period 
of  ten  years  there  was,  indeed,  much  danger  that  they  would 
be  obliged  to  evacuate  it  entirely.     Under  these  circumstances, 
was  there  any  wonder,  then,  that  the  fury  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
yearly  increased,  and  that   their  old    thirst    for   murder    was 
awakened  ?     "  Down  with  Morice  of  Orange  !  '*  exclaimed  they 
aloud  in  their  Colleges,  though  outside  their  walls  they  did  not 
do  so  quite  so  freely ;  they  looked  about,  however,  all  the  more 
assiduously  for  a  suitable  tool.     For  a  long  time  they  failed  to 
find  one,  as  the  people  all  feared  the  fate  of  Balthasar  Gerhard, 
and  the  certainty  of  an  earthly  life  was  dearer  to  them  than  the 
hope  of  bliss  in  Paradise. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1592,  the  Jesuits  were  informed  of  an 
individual  who  seemed  suited  to  the  undertaking,  and  they  at 
once  determined,  in  the  absence  of  a  better  subject,  to  take 
him  into  their  pay  and  allegiance.  He  was  a  cooper  in  Douay, 
of  the  name  of  Peter  Panne  ;  such  a  poor  fellow,  and  so  miser- 
able, that  he  often  hardly  knew  how  to  keep  his  wife  and  child 
from  starvation.  His  Father  Confessor,  a  member  of  the  Order 
of  Jesus,  first  of  all  questioned  him.     At  that  time  the  Jesuits 


ASSASSINATION   OP    THE   PRINCE   OP   ORANGE.        113 


were  all-powerful  in  Douay,  as  well  as  at  a  later  date,  when  this 
town  belonged  to  Belgium,  which,  up  to  the  end  of  the  foregoing 
century,  continued  to  form  a  Hapsburg- Spanish  province,  that  is, 
a  Hapsburg- Austrian  dependency.     This  Father  spoke  to  him  so 
much  concerning  the  merit  of  murdering  a  heretic,  that  he  at 
length  became  quite  anxious  to  take  part  therein.     When   he 
got  him  so  far,  the  Father  then  brought  him  into  his  College  to 
the  Rector,  who  took  him  to  the  Provincial  for  Franco -Belgium, 
which  latter  had  his  residence  there  at  that  time.     The  two  then 
initiated  him  in  all  that  he  had  to  do  in  order  to  remove  from  the 
world  the  great  heretic  and  patron  of  heretics,  Morice  of  Orange, 
and  promised  him,  besides  heavenly  bhss,  a  yearly  pension  and 
a  lucrative  appointment.     Besides  which,  as  a  foretaste  of  the 
delightful   life  he   expected,  they   gave  him  no  inconsiderable 
sum  as  earnest  money,  and  administered  to  him  after  the  requi- 
site absolution  the  holy  Sacrament.   After  all  these  preliminaries, 
the  man  prosecuted  his  journey  to  Leyden,  in  which  city  Morice 
of  Orange  then  resided,  and  he  had  hardly  arrived  there  when 
two  Jesuits  in  disguise  received  him,  and  earnestly  impressed 
upon  his  mind  to  go  to  work  with  the  greatest  foresight,  in  order 
that  his  attempt  should  not  prove  a  failure.     Peter  Paune  pro- 
mised this,  and  made  sure  that  he  would  with  perfect  certainty 
hit  the  Prince.     But  lo  and  behold,  within  a  few  days,  on  the 
27th  May,   he  already  found  himself  in  the  hands  of  justice, 
before  he  had  time  to  make  use  of  the  sharp  dagger  given  to 
him  by  the  pious  Fathers  for  the  purpose,  and  which  he  carried 
about   with   him.     He  was  taken   prisoner  on   account  of  his 
frequent  anxious  inquiries  about  Morice  of  Orange  attracting 
attention,  and  besides,  in  answer  to  questions  as  to  who  he  was 
and  what  he  had  to  do  in  Leyden,  he  gave  the  most  contra- 
dictory statements.     In  his  confusion  he   conducted  himself  as 
if  he  were  legally  cross-examined,  and  most  certainly  the  poor 
man  was   not  at  all  adapted  for  a  murderer,  and  the  Jesuits 
had   been    completely    mistaken   in  him,   for  in  the  first   half 
hour  he  freely  confessed  everything  that  was  on  his  mind  with- 
out there  being  any  necessity  for  employing  torture.    Search  was 
then  at  once  made  for  the  two  secret  Jesuits,  but  these  had 
disappeared,  and  still  less  could  they  be  found  also  in  Douay. 
The  poor  cooper  was  accordingly  fastened  upon  and  deprived  of 
his  life,  through  the  employment  of  various  tortures,  of  which 

u.  8 


114 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


nothing  was  omitted  ;  the  whole  trial,  with  tht  necessary  docu- 
ments, being  made  public  through  the  press. 

From  this  time  forth  the  States-General  of  Holland  took  still 
stricter  measures  against  the  Jesuits,  and  not  only  proclaimed 
them  as  men  whom  anyone  might  kill  as  soon  as  they  had  crossed 
the  boundaries  of  the  realm,  but  also  most  strictly  forbade  all 
citizens  of  the  State  from  allowing  their  sons  to  be  educated  in 
any  of  the  foreign  Jesuit  schools  even  temporarily. 

The  Order  of  Jesus  in  this  way  lost  the  territory  of  Holland 
completely,  and  even  abroad  it  began  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
Society  which  was  dangerous  alike  to  the  peace  of  States  as  to 
the  life  of  princes. 


115 


CHAPTEE    IV. 


THE  GREAT  COMMOTION  AT  PARAGUAY,"  OR,  DON  SEBAS- 
TIAN JOSEPH  OARVALHO  E  MELLO,  COUNT  OP  OEYRAS 
AND   MARQUIS   DE   POMBAL. 

I  HAVE   already  related  in  the  Second  Book  of  this  work  how 
uncommonly  firm  the  sons  of  Loyola   had   established   them- 
selves in  Portugal,  immediately  on  the  planting  of  their  Order, 
and  it  must  appear,  on  that    account,    almost  superfluous  for 
me  to  add  that  they  themselves  had  the  almost  absolute  con- 
viction that  their  influential  position  could  never  in  future  be  in 
any  way  altered.     To  them  was  at  once  entrusted  the  education 
of  the  princes,  as  well  as  of  all  the  Koyal  Family,  and  no  man 
could  offer  any  opposition  to  there  being  implanted  in  the  youth- 
ful minds  of  these  children  the  deepest  devotion  and  the  most 
intense  love  for  the  Order  of  Jesus.     The  pious  Fathers  lived  at 
Court  as  the  all-powerful  spiritual  advisers  of  the  kings  for  the 
time  being,  as  well  as  of  the  entire  royal  House ;  and  the  example 
of  the  reigning  family  was,  of  course,  followed  by  all  the  ministers 
of  State  as  well  as  the  grandees  of  the  kingdom,  in  a  word,  by 
everyone  who  had  either  anything  to  hope  for  or  anything  to 
fear.     Who,  then,  could  dare  to   go  at   all   contrary  to   their 
wishes,  or  to  thwart  in  any  way  their  will   in  any  matter  of  im- 
portance ?    Who  could  presume  to  snatch  out  of  their  hands  the 
reins  of  the  government  of  Portugal  ?  and  who  could  venture 
to  hurl  them  from  the  throne  of  arrogance  which  they  had  set 
up  for  themselves  to  the  more  modest  position  of  servants  of 
the  Lord,  to  whom  is  assigned  nothing  but  to  attend  to  the 

8  * 


K 


116 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


salvation  of  the  confessing  children  entrusted  to  their  care  ?     In 
spite  of  all  this,  the  pitcher,  as  is  well  known,  continues  to  go  to 
the  well  until  it  hreaks,  and  the  harhingers  of  this  coming  rup- 
ture began  already  to  show  themselves  under  King  John,  who 
reigned  from  1706  up  to  1750.     The  said  John,  although  in  his 
early  years  brought  up  by  the  Jesuits  and  guided  by  the  Jesuit 
confessors,  chose  for   himself,  as  soon  as   he  became  King,  a 
Father  Confessor  from  amongst  the  ordinary  clergy,  and  refrained 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  reign  from  selecting  a  Jesuit  to 
hold  that  post.     Why,  then,  was  this  ?     Doubtless  it   arose  as 
much    from   the   conviction   he   bad    formed    that    the    Order 
of  Jesus,   from  its  inordinate   love   of  power    and  pretension, 
an   well  as   hy   its   immoral  principles,    was  most  pernicious, 
as   from  the  fact  that  the  personal  inclination  of  every   Court 
Jesuit  was  that  the   sons  of  Loyola  should  be  allowed  rather  to 
preserve  in  their  keeping  the  consciences  of  the  family,  or,  more 
correctly,   of  the  whole    of  the  princes  and  princesses  of  the 
House,  without  let  or  hindrance.    The  sons  of  Loyola  conducted 
themselves  as  if  no  harm  could  at  all  accrue  to  them  from  the 
change  in  the  appointment  of  royal  confessors;  in  fact,  it  was 
desired  by  them,  because  they  were  considered  to  be  morally 
responsible  for  several  furious  deeds  of  their  often  unmanageable 
lord,  who  was,  not  infrequently,  in  such  a  state  as  to  treat  even 
the  higher  officials  with  blows  and  kicks !      Be  this  concern- 
ing him,  however,  as  it  may,  the  Jesuits   had  occasion  to  be 

disquieted. 

John  V.  instituted,  in  1714,  after  the  pattern  of  the  French 
Academy,  an  "  Academia  Portugueza."  This  was  not  only  an 
openly  directed  blow  against  the  monopoly  in  educational  matters 
which  the  Jesuits  had  up  to  this  time  held,  but  it  was  this  very 
Academy,  also,  which  formed  a  rallying  point  for  the  best  heads 
of  Portugal  at  that  time,  its  sayings  and  writings  penetrating 
like  warming  rays  of  light  through  the  hitherto  cold  darkness 
of  native  literature.  Besides,  the  Academy  demanded,  with- 
out further  ado,  that  new  schools  should  be  started,  at  least,  in 
the  larger  towns  of  Portugal,  in  which  a  different  system  of 
teaching  should  be  adopted  to  that  hitherto  followed  by  the 
Jesuits — in  a  word,  the  symptoms  increased  so  much  that  a 
storm  was  at  hand,  directed  against  the  members  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus. 


J^.iL.  ii.t'f^^^lH^ 


F**^"rs^?^w^^'r^»»»^" 


THE  OBEAT  COUUOTION  AT  PABAGÜAT. 


117 


Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  the  King,  from  increasing 
years,  fell  more  and  more  into  a  condition  of  mental  weakness, 
and  became  more  overbearing  than  ever;  and  when,  subse- 
quently, in  the  year  1750,  his  son  Joseph  I.,  who  had  for  his 
con fessor  Father  Morey re,  one  of  their  most  distinguished  brethren, 
came  to  the  Government,  no  one  of  them,  or,  indeed,  nobody  in 
the  world,  would  have  dreamed  that  within  less  than  the  period 
of  a  decade  their  existence,  not  only  in  Portugal,  but  in  all  the 
Portuguese  colonies,  would  have  been  completely  destroyed.  Still 
there  is  an  old  proverb,  *'  Man  thinks  but  God  guides,"  and 
this  was  applicable  on  the  present  occasion,  for  that  frightful 
blow,  which  shook  the  Order  of  Jesus  to  its  very  foundation, 
came  from  a  direction  which  was  least  expected.  The  reader 
may,  no  doubt,  recollect  what  I  have  related  in  regard  to  the 
possessions  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  South  America,  and  I 
would  especially  beg  him  to  recall  to  mind  what  has  been  stated 
as  to  the  great  Jesuit  kingdom  of  Paraguay. 

Over  that  rich  and  extensive  country,  which  Spain  possessed 
in  all  her  glory,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  on  behalf  of  their  General  in 
Bome,  ruled  with  such  an  unlimited  monarchical  sway,  that,  while 
the  King  of  Spain  was  the  nominal  lord,  a  Spanish  governor 
could  not,  at  any  time,  dare  to  pass  over  the  frontiers,  and 
the  whole  so-called  lordship  of  the  Spanish  Crown  consisted  in 
a  head-money  that  the  population  of  Paraguay  paid,  a  head- 
money,  it  may  be  remarked,  the  extent  of  which  was  determined 
by  the  Jesuits  themselves,  and  which  came  to  something  very 
trifling  indeed.  Thus  it  was  with  the  great  monarchy  of  Para- 
guay, of  whose  existence  but  little  was  known  in  Europe  up  to 
the  year  1750,  as  has  been  already  stated  in  the  First  Book. 
Nor  was  any  information  extant  as  regards  its  commerce,  its 
productions,  its  inhabitants,  its  boundaries,  and  everything 
else  relative  thereto ;  all,  indeed,  was  concealed  as  a  profound 
mystery,  to  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  alone  had  the  key. 
Therefore,  when  at  any  time  a  traveller  succeeded,  by  craft  or 
other  modes,  in  penetrating  the  great  continent,  in  spite  of  its 
being  almost  hermetically  sealed  by  its  rulers,  and  when  he  then 
promulgated  abroad  a  trustworthy  report  of  the  little  he  saw,  as 
he  was  soon  again  turned  out  of  the  country,  if  nothing  worse 
befell  him,  astonished  mankind  would  think  they  were  listening 
to  some  fable,  and  give  no  further  credence  to  the  same.    In  the 


■'  II «     t'.y  .^  ^"mmmßm'm 


■     L,J| 


118 


HISTOBl   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GBEAT   COMMOTION   AT  PABAGÜAT. 


119 


year  1750,  however,  light  was  at  length  thrown  upon  the  suhject. 
A  far-off  territory,  which  was  known  hy  the  name  of  Brazil, 
belonged   to    the  Crown  of   Portugal,   while    the  property  of 
the    Crown    of    Spain,   on    the   other   liand,    consisted    of  all 
that  large  extent    of  territory   which    stretched  from    Brazil 
to  the  Pacific   Ocean,  that  is  to  say,    the  present  States  of 
Bolivia,    Peru,    Chili,    the    Argentine   Republic.    Montevideo, 
Uruguay,    Buenos    Ayres,     Paraguay,     &o.       Some    of    this 
territory  was  certainly  of  no  great  value,  as  it  was  not  known, 
as  yet,  how  it  could  be  made  profitable.     Much  of  it  was  only 
known  by  name,  that  is,  these  lands  were  merely  indicated  on 
the  map,  which  had  been  prepared  as  well  as  could  be  done 
under  the  circumstances.     Notwithstanding  this,  however,  each 
of  the  two  Crowns  watched  over  it  with  jealousy,  in  order  that 
the  one  might  not  take  a  portion  from  the  other,  and  on  this 
account  many  frequent  and  vexatious  contentions  arose ;  so  it 
happened  that,  commencing  in  the  year  1748,  the  two  Govern- 
ments mentioned  negotiated  with  each   other  respecting  a  more 
accurate  definition  of  their  boundaries.     At  length,  in  the  year 
1750    (on  the   13th  January),  a  State  treaty  was   concluded, 
just  prior  to  the  death  of  John  V.     In  this  document  it  was  dis- 
tinctly laid  down,  among  other  things,  that,  for  the  more  perfect 
separation  of  the  two  territories.  Portugal  should  relinquish  to 
Spain  the  large  colony  of  San  Sacramento,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  Spain  should  make  over  to   Portugal  the  considerable 
portion  of  Paraguay  forming  the  circle  or   reductions  of  St. 
Angelo,  St.  Giovanne,    St.   Michele,   St.  Lorenzo,   St.  Luigi, 
St.  Mido,  and  St.  Borgia.     This  passage  of  the  treaty  caused 
the  greatest  commotion  in  the  camp  of  the  Jesuits,  as,  should  it 
be  carried  into  effect,  their  present  monarchy  of  Paraguay,  by 
its  division  into  a  Spanish  and  Portuguese  portion,  would  be  in 
danger  of  being  broken  up;  it  was  to  be  feared,  indeed,  that  the 
Portuguese   portion,    about  a  fourth  of  the  Jesuit  monarchy, 
would  be    completely   taken    away,    because    the    Portuguese 
Government,  in  accordance  with  their  usual  custom  in  their 
other  colonies,  sent  governors  who  took  all  secular  and  adminis- 
trative power  with  energy  into  their  own  hands.     So,  too,  there 
was  cause  for  anxiety  in  regard  to  similar  regulations  on  the  side 
of  Spain,  as  soon  as  the  latter  should  become  acquainted  with  the 
hitherto  unknown  size  of  the  remaining  portion  of  territory.    In 


a  word,  the  loss  of  the  whole  charming  kingdom  seemed  to 
be  imminent  as  a  consequence  of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty. 
The  division,  therefore,  whether  in  this  way  or  that,  must  be  at 
any  price  prevented,  as  every  ruler  defends  himself  to  the  utmost 
when  external  enemies  attack  his  kingdom  or  threaten  him  with 
dethronement. 

At  first  the  Jesuits  tried  amicable  ways,  and,  as  soon  as  they 
obtained  accurate  information  respecting  the  treaty  which  had 
been  concluded,  they  sent  a  representation  to  the  Court  of 
Madrid,  in  which,  with  the  fullest  detail,  they  called  attention  to 
the  difficulties,  dangers,  and  disadvantages  of  the  projected 
exchange.  "  The  newly-baptised  original  inhabitants  of  Para- 
guay," said  they  therein,  "  owing  to  the  great  oppression  to 
which  their  brethren  in  the  adjoining  Brazil  had  been  subjected, 
had  conceived  such  an  aversion  to  the  Portuguese  that  they 
would  sooner  take  flight  into  the  wilderness  in  the  interior  of 
America  than  submit  to  the  Crown  of  Portugal.  Added  to  this, 
were  the  exchange  to  be  effected,  Spain  would  lose  more  than 
40,000  active  subjects,  without  being  indemnified  sufficiently 
for  this  loss  by  the  colony  of  San  Sacramento.  Portugal 
would  thus  be  enriched  at  the  expense  of  Spain;  and,  also, 
it  might  be  feared  that  the  splendid  great  forests  which  were 
known  to  exist  in  the  seven  reductions,  would  afford  opportunity 
to  the  Portuguese,  as  well  as  to  their  friends  the  English,  of 
procuring  wood  for  the  building  of  ships  with  which  to  attack 
the  Spanish  possessions  by  force." 

The  sons  of  Loyola  sought,  by  these  and  similar  repre- 
sentations, to  work  upon  the  Spanish  Government  in  order  to 
annul  the  treaty  which  had  been  concluded,  and  in  such 
endeavours  they  were  zealously  supported  by  their  fellow  brother 
Father  Eavago,  Father  Confessor  of  Philip  V.  It  is  remarkable, 
however,  that,  at  the  same  time  that  they  sent  these  representa- 
tions to  Madrid,  they  delivered  to  the  Portuguese  Government 
at  Lisbon  a  document  worked  up  for  the  same  purpose  from  San 
Sacramento,  in  which  the  matter  was  represented  that  the  treaty 
of  exchange  was  an  absolute  injury  to  Portugal,  and  that  the 
Portuguese  Government  would  be  the  defrauded  party  if  the 
treaty  came  to  be  carried  out.  Thus,  after  their  usual  custom, 
they  played  a  double  game,  and  whilst  in  Madrid  Father 
Eavago,  so  in  Lisbon  Father  Moreyre,  supported  these  endea- 


.1,    "  »••^!"»(!»»«^BI" 


N^  <irf»"»  »»r 
■■■.I  .U  ,.<MI.*'.JU>i^.l 


120 


mSTOBT  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


THE  GBEAT  COMMOTION  AT  PAEAaUAT. 


121 


vours  by  their  confessoria!  influence,  and  they  very  nearly 
succeeded  in  gaining  their  object.  At  least,  King  Joseph  sent  a 
special  minister,  Anton  Lobo  di  Gama,  in  the  year  1751,  to 
Madrid,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  retract  the  contract  of  exchange 
now  concluded.  But  his  endeavours  failed,  owing  to  the  firm 
conduct  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  spouse  of  Philip  V.,  who  exercised 
a  great  influence  over  her  lord  and  master ;  and  thus  there 
remained  nothing  for  it  than  for  both  sides  to  appoint  commis- 
sioners who  should  examine  into  the  boundaries. 

The  Crown  of  Spain  nominated  on  its  behalf  the  Marquis  of 
Baldilirios;  the  Crown  of  Portugal  General  Gomez  Freire 
d'Andrada,  both  men  of  tried  sagacity  and  energy,  and  at  the 
same  time,  also,  of  strict  moderate  views,  so  that  they  cherished 
neither  any  special  friendship  nor  yet  any  enmity  against  the 
Jesuits  ;  thus  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  they  might  be  enabled  to 
bring  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  without  difficulty,  the  matter 
as  to  the  determination  of  the  boundaries.  The  two  Plenipo- 
tentiaries consequently  proceeded  on  their  mission  in  a  happy 
mood,  and  their  suites,  besides  a  few  armed  servants,  consisting 
almost  entirely  of  mathematicians  and  surveyors,  were  none  the 
less  animated  by  the  same  feelings. 

The  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  received  intelligence  respecting  all 
these  preliminaries  early  enough  to.be  able  to  make  provision 
relative  to  obtaining,  from  their  General  in  Rome,  the  re- 
quisite orders  as  to  remonstrance,  and  to  come  to  a  definite 
conclusion  as  to  what  should  now  take  place.  The  amicable 
plan  of  proceeding  having  failed,  should  they  now,  without  any 
further  ado,  humbly  submit  and  allow  the  long- accustomed 
sway,  with  all  the  riches  attached  thereto,  to  cease?  or 
should  they  offer  an  energetic  opposition  to  the  invasion,  and, 
with  weapons  in  their  hands,  prevent  the  entrance  of  the  enemy, 
Spaniards  as  well  as  Portuguese,  into  the  country  ? 

**  We  have,"  said  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  themselves,  "  half  a 
million  of  subjects,  and  among  them  at  least  fifty  thousand 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  who  are  for  the  most  part  already  well 
experienced;  we  have,  further,  in  our  arsenals,  weapons  as  well 
as  cannon  in  abundance,  the  number  of  which  we  could  soon 
double.  We  are  thus  capable  of  making  resistance  even  against 
a  strong  army,  while  the  enemy,  on  account  of  the  long  distance 
of  Paraguay  from  Portugal  and  Spain,  as  well  as  on  account  of 


the  uncommon  difficulties  which  always  attend  the  transport 
of  troops  by  sea,  would  be  in  a  position  to  oppose  but  a  small 
force  against  us.  Why,  therefore,  should  we  not  defend  our- 
selves ?  " 

Thus  argued  the  Jesuits,  and  on  this  calculation  they  formed 
their  resolutions.  At  the  same  time  their  sagacity  told  them 
that,  in  order  not  to  bring  the  whole  of  Europe  against  them, 
they  should  not  openly  place  themselves  at  the  head  of  the 
rebellion,  but  rather,  in  this  respect,  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world;  and,  consequently,  as  the  further  instructions  from 
Rome  went,  "  there  should,  indeed,  be  a  resistance  offered  by 
the  Fathers,  but  only  a  secret  one,  and  in  the  background.'*  • 

The  reader  can  doubtless  now  divine  what  was  to  take  place, 
and  I  shall  thereupon  be  as  brief  as  possible.  As  the  pleni- 
potentiaries of  the  two  Crowns  arrived,  with  their  people,  at  the 
place  where  their  boundary  proceedings  should  begin,  namely  in 
the  reduction  of  St.  Nicolo,  the  Indians  had  collected  in  force, 
and,  through  a  deputation,  intimated  to  the  gentlemen  that,  as 
they  were  likely  to  meet  with  a  strong  opposition,  they  had 
better  leave  the  matter  alone.  The  plenipotentiaries  naturally 
remonstrated,  and  requested  that  they  might  speak  with  the  two 
Fathers  who  had  hitherto  usually  conducted  a  reduction,  but 
these  latter  had  disappeared,  and  neither  of  them  was  forth- 
coming. Compelled  by  necessity,  the  plenipotentiaries  now 
retired,  but  only  to  make  a  second  and  third  attempt  in  another 
community.  The  result,  however,  was  the  same  everywhere, 
and  they  were  nowhere  able  to  commence  their  business. 

On  this  account  they  betook  themselves  to  Monte  Video,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  La  Plata  river,  and  began  there,  as  later  on 
in  the  town  of  Colonia,  to  enlist  troops,  in  order  to  bring,  by 
force,  the  rebellious  Indians  to  reason.  But  with  this  thev  did 
not  make  such  rapid  progress  as  they  had  hoped,  and  it  was  only 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  1754  that  they  were  in  a  position  to 
take  the  field.  They  at  once  united  their  two  small  armies, 
embarked  them  on  the  La  Plata  to  the  Parana,  and  advanced 
against  the  Indians,  who  were  entrenched  near  the  entrance  of 
the  small  river  Pardo.  They  succeeded  in  defeating  the  latter, 
and  in  taking  somewhere  about  fifty  prisoners.  But  through 
this  they  did  not  gain  much,  as  the  Indians  again  collected 
together  at  a  short  distance,  and  formed  afresh  a  fortified  camp. 


'•Twr',.v'..i4r.vo.f  *"■  '"    '  '■■'■," 


122 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


On  the  other  hand  the  two  Government  Commissioners  gained 
information  from  their  prisoners  respecting  the  instigators  of 
the  rebellion ;  and,  behold,  these  leaders  and  commanders  turned 
out  to  be  no  other  than,  as  the  plenipotentiaries  had  suspected, 
the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  person. 

After  a  short  rest,  the  united  Portuguese  and  Spanish  troops, 
as  before,  won  a  small  victory  for  the  second  time.    The  further, 
however,  that  they  advanced  into  the  country,  the  greater  the 
masses  were   whom  they  had  to  encounter,  and,  as  these  people 
showed  themselves  uncommonly  skilful  in  war,  it  seemed  suffi- 
ciently plain  that  they  had  experienced  men  as  leaders ;  so  at 
length  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  conclude  a  truce  with  the 
Indians,  in  order  to  avoid  the  'shame  of  a  defeat.     This  agree- 
ment was  concluded  on  the   l6th  November  1754,  being  signed 
on  the  side  of  the  Indians  by  Don  Franz  Anton,  head  of  the 
community  of  St.  iVngelo,  Don  Franz  Guacu,  Overseer  of  St. 
Nicolo,  and  the  two  heads  of  St.  Luigi,  Don  Christoph  Acuatu 
and  Don  Bartholomew  Candiu,  and  the  two  plenipotentiaries 
returned  to  their  Governments  at  Madrid  and  Lisbon  in  order  to 
beg  for  new  instructions,  and  especially  for  weapons,  ammu- 
nition, and  troops.     These  were  immediately  obtained,  and  by 
the  end  of  the  year  1755  several  thousand  men,  as  auxiliaries, 
proceeded  from  Spain   and  Portugal,    and   the  most   stringent 
orders   were   issued   by   the  rulers  of   these    countries   to   the 
chiefs  and  provincials  of  the  Jesuits  to  submit  themselves  at 
the  peril  of  their  lives,  "  as  their  Majesties  had  been  fully  and 
accurately  informed  that  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  were 
solely  and  entirely  to  blame  for  the  rebellion  of  the  Indians, 
and,  if  the  latter  were  not,  on  the  spot,  brought  to  submission, 
it  would  be  necessary  for  their  Majesties  to  proceed  at  once, 
according  to  citizen  and  canonical  law,  against   the  chiefs   as 
well  as  other  Jesuits  which  were  within  their  realms,  and  to 
punish  them,  as  criminal  offenders,  for  high  treason." 

All  this  had  not  the  slightest  effect  on  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
and  there  was  no  question  of  submission.  The  Spanish,  and  Por- 
tuguese potentates  now  again  united,  and  determined,  in  January 
17Ö6,  to  penetrate  for  a  second  time  through  the  pass  of  St.  Thecla 
into  the  interior  of  Paraguay.  They  succeeded  in  this,  and  the 
first  battle  took  place  on  the  10th  February,  when  the  Indians 
left  no  fewer  than  1,200  dead  on  the  field.     A  second  and  third 


THE  GREAT  COMMOTION  AT  PARAGUAY. 


123 


battle  came  off  on  the  22nd  March  and  1 0th  May  respectively, 
in  both  of  which  the  natives  got  the  worst  of  it.  But  the 
Europeans  also  suffered  great  losses,  and  their  commanders 
became  the  more  convinced  that  there  could  be  no  question  of 
any  termination  to  the  war  without  considerable  reinforcements 
being  sent  from  Europe.  The  Indians  still  possessed— according 
to  information  obtained  from  some  Jesuit  Fathers  who  had  been 
taken  prisoners,  in  Father  Gribouville  a  general  of  infantry,  in 
Father  Charles  d'Anieres  a  cavalry  officer,  and  in  Father  Glatz, 
called  the  "  terrible  brother,"  a  commandant  of  artillery — leaders 
such  as  were  not  easily  found  in  the  most  experienced  armies ! 

The  reinforcements  were  this  time  fully  prepared,  as  it  was 
incumbent  for  the  two  Governments  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
to  make  an  end  of  the  Jesuit  State  of  Paraguay  and  the  rebellion 
therein  established,  and  Generals  Baldilirios  and  d'Andrada 
obtained  such  a  superiority,  although  not  certainly  until  after  the 
lapse  of  three  years— that  is,  in  1759 — that  the  resistance  was 
regarded  as  completely  broken.  During  that  time,  also,  the  two 
Generals  had  sent  over  to  Europe,  and  by  this  means  had  taken  the 
spirit  out  of  the  rebellion,  not  a  few  well-guarded  Jesuits  who  had 
played  an  important  part  in  the  war,  and  who  had  been  unable 
to  save  themselves  by  flight ;  but  it  was  only  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  1768  that  peace  was  fully  established,  when  all 
the  Jesuit  missions  in  South  America  were  given  over  to  the 
civil  powers. 

Whilst  these  things  were  taking  place  in  Paraguay,  not  less 
important  transactions  were  going  on  in  the  mother  country  of 
Portugal,  and  as  these  latter  were  intimately  connected  with  the 
subject  under  consideration,  it  is  now  time  for  us  to  direct  our 
attention  to  the  Court  of  Lisbon.     At  that  capital,  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Joseph  I.  to  the  throne  in  1750,  the  Jesuits  to  all  appear- 
ance had  become  quite  as  powerful  as  ever,  as  the  King  and  Queen 
had,  as   I  have  already  mentioned.  Father  Joseph  Moreyre  as 
Father  Confessor,  the  Queen  mother  Father  Joseph  Ritter,  the 
royal  princesses  Father  Timotheo  Oleveira,  the  King's  brother  Don 
Pedro,  Father  Hyacinth  da  Costa,  the  Princes  Don  Antonio  and 
Don  Emanuel,  (jousins  of  the  King,Fathers  Samuel  de  Campos  and 
Joseph  Araugio;  besides  which,  Father  Rochus  Hundertpfund  was 
greatly  esteemed  by  the  Queen,  while  Father  Gabriel  Malagrida  was 
held  in  the  greatest  consideration  by  the  King.   In  short,  it  was  be- 


•»»•wrTss^ 


I 


124 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


lieved  by  all  that  the  Jesuit  harvest  never  before  had  been  in  such 
luxuriance  as  at  this  time,  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  themselves  held 
that  their  power  in  this  country  was  founded  on  an  immovable 
rock.     But  were  they  justified  in  so  thinking  ?     One  single  man 
alone  overthrew  the  fabric  of  their  power,  and  that  individual 
was  Don  Sebastian  Joseph  Carvalho  e  Mello,  afterwards  Count 
of  Oeyras  and  Marquis  de  Pombal.    Born  in  the  year  1699,  at  the 
Castle  of  Soure,  near  Coimbra,  and  in  tolerably  humble  condi- 
tions— his  father  being  only  a  captain — did  not  belong  to  the  first 
rank  of  nobility  ;  when  grown  up,  no  brilliant  career  seemed  to  be 
marked  out  for  him,  and  he,  therefore,  had  recourse  to  the  usual 
expedient  of  poor  nobility,  that  is  to  say,  he  entered  the  army  at 
a  very  early  period.     As,  nevertheless,  owing  to  brawls,  he  was 
exiled  from  Lisbon,  he   thereupon  entered  the   university  of 
Coimbra  in  order  to  study  law,  and  there  displayed  such  great 
talent  that  he  soon  surpassed  all  his  fellow  students.     A  rapid 
career  was  prophesied  for  him  in  the  service  of  the  State,  should 
he  devote  himself  to  the  judicial  branch,  and  he  had  this,  indeed, 
on  his  mind,  when  a  lady  brought  about  a  complete  alteration  in 
his  future  life.     He  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  beautiful,   as 
well  as  rich,  widow  of  rank.  Donna  Theresa  de  Noronha- Almada, 
and  so  contrived  to  secure  her  afl'ections  that  she  married  him 
in  spite  of  the   disapprobation  of  her  proud  relatives.     This, 
however,  now  roused  his  own  pride,  and,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
encounter  the  said  relatives  with  equal  pretension?,   his  whole 
aim  and  object  was  to  raise  himself  as  quickly  as  possible.     He, 
therefore,  now  took  up  his  abode  at  once  in  Lisbon,  and,  after 
being  presented  at  the  Court,  strove  to  ingratiate  himself  in  the 
favour  of  John  V.    This,  indeed,  was  no  easy  matter,  as  the  high 
relatives  of  his  wife  intrigued  in  every  way.  against  him,  and  so 
far   succeeded  that  the  whole  nobility  of  Portugal   persecuted 
him  TVith  implacable  hatred  as  an  intruder  into  their  unapproach- 
able circle.     At  last,  however,  in  the  year  1739,  he  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  appointment  of  Ambassador  in  England ;  and 
this  was  great  good  fortune  for  him,  as  he  was  enabled  to  em- 
ploy his  spare  time  in  carefully  studying  the  English  commercial 
system,  so  detrimental  to  that  of  Portugal.     At  the  end  of  six 
years,  in  1745,  he  was  recalled  from  London,  as  a  new  minister 
of  John  v.,  Peter  de  Motta,  could  not  endure  him;  so  Don 
Sebastian  now  lived  for  several  months  unemployed  at  the  Portu- 


THE  GREAT  COMMOTION  AT  PABAGUAY, 


125 


guese  Court.  During  this  time  his  wife  died,  a  victim  to  the 
revenge  of  her  relations  ;  and  he  now  laboured  most  persistently 
at  Court,  never  resting  until  he  obtained  another  embassy,  that, 
namely,  of  Vienna,  and  this  brought  him  more  luck  than  he 
expected. 

He  married  again  there,  for  a  second  time,  the  Countess 
Daun,  who,  as  a  former  First  Court  Lady  to  the  Queen 
Mother  of  Portugal,  possessed  great  influence  over  the  latter, 
and  he, ,  besides,  became  acquainted  with  some  Jesuits,  who  at 
that  time  were  all-powerful  at  the  Imperial  Court,  and  they 
promised  to  support  him,  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  in  his 
ambitious  designs.  The  mission  of  Pombal  in  Vienna  was  not, 
however,  of  long  duration,  as  after  two  years  his  enemies  in 
Lisbon  again  brought  about  his  recall,  and  consequently  he 
found  himself,  for  a  second  time,  without  oflSce  and  preferment. 
But,  disagreeable  as  was  this  time  of  involuntary  idleness  to 
him  in  some  respects,  he  contrived  to  employ  it,  nevertheless, 
not  unprofitably,  as  he  took  pains  to  gain  the  favour  of  Father 
Moreyre,  and,  through  him,  the  heart  of  the  Crown  Prince 
Joseph.  The  first  matter  was  not  very  difficult,  as  Pombal  was 
highly  recommended  by  the  Vienna  Jesuits  ;  in  regard  to  the 
latter,  however,  that  is,  the  influence  and  support  of  the  future 
monarch  of  Portugal,  the  well- trained  man  developed  such  un- 
common skill  from  his  previous  diplomatic  career,  that  Joseph, 
as  soon  as  he  attained  to  the  Government  in  1750,  instantly 
made  him  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  affairs,  and  shortly 
afterwards  promoted  him  to  be  his  all-powerful  Prime  Minister. 

Now,  at  length,  Pombal  had  attained  the  goal  of  his  long 
endeavours  of  many  years ;  now,  at  length,  he  saw  himself  in 
a  position  to  accomplish  the  plans  which  he  had  so  long 
cogitated;  now,  at  length,  he  was  enabled  to  extricate  his 
Fatherland,  once  so  beautiful  and  blooming,  out  of  the 
condition  of  impotence  into  which  it  had,  for  many  years — 
indeed,  too  many  years — sunk.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
speak  of  all  the  reforms  which  the  new  minister  efl'ected. 
I  must  not,  however,  refrain  from  remarking  that  he  per- 
ceived a  chief  reason  for  the  profound  decadence  of  the  State, 
in  the  complete  ruin  of  commerce,  which  formerly  had  been  the 
source  of  such  great  riches  to  the  Portuguese,  and  that  he  asked 
himself  at  once  as  to  how  this  ruin  had  come  about.     The 


^; 


'■»■^  i[i*%»ii*y 


Tssz:^ 


126 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GREAT   COMMOTION   AT   PARAGUAY. 


127 


II 


answer  was  simply  this,  that  the  English,  and  still  more  the 
Jesuits,  had  appropriated  to  themselves  the  commerce  of  the 
East   and  West  Indies,  as  well,  especially,  as  that  of  South 
America,  seeing  that  private  merchants,  no  longer  ahle  to  compete 
with  the  sons  of  Loyola,  who   had  command   over   enormous 
funds  and  formed  a  compact  society,  had  by  degrees  expended 
all  that  they  possessed,  capital  as  well  as  credit.     With  the  view 
of  remedying  this  evil,  Pomhal  resolved  to  found  an  especial 
commercial  society,  the  object  of  which  was  to  carry  on  freely 
commerce  with  the  American  colonies  of  Portugal,  and  at  the 
same  time  enjoined  that  all  connected  with  the  clergy  should, 
according  to   the  Pope's  command,    abstain    and  hold    them- 
selves aloof  from  commerce.     As  a  man  of  action,  however,  he 
did  allow  himself  to  be  content  with  the  mere  determination,  but 
he  never  rested  until  the  contemplated  society  had  been  launched 
into  existence,  and  the  above-mentioned  Papal  command  renewed, 
although  he  could  not  conceal  from  himself  that  he  was  thereby 
mortally  wounding  his  former  friends  the  Jesuits.     Such  was, 
indeed,  the  case,'  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  at  once  entered  the  lists 
openly  as  his  enemies.     Thus,  for   instance.   Father  Emanuel 
Balester  hurled  a  fulminating  sermon  against  him  in  the  cathe- 
dral  church  of  Lisbon,  in   which    all    those   who   contributed 
money   to   the   funds  of  the   new   commercial  company   were 
threatened  with  God's  anger  and  with  everlasting  punishment ; 
and  another  Jesuit,  of  the  name  of  Benedict  Fonseca,  was  com- 
missioned by  his  superior  to  issue  a  pamphlet,  in  which  the 
King  was  made,  aware  of  the  disadvantages  of  the  recent  minis- 
terial regulations.     But  Pombal  made  short  work  of  these  two 
pious  Fathers,  and  banished  them  from  Lisbon  without  further 
ceremony,  whilst  he  threatened  with  a  similar  fate  all  those  who 
did  not  take  warning  by  the  example  of  Balester  and  Fonseca. 
In  consequence  of  this  the  sons  of  Loyola  conducted  themselves 
with  greater  circumspection,  especially  as  they  became  convinced 
that  it  was  by  no  means  possible  to  shake  the  confidence  of  King 
Joseph  in  his  favourite.     In  their  inmost  thought,  however,  the 
resolution  remained  all  the  stronger,  to  leave  no  means  unem- 
ployed to  overthrow  this  dangerous  man,  who,  instead  of  proving 
himself  thankful  to  them,  had  struck  such  a  severe  blow  against 
their  self-interests,  and  had,  indeed,  estranged  the  heart  of  the 
King  from  them.     They  had  not  long  to  wait  for  an  opportunity. 


In  the  year  1755  a  frightful  earthquake  shook  the  whole  of 
Portugal,    and   especially»  reduced    the    capital,    Lisbon,   to    a 
heap  of  ruins.     The  misery  was  boundless,  particularly  as  a 
description  of  plague-like  disease,  accompanied  by  famine,  raged 
among  the  ranks  of  the  people.     "  Behold  the  Destroying  Angel 
of  God,"  cried  the  Jesuits,  who  at  that  time  were  almost  every- 
where present ;  '*He  punishes  us  all  for  the  godlessness.of  that 
man  whom  the  King  has  the  weakness  to  place  at  the  head  of 
the  Government,  and  the  anger  of  Jehovah  will  never  be  again 
appeased  until  this  wicked  parvenu,  who  has  especially  attacked 
the  clergy,  has  been  removed,  and  until   he  has  met  with  his 
righteous  punishment."     These  and  similar  words  they  every  day 
proclaimed   loudly   in   all  the   public   places,  reiterating  them 
as  well    from  the  pulpits;  and  the  superstitious  people,   who 
allowed  themselves,  indeed,  to  be  persuaded  that  all  the  blame 
of  the  destruction  of  the  capital,  as  well  as  the  terrible  misery 
of  many  thousands,  was  due  to  the  opposition   offered  to  the 
Church   by   the  First  Minister,  loudly   demanded  the  deposi- 
tion and  death  of  the  Marquis  of  Pombal.     Already  the  King 
began  to  waver,  and   when,  yielding  to   the  entreaties  of  the 
high  nobility,  who,  as  was  well  known,  also  entertained  intense 
hatred  to  the  minister,  he  turned  his  back  on  the  ruined  city, 
in  which  Pombal's  presence  was  necessary,  it  seemed,  indeed, 
that  the  demand  was  about  to  be  complied  with.     But  here  again 
the  influence   of  the  minister  triumphed,  and   never  were    his 
mental  power  and  energy   so  conspicuously   displayed   as  now. 
He  called  to  the  King,  '*  The  place  of  the  ruler  is  in  the  middle, 
amidst  his  people";  and  the  King  remained.     "  Let  us  bury  the 
dead,  and  think  about  the  living" ;  and  the  people  began  to  bless 
him,  because  he  restored  order,  rebuilt  their  dwellings,  and  gave 
food  to  the  poor.     He  obtained  the  mastery  over  the  aristocracy, 
as  he  induced  the  monarch  to  issue  an  edict  which  threatened  the 
most  severe  punishment  to  the  calumniators  of  the  Government, 
and  brought  this  same  edict  into  immediate  operation   against 
such  men  as  Don  Juan  of  Braganza,  Don  Joseph  Galva  de  la 
Cerda,  and  others.     Lastly,   he  forbade  the  preaching   of   the 
Jesuits,  as  well  as  interdicted  them  the  use  of  any  pulpit  through- 
out the  whole  of  Portugal,  and  at  the  same  time  decreed  from 
that  hour  the  withdrawal  from  them  of  all  secular  jurisdiction 
in  their  American  missions  of  Portugal.     This  was  Pombal's 


I 


128 


fflSTOBT   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


reply  to  the  calumnious  and  foolish  attacks  of  his  enemies,  and 
he  silenced  them  all,  the  sons  of  Loyola  excepted,  whose  fangs 
became  swollen  with  venom  even  to  bursting ;   and  they  deter- 
mined, after  they  had  secretly  collected  a  number  of  complaints 
and  false  accusations  against  the  minister,   to  take  the  heart 
of  the  monarch  by  storm  on  the  21st  September  1757,  the  very 
capable  Father  Confessor  Moreyre  being  selected  to  eflfect  the  first 
breach.     To  their  misfortune,  however,  their  fiendish  plan  was 
betrayed  to  Pombal  on  the  evening  of  tlic  20th  September,  and 
he  contrived  to   be  beforehand   with   his    implacable  enemies. 
With  this  object  he  begged  the  King  to  require  the  assemblage 
of  a  Council  of  State,   under  the  presidency  of  his  Majesty, 
during  the  night  of  the  20th  and  21st;  and  at  this  sitting,  after 
the  vile  game  of  intrigue  on  the  part'  of  the  Father  Confessors, 
as  officiating  Jesuits  at  Court,  had  been  thoroughly  laid  bare, 
it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  these  pious  individuals  should 
be  removed  in  a  body  from  their  appointments,  and  confined 
to  their  profess-houses,  and  that  monks  of  other  Orders  should 
be  called  in  as  spiritual  advisers.     Scarcely,  however,  had  this 
resolution  been  determined,  when  the  Royal  Chamberlain,  Don 
Pedro  Joze  de  Silveira  e  Bottella,  at  once  received  orders  to 
carry  out  the  same  in  the  night ;  and,  as  this  Chamberlain  was 
of  a  very  energetic  nature,  at  4  o'clock   the  next  morning  not  a 
single  Jesuit  was  to  be  found  in  the  palace. 

One  may  well  imagine  what  an  enormous  commotion  this  bold 
conduct  of  Pombal's  caused,  not  only  in  Lisbon  and  Portugal, 
but,  indeed,  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  the  minister  him- 
self must  have  been  aware  that  should  anything  of  what  he  had 
undertaken  fail,  it  might  cost  him  his  honour  and  life.     But 
however  great  was  this  venture,  and  notwithstanding  the  enor- 
mous  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to  contend,  he  remained 
undaunted,    and    did  not  desist  one  moment    from    the   great 
consequences   of  his   act.     So,   of  course,    the    banishment  of 
the    sons   of  Loyola    was   only   the    beginning,   and    the    end 
must  be  their  complete  expulsion  from  Portugal,  or,  if  possible, 
out  of  the  entire  globe.     Before  everything,  Pombal  proceeded 
to  expose  to  the  world  the  true  nature  of  the  Jesuits ;  and  with 
this   object   he   caused    a   document   to  be  prepared  from    the 
public  archives,  as  well  as  the  Reports  of  the  Generals,  who,  as 
above  explained,  had  been  instructed  to  carry  into  effect  the 


THE  GREAT  COMMOTION  AT  PARAGUAY. 


129 


treaty  regarding  the  boundary  regulations,  in  which  the  whole 
behaviour  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  the  Republic  of  Paraguay  was 
thoroughly  exposed  in  its  true  aspect.*  He,  also,  did  not  neglect 
to  make  it  publicly  known  everywhere  that  the  King  of  Portugal 
had  been  induced  to  remove  from  about  his  person  and  court  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  principally  on  account  of  the  grave  misconduct  of 
which  they  had  been  guilty  in  Paraguay ;  while  a  word  of  warn- 
ing, that  men  with  minds  so  disposed  to  high  treason  were  most 
dangerous  for  any  government,  was  likewise  not  wanting.  In 
short,  Pombal  did  his  utmost  to  show  to  the  world  the  true 
character  of  the  Society  of  Jesus ;  so  that  the  members  of  the 
same,  who  were  at  all  times  uncommonly  clever  with  their  tongues, 
were  brought  to  silence,  and  struck  down  by  fear,  owing  to 
all  these  statements,  without  daring  to  say  a  word  in  reply, 
or  a  syllable  in  refutation.  Everyone  would,  therefore,  be  of 
opinion  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  pious  Fathers  to  clear 
themselves  of  the  imputations  brought  forward  against  them. 
On  that  account  the  Portuguese  minister  easily  secured  public 
opinion  for  himself,  and  all  now  rejoiced  that  at  length  a  man 
had  been  found  who  had  the  boldness  to  place  the  knife  to  the 
throat  of  a  Society  so  universally  diffused  all  over  the  world, 
and  which  up  to  the  present  time  had  been  looked  upon  as 
invincible.  Pombal  himself  still  felt  strongly  that  what  he  had 
done  was  far  short  of  what  should  be  effected,  and  it  was  espe- 
cially clear  to  him  that  a  Catholic  Order  in  such  a  bigoted 
Catholic  country  as  Portugal  had  been  and  still  was,  could  not 
possibly  be  permanently  humiliated  if  the  supreme  head  of 
Catholic  Christianity  did  not  come  over  to  his — the  minister's — 
side,  and  sanction  his  regulations.  He,  therefore,  at  once,  in 
an  extremely  urgent  despatch,  dated  8th  October  1757,  com- 
missioned de  Almada,  the  Portuguese  Ambassador  in  Rome,  to 
inform  the  then  reigning  Pope,  Benedict  XIV.,  most  accurately 
of  all  the  proceedings  that  were  being  carried  on  by  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  and  thus  supported,  claimed  the  assistance  of  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  authority  in  taming  their  audacious  roguery. 

"  The  Holy  Chair,"  thus  proceeds  this  document,  among  other 
matters,  "  will  perceive  the  urgent  necessity  for  bringing  these 

*  The  complete  title  of  the  little  work  translated  into  aU  living  European 
languages  was,  Short  Report  of  the  Republic  formed  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  Territories  and  Lordships  beyond  the  Sea^  and  which  endeavoured  to 
prevail  against  the  Arms  of  both  Nations;  extracted  from  State  Archives  of  both 
Crovms,  and  other  Authentic  Papers. 

n.  9 


f 


.m     ri^  fcilfiiBH'g; 


130 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ecclesiastics  back  to  the  observance  of  the  chief  rules  of  their 
Order,  and  of  prohibiting  them  from  all  intermeddling  in  poli- 
tical matters,  in  temporal  interests,  and  commerce,  in  order  that, 
being  free  from  all  injurious  desire  of  ruling  courts  and  of  en- 
riching themselves  by  trade,  usury,  and  banking  transactions,  ' 
they  might  be  useful  in  serving  God  and  their  neighbours. 
The  Knights  of  the  Temple  had  been  severely  punished  on 
account  of  the  offence  that  they  had  given,  yet  it  had  never  been 
heard  that  they  had  committed  such  great  crimes  as  the  Jesuits. 
They  had  never  established  their  own  republics  in  the  states 
of  other  sovereigns,  and  hounded  on  subjects  against  their 
rightful  rulers.  It  is  also  not  known  of  them  that  tbey  ever 
usurped  entire  states  and  kingdoms.  All  this  the  Jesuits  had 
done,  as  their  colonies  already  extended  from  Maramnon 
(Amazon  river)  up  to  Uruguay.  In  a  short  time  their  realm 
had  so  grown  in  America,  and  had  been  so  constituted,  that  no 
European  Power  was  possessed  of  sufficient  strength  to  drive 
them  out  of  such  enormous  territories,  especially  as  they  were 
supported  by  a  mass  of  natives  whose  language  and  customs 
were  only  understood  by  the  Jesuits." 

Pombal  gave  utterance  to  such  sentiments  in  Rome  in  order 
to  bring  the  Pope  to  a  speedy  determination ;  when,  however, 
Benedict  hesitated,  the  minister  repeated  his  demand  in  a  still 
more    sharply-worded  despatch    of  10th  February,   1758,   and 
the  ambassador  was  instructed  to   threaten  a  rupture  of  rela- 
tions between  Portugal  and  the  Holy  Chair  if  no  regard  were 
paid  to  the  righteous  charges  of  the  Portuguese  Government. 
The  Pope  could  now  no  Ion.; er  defer  answering  the  demands 
placed  before  him,  and  caused   the  Marquis  of  Pombal  to  be 
informed  that  he  wished  to  nominate  Cardinal   Saldanha  to  be 
reformer  and  general  supervisor  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  in  all 
the  Portuguese  States,  if  this  should  meet  with  the  approval  of 
the  minister.     Pombal  at  once  declared  himself  to  be  agreeable 
to   this,  and,   in  fact,  the   said  Cardinal   received,  in    a  Brief 
dated   1st  April   1758,  full  and  unlimited  power  to  investigate 
thoroughly  in  Portugal  the  state  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,   and, 
according  to  the  exigence  of  circumstances,  to  reform  it  funda- 
mentally.     At  the  same  time,    he  was  entrusted  with  private 
instructions  from  the  Holy  Father,  wherein  the  greatest  fore- 
sight, sagacity,   moderation,  and    circumspection  were  recom- 


THE   GREAT   COMMOTION   AT   PARAGUAY. 


131 


mended  to  him,  and  particularly  he  was  enjoined  to  bear  clearly 
in  mind  that  he  was  to  avoid»  as  much  as  possible,  occasioning 
any  rumours,  irritation,  or  publicity,  in  order  that  too  much 
injury  might  not  be  occasioned  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  from  the 
iuvtiätigation. 

One  thus  sees  that  the  Pope  was  playing  a  double  part,  being 
anxious,  in  any  case,  to  shield  the  sons  of  Loyola  as  much 
as  possible.  They,  on  the  contrary,  as  soon  as  the  Brief  of 
Saldanha  became  known  in  Portugal,  raised  a  frightful  clamour, 
declared  that  the  same  had  been  surreptitiously  obtained  and 
was  invalid,  bespattered  the  Pope  himself,  as  well  as  his  pleni- 
potentiary, with  mud  of  the  dirtiest  calumniation,  and  injured 
themselves  much  more  by  their  blind  rage  than  by  the  whole  of 
their  former  secret  sins.  Cardinal  Saldanha  felt  himself  now 
unable  to  institute  a  true  matter-of-fact  investigation,  and  while 
he  found,  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  "  with  full  certainty,"  that 
the  Jesuits  had  turned  their  Colleges,  Noviciates,  and  Residences 
into  warehouses,  counting-houses,  and  exchanges,  he  signed  a 
decree  on  the  15th  May,  on  the  strength  of  which  he  interdicted 
them  from  all  commerce,  under  the  penalty  of  excommunication 
from  the  Church.  Besides  which,  he  caused,  on  the  demand  of 
Pombal,  all  their  account-books  to  be  put  under  a  sealed  cover, 
took  away  their  magazines  from  them,  and  confiscated  all  their 
goods  for  the  benefit  of  the  Royal  Exchequer. 

Lastly,  he  came  to  an  understauding  with  the  Patriarch  of 
Lisbon,  the  Archbishop  Joseph  Manuel  Atalara,  and  the  result 
of  their  mutual  consultation  was  that  the  Patriarch,  by  a  decree 
of  the  7th  June  1758,  based  on  well-considered  grounds  which 
he  did  not  wish  to  mention  publicly,  not  only  forbade  the  Jesuits 
to  preach  and  confess  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Portuguese 
States,'  but  also  closed  their  Colleges  and  completely  deprived 
them  of  the  instruction  of  youth. 

Once  more,  then,  had  Pombal  carried  off  the  victory,  and 
once  again  had  he  made  another  step  nearer  to  his  goal,  "  Free- 
dom of  Portugal  from  the  yoke  of  the  Society  of  Jesus."  There 
was  still,  however,  much  to  overcome.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
sons  of  Loyola  did  not  allow  their  courage  to  yield,  as  an  event 
now  took  place  which,  if  properly  made  use  of,  would  be  of  great 
advantage  to  them.  On  the  3rd  of  May  1758  Benedict  XIV.  died, 
and  if  they  succeeded  in  placing  upon  the  vacant  Papal  throne 

9  * 


132 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GREAT   COMMOTION   AT   PAEAaÜAY. 


133 


one  favourable  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  the  matter  would  then 
end  favourably  for  them.  The  sons  of  Loyola  now  spared  no 
exertions ;  they  even  spared  no  money,  that  they  had  hitherto 
loved  so  much,  and  they  verily  succeeded  in  influencing  the 
votes  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Cardinals,  in  order  that 
Clement  XIII.  should  carry  the  election.  He  was  a  weak, 
credulous,  canting  man,  without  much  knowledge  or  intelligence, 
and  not  at  all  suited  for  such  a  high  position,  especially  in 
those  times  of  difficulty  ;  but  he  was  a  most  devoted  friend  to 
the  Jesuits,  and  on  that  account  he  was  elected.  The  latter 
now  promised  for  themselves,  under  his  regime,  a  new  golden 
era,  and  it  seemed  that  it  would  actually  turn  out  to  be  so,  as 
the  first  governmental  act  of  the  new  Pope  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  Cardinal  Torregiani,  a  cousin  of  the  Jesuit  General 
Ricci,  to  be  Secretary  of  State  or  Prime  Minister  of  the  Roman 
Curie.  Immediately  thereupon,  on  the  3 1  st  July,  General  Ricci 
presented  to  the  Holy  Chair  a  long  defence  of  his  Order, 
which  was  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  influence  the  Pope  to 
annul  the  dispositions  of  his  predecessor  Benedict;  and  His 
Holiness,  acting  upon  it,  appointed  a  commission  of  Car- 
dinals in  order  to  submit  to  a  new  accurate  investigation  the 
whole  of  the  Portuguese  Jesuit  afiairs.  The  Commission, 
nevertheless,  counselled  against  the  desired  revocation,  as 
being  adverse  to  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  and,  conse- 
quently, Ricci  sustained  defeat.  The  General  now  caused  his 
defence  to  be  printed  and  distributed  everywhere,  as  he 
believed  it  would  have  the  effect  of  triumphantly  refuting 
and  putting  to  silence  all  the  complaints  which  had  been  raised 
against  the  Order  in  Portugal.  The  result,  however,  turned  out 
quite  differently  from  what  he  expected,  as  an  answer  vvas  at 
once  forthcoming  which  pointed  out  the  gravest  errors  as  to 
the  truth  of  the  alleged  defence,  and  brought  to  light,  still 
more  than  ever,  the  evil  deeds  of  the  Jesuits. 

In  the  meantime,  Pombal  proceeded  to  expose  the  handiwork  of 
the  Jesuits  in  Portugal,  and  especially  in  the  American  colonies, 
and  hardly  did  any  ship  arrive  thence  without  bringing  a  couple  of 
the  Fathers  who  had  been  taken  prisoners  for  high  treason.  This 
exasperated  the  rage  of  the  Jesuits,  and  they  at  once  seized 
every  means  of  effecting  the  overthrow  of  the  then  Government 
of  Portugal.     They  whispered  into  the  ears  of  the  high  nobility 


< 


as  to  whether  they  would  tolerate  any  longer  the  yoke  of  this 
parvenu,  who  had  removed  from  their  appointments  the  whole 
of  the  chief  officials  of  the  kingdom.  They  persuaded  the  clergy 
that  Pombal  was  no  more  favourable  to  them  than  to  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  and  every  pulpit  and  confessional  was  made  use  of  in 
order  secretly  to  hound  on  the  people  against  the  minister  as  an 
enemy  to  religion.  They  promulgated  the  most  prejudicial/ 
reports  against  the  King  himself,  and  they  even  did  not  refrain 
from  charging  him  before  the  Judgment  Seat  of  God ;  and,  in 
order  to  complete  the  matter,  they  prophesied  that  the  monarch 
would  have  but  a  very  short  term  of  life,  fixing  the  end  of  his 
days  definitively  to  be  in  the  month  of  September  1758.* 

In  this  manner  an  artificial  ferment  was  created  in  the 
minds  of  the  Portuguese,  which  shortly  so  obtained  the  upper 
hand  that,  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  clear-sighted,  a 
great  catastrophe  would  not  be  long  before  taking  place ;  and 
it  actually  so  occurred — in  a  way,  nevertheless,  which  had  not 
been  expected.  In  the  night,  between  the  2nd  and  3rd  of 
September,  as  the  King,  Joseph  I.  of  Braganza,  was  driving 
back  to  his  Palace  of  Belem  from  that  of  the  young  Countess 
of  Tavora,  whom  he  frequently  had  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting, 
three  musket-shots  were  fired  from  an  ambush,  one  of  which 
wounded  him  severely  in  the  arm ;  but  no  greater  misfortune 
happened  to  him,  as  the  coachman,  as  soon  as  he  heard  the 
crack,  put  his  horses  to  the  gallop,  and  drove  to  the  neighbouring 
country-house  of  the  Marquis  of  Angeya.  The  King  there 
alighted,  and  after  his  wound  had  been  dressed  by  the  hastily- 
summoned  body-surgeon,  Antony  Soarez,  accompanied  by  the 
latter  he  proceeded  to  Belem  to  undergo  there  a  three  months 
cure,  during  which  time  no  one  was  allowed  access  to  him  ex- 
cept Soarez  and  his  Prime  Minister,  the  Marquis  of  Pombal, 
and  occasionally  his  spouse  the  Queen,  with  his  daughters  the 

Princesses. 

The  report  of  this  attempted  murder  of  the  ruler,  of  course, 
spread  like  wildfire,  and  at  first  it  was  the  general  opinion  that 
the  wound  was  dangerous  to  life.     Consequently  a  number  of 

•  When  the  Jesuit  Turoniwas  questioned  in  Rome,  in  August  1758,  regard- 
ine  the  condition  of  the  Order  in  Portugal,  he  answered,  verbally,  "  All  goes 
well,  and,  during  the  coming  September,  the  affair  wül  be  arranged  and 
a  termination  will  be  put  to  our  trouble."  It  is  also  incontestably  proved, 
that  Father  Malagrida  wrote  simüar  prophetical  words  to  several  persona 
of  distinction. 


♦ 


134 


mSTOBY  OF  THE  JESOITS. 


the  high  nobility,  as  well  as  ecclesiastics,  hastened  to  pay  homage 
to  the  Crown  Prince,  Don  Pedro,  younger  brother  of  the  King, 
who,  having  only  one  daughter  by  bis  wife  and  no  son,  had  there- 
fore no  successor ;  and  more  especially  the  heads  of  the  Jesuits 
did  this,  as  it  was  well  known  that  the  said  Don  Pedro,  the  proper 
successor  of  his  brother,  was  a  great  friend  and  patron  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  while  he  also  mortally  hated  the  Marquis  of 
Pombal,  their  great  antagonist.  Already  the  destruction  of  the 
all-powerful  favourite  was  predicted,  and  not  a  few  dreamed  of 
his  removal  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner.  Pombal  now  made 
it  public  that  the  King's  physicians,  although  the  wound  was  of 
a  very  serious  nature,  assured  the  safety  of  his  life  ;  but  it  was 
affirmed  that  this  intimation  was  only  a  feint  in  order  to  deceive 
inquisitive  people,  and  some  continued  to  speculate  on  the 
downfall  of  the  minister,  and  even  to  conspire  against  him.  In 
the  meantime  the  latter  stood,  as  people  soon  found  out,  on  a 
higher  step  of  the  ladder  of  power,  as,  of  course,  he  did  not 
omit  to  keep  his  royal  master  informed  of  everything  that  the 
party  of  Don  Pedro  did,  and  at  once  obtained  from  Joseph  I., 
who  had  previously  never  thoroughly  trusted  his  ambitious 
brother,  whom  he  could  not  now  view  otherwise  than  as  a  plotter 
against  the  throne,  the  fullest  powers  to  take  the  best  measures 
for  the  security  of  the  Crown. 

What  did  the  Prime  Minister  do  now  ? 

Before  everything  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  act  so  as  to 
bring  out  who  it  was  that  had  occasioned  the  attempt  at  murder, 
and,  with  this  view,  he  had  left  no  stone  unturned  to  get  at  the 
truth.  Still,  all  that  had  taken  place  on  his  part  had  been 
carried  on  in  the  deepest  silence  and  in  the  greatest  secrecy, 
those  who  were  conscious  of  guilt  being  lulled  into  security, 
while  for  obvious  reasons  he  did  not  suffer  that  any  suspicion 
should  be  expressed,  either  on  one  side  or  the  other,  among  those 
around  him.  In  the  beginning,  the  result  of  the  investigation 
was  but  very  insignificant  and  defective,  as  no  other  evidence 
was  forthcoming  than  that  of  the  royal  coachman  and  a  noble- 
man who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  place  where  the 
attempt  at  murder  occurred.  The  latter,  Don  John  de  Lobo,  had 
heard  the  shot,  but,  besides  the  sound  of  the  royal  carriage  as 
it  drove  away,  nothing  further.  The  former,  Custodio  da  Casta, 
had  certainly   seen   distinctly   three  well-mounted  men   armed 


THE   OBEAT   COMMOTION   AT   PARAGUAY. 


135 


with  muskets,  but,  as  they  were  provided  with  masks,  and  as  it 
was  at  the  time  tolerably  dark,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  give 
any  other  particulars.     That  was  all  that  could  with  certainty 
be  made  out,  and  that  this  was  but  very  little  everyone  may  well 
admit.     Still,  if  the  actual  facts  that  could  be  taken  hold  of 
failed,   the  field   for   conjecture    and   supposition   was   all  the 
richer;  and  there  were  two  views,  in  particular,  which  obtained 
favour.     Some  said  that  the  attempt  was  nothing  else  than  an 
act  of  private  revenge.     In  other  words,  they  thought  that  Don 
Luiz  Bernard  de  Tavora  was  jealous  that  the  King  paid  such 
frequent   visits  to   his   wife   at  night — she  was   called   Donna 
Johanna  Theresia,  and  was  born  Countess  of  Albor— that  he  was 
beside  himself,  and  had  laid  in  wait  for  the  great  personage,  with 
some  relations  or  servants,  in  order  to  murder  him.     Others,  on 
the  contrary— and  they  were  supported  by  the  half  of  Europe — 
held    that  the  attack  could  only  have  been   arranged  by  the 
Jesuits,  or,    at  least,   must   have  been  concocted  by  them,  as 
respecting  the  perpetration  of  such  a  wicked  deed  a  good  jurist 
asks  at  once,  **  Cui  prodest  ?  "  i.e.  "  Who  benefits  ?  "  and  this 
question  seldom  fails  to  indicate  the   true   authors   of  crime. 
Now,   from   the   murder   of  the  King,  had   it   succeeded,    the 
sons   of   Loyola  would    have  gained   great   advantage,   as,   in 
that  case,  Don  Pedro  would  have  ascended  the  throne,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  a  new  era  of  good  fortune  would  have  dawned 
upon   them.     Anyone  can  draw  a  conclusion  for  himself,  and 
I  need  not  further  here  indicate  it.     The  Marquis  of  Pombal 
was  unable  to   decide   for   himself  which  of  these  two   views 
might  be  the  correct  one,  though  he   was  still  inclined,  from 
various  indications,  to  hold  to  the  latter  opinion,  without,  how- 
ever, being  able  to  arrive  at  any  certainty.     After  the  inves- 
tigation had  gone  on  for  more  than  two  months,  he,  at  length, 
resorted  to  stratagem,  which  led  him  to  the  attainment  of  his 
end.     He  imagined  that  if  the  attempt  had  really  been  con- 
cocted by  the  Jesuits,  they  would  certainly,  by  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, cause  their  brethren  in  Brazil  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  result  of  the  scheme.     On  this  account,  at  his  request,  a 
merchant  fitted  out  a  ship  for  Brazil ;  of  course,  however,  with- 
out  its  being  previously  made  known  to  anyone.     This  being 
effected,  the  merchant  now  announced  that  he  was  prepared  to 
receive  goods  as  well  as  passengers.     As  soon  as  the  ship  had 


136 


HISTOBY   O^   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GREAT    COMMOTION   AT   PARAGUAY. 


13 


taken  in  its  full  cargo  of  wares,  and  passengers,  and  was  in 
a  position  to  set  sail,  the  captain  received  a  royal  mandate, 
with  instructions  to  open  it  only  after  he  got  to  a  certain  dis- 
tance from  land.  The  captain  did  not,  of  course,  know  at  the 
time  what  he  was  ordered  to  do.  As  soon,  however,  as  in  due 
course  he  read  the  document,  he  searched  all  letters  and  effects 
that  were  on  board,  and  took  possession  of  everything  that  was 
suspicious.  He,  besides,  caused  the  whole  of  the  passengers  to 
be  minutely  inspected,  and  arrested  every  one  regarding  whom 
there  was  the  slightest  suspicion,  in  order  to  send  him  back  at 
once  to  Lisbon,  with  the  confiscated  letters  and  effects.  In 
this  way  important  disclosures  were  obtained,  and  it  may  now 
be  easily  imagined  how  the  necessai'y  arrests  were  carried  into 
execution.  In  order,  however,  to  be  able  to  effect  this  with 
perfect  safety,  Pombal  collected  several  regiments  of  soldiers 
from  outlying  garrisons  in  Lisbon,  on  the  pretence  that  this  was 
done  in  order  that  they  might  be  employed  in  rebuilding  the 
houses  which  had  been  thrown  down  by  the  earthquake.  On 
the  12th  of  December  1758  all  measures  were  at  length  com- 
pleted, and  on  the  day  following  the  capital  of  Portugal  was  to 
learn  who  it  was  that  had,  three  months  previously,  attempted 
the  life  of  King  Joseph.  The  panic,  however,  was  great  on  this 
being  made  known,  as,  although  the  names  of  several  of  those 
arrested  had  been  whispered  about  as  probably  guilty,  no  one 
dreamed  of  the  existence  of  such  an  extensive  conspiracy. 

But  to  proceed.  On  the  1 3th  December  1758,  at  4  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  all  the  houses  and  palaces  of  both  the  noble 
families  of  Aveiro  and  Tavora  were  unexpectedly  visited  by 
a  strong  detachment  of  military,  and  the  following  persons 
were  at  once  removed  to  the  prisons  assigned  for  their  recep- 
tion. To  begin  with  :  the  Duke  of  Aveiro,  high  steward  of  the 
King,  with  his  son,  the  Marquis  of  Sovora;  then  the  old 
Marquis  of  Tavora,  general  of  cavalry,  and  formerly  Viceroy 
of  India,  and  the  young  Marquis  Luiz  Bernard,  with  his 
younger  brother,  Joseph  Maria ;  further,  the  two  brothers  of  the 
old  Marquis  Emanuel,  and  Joseph  Maria  de  Tavora,  as  well  as 
Count  de  Atouguia  and  the  Marquis  d'Alorno,  sons-in-law  of  the 
old  Marquis;  besides.  Colonel  Don  Juan  de  Tavora,  at  Chaves, 
and  Colonel  Muno  de  Tavora,  at  Alentejo,  with  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Evora  and  the  Bishop  of  Port-a-Port,  two  cousins  of 


the  family;  lastly,  the  whole  of  the  household  and  domestics, 
except  those  who  had  succeeded  in  making  their  escape  by  flight, 
as,  for  instance,  the  confidential  chamberlain  of  the  Duke  of 
Aveiro,   Joseph   Polycarpio   de   Azevedo.      All    of  them   were 
chained,  hands  and  feet,  and  brought  into  the  former  Zoological 
Garden  at  Belem,  on  the  Tagus.     Besides  the  male  prisoiiers, 
for  these  alone  were  not  considered  sufficient,  several   females 
were  seized,  namely,  the  old  Marchioness  of  Tavora,  with  her 
daughters,  who  were  confined  in  the  cloister  "  Do  Grillo  " ;  then 
the  Duchess  of  Aveiro,  with  her  daughters,  who  were  brought 
into  the    cloister   "Delia   Madra  de  Decs";    and,    lastly,   the 
young  Marchioness  of  Tavora,  the  above-named  Donna  Johanna 
Theresia,  whom  the  King  used  to  be  so  much  pleased  to  see. 
The   latter  was  treated  with  the   greatest  politeness,  and  was 
accorded  the  noble  female  cloister  of  Dos  Santos  as  a  residence, 
where  she  was  at  liberty  to  go  out  and  in  as  she  pleased,  as  well 
as  to  receive  visits.     Those  were  the  persons  who  were  appre- 
hended on  the  morning  of  the  13th,  and  conducted  to  prison ; 
all,  as  may  be  observed,  belonging  to  the  highest  rank  of  nobility. 
While  this  important  matter  was  being  accomplished,  the  seven 
houses  which  the  Jesuits  possessed  in  Lisbon  were  each  sur- 
rounded by   a   guard   of  fifteen   soldiers,    besides   officers   and 
corporals,   and   no    one    was   allowed  to    enter  without  having 
permission    from    the   Council   of  State ;    besides   which,    an 
order    was    issued    by    Cardinal    Saldanha    that    no    member 
of  the  Order  of  Jesus    should,  until  further  orders,  cross   the 
threshold  of  his  house ;   and  thus  from  this  time  forward  the 
whole  of  the  Jesuits  then  present  in  Lisbon  were  nothing  better 
than  prisoners,  only  with  the  difference  that  they  were  not  fettered 
but  allowed  to  go  free  about  the  interior  of  their  homes.     The 
examination  of  the  prisoners  proceeded  on  the  JiOth  December 
1758,    and  before  the   so-called   tribunal    "Da  Inconfidencia," 
which  is  the  highest  secular  court  of  justice  in  Portugal.     More- 
over, many  sittings  were  not  required  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  result, 
as  the  Duke  of  Aveiro  at  once  confessed  everything,  and  conse- 
quently the  denial  of  the  others  was  of  no  avail.     Equally  open 
confessions  were  made  by  Beaz  Joseph  Romeiro,  the  confidential 
servant  of  the  Marquis  Luiz  Bernard   de  Tavora,   and  Antonio 
Alvarez  Fereira,  as,  also,  by  his  brother  Manuel,  both   chamber 
servants  of  the  Duke  of  Aveiro,  and,  lastly,  by  his  body  page, 


X 


138 


HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   GREAT   COMMOTION   AT   PAEAGÜAY. 


139 


Juan  Miguel.  From  these  confessions  it  became  quite  clear  that 
the  intention  was  the  murder  of  the  reigning  King.  It  was 
especially  rendered  clear  that  the  old  Marchioness  Eleonora  de 
Tavora  was  the  person  who  hounded  on  her  husband,  sons,  and 
relations,  day  by  day,  and  that  she  had  made  her  hotel  a 
veritable  den  of  conspiracy.  She,  again,  had  been  influenced  by 
the  Jesuits,  especially  by  the  Fathers  Malagrida,  Mattos,  and 
Alexander  de  Souza,  the  Father  Confessors  of  the  family  of 
Tavora,  so  that,  morally,  the  chief  originators  were  in  reality  the 
sons  of  Loyola.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  tribunal  determined 
that  the  most  guilty  of  them  should  be  put  in  confinement,  and 
caused  this  order  to  be  carried  out  in  the  night  of  the  11th  and 
12th  January  17Ö9,  by  some  senators  with  picquets  of  cavalry. 
Those  arrested  were  as  follows :  Joseph  Moreire,  former  Father 
Confessor  of  the  King ;  Hyacinth  da  Costa,  former  Father  Con- 
fessor of  the  Queen ;  Timothy  d'Oliveira,  Father  Confessor 
of  the  Princesses ;  Joseph  Pardigao,  Procurator-General  of 
the  Order  in  Portugal ;  Joseph  Soarez,  Procurator  of  Brazil ; 
J.  Henriquez,  Provincial  of  Portugal ;  Gabriel  Malagrida,  John 
de  Mattos,  John  Alexander  de  Souza,  Stephan  Lopez,  and 
Joseph  Oliveira»  hitherto  Father  Confessors  of  the  families  of 
Tavora  and  Aveiro.  They  were  brought  before  the  same  Court 
of  Justice,  "Da  Inconfidencia,"  which  had  conducted  the  inves- 
tigation into  the  families  of  Tavora  and  Aveiro,  and  their  exami- 
nation commenced  early  on  the  1 2th.  The  said  tribunal  did 
not,  of  course,  abstain  on  account  of  this  newly-instituted 
inquiry  from  promulgating  their  sentence  on  those  already 
arrested,  whose  trial  had  come  to  a  termination,  and  of  ordering 
the  same  to  be  at  once  carried  into  execution.  It  sentenced 
ten  of  the  same  to  death,  confiscation  of  their  estates  and  desti- 
tution of  their  children,  while  the  remainder  got  oflP  with  impri- 
sonment. The  punishment  of  the  Jesuits  came  off  later.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  tribunal  at  once  declared  distinctly  that  they 
were  to  be  regarded,  from  the  confessions  of  the  conspirators,  as 
the  chief  authors  of  the  attempted  murder.  After  the  procla- 
mation of  this  sentence,  which  was  at  once  printed  in  order  that 
it  should  be  sent  abroad  throughout  the  world,*  the  carrying  out 

*  The  document  was  translated  into  all  the  European  languages,  and  also 
appeared,  in  the  year  1759,  in  German,  at  Frankfurt,  under  the  title  of 
The  Portuguese  High  Treason^  and  the  Trial  of  the  Condemned  and  Executed 
Persons^  as  it  was  publicly  made  known  to  the  Court  itself. 


of  it  was  immediately  proceeded  with  ;  and  with  this  object  a 
scaffold  eighteen  feet  in  height  was  erected  in  the  marl<et-place 
of  Lisbon,  during  the  night  of  the  13th,  round  which  was  drawn 
up  a  cordon  of  military.     Precisely  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  old  Marchioness  of  Tavora,  as  the  most  guilty,  was  brought 
upon  the  scene,  her  hands  bound,  and  a  rope  round  her  neck. 
She   was   placed  on  a  chair,    and   her   eyes  being  bound,  the 
executioner  struck  her  head  off  without  the  previous  utterance 
by  her  of  any  complaint.     After  her  came  the  twenty-one-year- 
old  son,  Joseph  Maria  de  Tavora.     They  bound  him  on  a  cross 
raised  aloft,  broke  his  arms  and  legs  with  iron  clubs,  and  then 
strangled  him  with  a  rope.     The  same  fate  befell  Jeronimo  de 
Ataide,  Count  of  Atouguia,  the  young  Marquis  Luiz  Bernard  de 
Tavora,  colonel  of  cavalry,  his  servant  Blasius  Joseph  Romeiro, 
Corporal    Emanuel   Alvarez   Fereira,    valet    of    the    Duke   of 
Aveira,  and  the  body  page,  John  Michael.     Their  corpses  were 
all  flattened  upon  wheels,  which  were  placed  on  poles,  and  this 
proceeding  took  up  so  much  time  that  fully  half  an  hour  elapsed 
before  another  execution  could  be  proceeded  with.      After  the 
page  Miguel  or  Michael,  the  executioner  took  the  old  Francis 
d'Assis  de  Tavora,  bound  him  on  a  St.  Andrew's  cross,  gave 
him    three    blows    on     the     chest    with     an    iron    rod    that 
resounded    to    a   distance,    shattered   his    arms  and   legs,    and 
then   gave   him   his   coup    de  grace   through  the  heart.     The 
executioner's  men  then,  amidst  wild  shrieks,  shattered  the  arms, 
legs,  and  thighs  of  the  ninth  victim,  the  old  Duke  of  Aveiro, 
while  still  alive,  then  killed  him  by  a  blow  on  the  chest,  and 
threw  him  into  a  blazing  fire.     Finally,  the  tenth  delinquent, 
the  valet  Anton  Alvarez  Fereira,  brother  of  the  above-mentioned 
Emanuel,   was  conducted  before  the  corpses  of  the  nine  who 
had  been  previously  executed,  each  one  being  shown  to  him ;  he 
was  then  bound  to  a  stake,  round  which  was  placed  a  heap  of 
wood,  and  this  being  set  tire  to,  was  raked  together  until  be  was 
completely  consumed.   In  this  manner  were  punished  ten  of  those 
who,  it  was  known  for  certain,  had  taken  an  immediate  part  in 
the  attempt  to  murder.    When  the  execution  was  over,  the  scaffold, 
together  with  all  the  dead  bodies,  was  set  on  fire  and  burnt  to 
ashes,  which  were  thrown  into  the  Tagus.     Lastly,  the  palaces 
of    the  high  nobility  who  had  been  executed  were  pulled    to 
pieces  and   levelled  to  the  ground,   and  salt  strewed  on  the 


140 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS- 


THE    GREAT    COMMOTION   AT    PARAGUAY, 


Ul 


places  where  they  had  stood,  as  a  sign  that  they  should  never  be 
built  up  again. 

We  now  return  to  the  Jesuits,  eleven  of  the  most  guilty  of 
whom  had  been  in  prison,  well  guarded,  since  the  12th  January 
17Ö9;  the  remainder  were  shut  in   their  houses  and  watched 
by  soldiers.    But  with  this  Pombal  could  not  be  satisfied,  as  half 
measures  were  of  no  use.    Consequently  a  Royal  Edict  appeared 
six  days  after  the  12th  January,  which  commanded  that  all  the 
movable  and  immovable  property  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  together 
with  all   their   rents,   incomes,   and   pensions,  should  be  con- 
fiscated, and  all  intercourse  between  them  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Portugal  should  cease.     This  edict  was  carried  out  with  the 
greatest  strictness,  and  was  productive  of  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  the  State.     In  the  Mission  Treasury  of  the  Hospitium  to 
the    Holy  Borgia,  was   found    so  much  ready-money   that  its 
removal  required  fifteen  days  to  effect,  and  if  in  the  remaining 
Jesuit  houses  the  stores  of  money  were  less  considerable  than  it 
was  hoped,  such  a  mass  of  sugar,  cocoa,  vanille,    and   similar 
articles  was  found,  that  the  selling  by  auction  of  the  same  took 
up  whole  weeks.     At  the  same  time  as  the  Confiscation  Edict 
appeared,  Pombal  caused  a  pamphlet  to  be  distributed  far  and 
wide  among  the  people,  which  revealed  the  godless  and  rebellious 
ideas  which  the  Jesuits  had  instilled  into  the  evil-doers  who  had 
been  executed,  and  called  for  support  on   his  behalf  from  the 
high  ecclesiastics  of  Portugal  against  the  conduct  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.     The  whole  of  the  bishops  of  the  country  promised  to 
comply ;  and  as  many  of  them  issued  pastoral  Briefs  in  which 
the  injurious  and  shameful  actions  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  were 
enumerated   in  strong   words,    the   common  people   began    by 
degrees  to  give  up  holding  the  estimation  they  always  attached 
to   the  Society  of  Jesus.     Lastly,  while  this  end  was  attained, 
the  Portuguese  Government  applied  to  the  Pope  in  Rome,  in 
order  that  his  Holiness,  as  supreme  judge  and  ruler  over  the 
whole  Catholic  clergy,  should  give  his  approval  to  all  that  had 
already  been  done,  as  well  as  to  further  measures  to  be  carried 
out.     The  document  referring  to  this  was  despatched  to  Rome 
on   the   20th   April   1759,   and  Pombal  gave  his   Holiness  to 
understand  therein  that  his  King  and  master  had  the  intention 
of  removing  from  his  States  the  whole  of  the  Jesuits,  as  tbere  was 
no  longer  any  hope  of  protecting  himself  from  their  intrigues 


and  snares  by  any  milder  measures.     Pombal,  however,  did  not 
do  this  without  exhibiting  to  the  Roman  Curie,  in  a  very  com- 
prehensive memorandum,  complete  proof  of  these  machinations 
and  intrigues ;  nor  did  he  omit  to  explain  what  injurious  and 
treasonable  plans  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  carried  on  in  Paraguay, 
and  how  they  had  advanced  audacious  calumnies  against  facts 
hitherto  proved  ;  he  did  not  fail,   too,  to  transmit  proofs  that 
these  Fathers,  after  their  dismissal  from   the  Court  as  Father 
Confessors,  and  after  having  been  interdicted  by  an  edict  of  the 
Patriarch  of  Lisbon,  from  the  duties  of  confession  and  preaching, 
contrived  a  shameful  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  monarch, 
through  which   they  wished    to    bring  about   a  change  in  the 
government  of  Portugal  by  force,  for  their  profit.     Supported 
by  the  latter  documents,  Pombal  then,  lastly,  demanded  a  Papal 
Brief  which   should    empower  him    to   deliver  over  to    secular 
tribunals  ecclesiastics  who  had  been  proved  to  be  guilty  of  high 
treason  against   the  King  and   State;  as  the  sons  of  Loyola 
possessed,  according  to  their  statutes,  the  so-called  Immunitas 
Ecclesiastica,  that  is  exemption  or  freedom  from  ordinary  law 
ordinances  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  should  they,  there 
fore,  be  brought  to  trial  without  the  Papal  authorization  previously 
obtained,  opposition  might  cause  the  verdict  to  be   afterwards 
cancelled.      Immediately   on    receipt  of    the    above-mentioned 
despatches,     Francis     de    Almada    de    Mendoza,     Portuguese 
Ambassador  accredited  to  the  Court  of  Rome,  delivered  them 
to   the  Papal  Curie,  and  everyone  was  in  the   highest   degree 
anxious    to   know  what  answer  would  be  given   to  the  same. 
Those  who  were  best  instructed  in   the   matter   might    easily 
imagine,  beforehand,  what  must  be  the  consequence,   because 
they  well  knew  what  a  weak  man  Pope  Clement  XIII.  was,  and 
how  he  allowed  himself  to  be  governed  in  all  things  by  Cardinal 
Torregiani,  the  Secretary  of  State,  who  was  nearly  related  to 
Ricci,  the  General  of    the   Jesuits.      In   fact,    Clement  XIII. 
answered  in  a  purely  Jesuitical  manner.     The  Papal  Brief,  dated 
the  1 1  th   August,   addressed  direct  to  the  King  of  Portugal, 
was  extremely  evasive,  and  after  extolling  the  Jesuits  generally, 
with  the  most  superabundant  praise,  only  begged  the  monarch 
to  exercise  moderation  towards  the  sons  of  Loyola  implicated  in 
the  trial  for  attempted  murder,   and  especially    to  spare    their 
lives ;  but  a  Brief  of  a  very   different  kind   was  despatched,  at 


142 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  same  time,  from  Rome  to  the  Papal  Amhassador  in  Lishon, 
the  Nuncin«?  Acciajuoli,  as  in  this  document  the  latter  was  in- 
structed not  to  give  in  one  foot's  hreadth  regarding  the  Jesuit 
matters  to  the  secular  Government  of  Portugal.  Indeed,  it  was 
too  clearly  evident  from  the  same —  Pombal  contrived  to  obtain 
for  himself  a  copy  of  it — how  the  Jesuit  party,  at  that  time  all- 
powerful  in  Borne,  audaciously  laboured  to  bring  about  a  breach 
between  the  Pope  and  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  under  the  firm 
conviction  that  the  King,  from  fear  of  a  revolution,  would  dismiss 
Pombal  from  the  Government,  as  he  was  so  hated  by  the  well- 
disposed  Catholic  Portuguese  people. 

With  the  same  object,  also,  the  Nuncius  Acciajuoli  placed 
himself  secretly  in  intimate  communication  with  the  highest 
nobility  of  Portugal,  and  influenced  even  those  immediately 
belonging  to  the  Court,  i.e.  those  of  royal  blood  who  were  still 
devoted  inwardly  heart  and  soul  to  the  Jesuits.  In  short,  a 
great  stroke  was  in  contemplation,  which  should  raise  the  sons 
of  Loyola  again  to  their  supremacy  in  Portugal ;  but  Pombal 
was  alive  to  their  machinations.  He  categorically  demanded, 
through  the  Ambassador  Almada,  a  distinct  declaration  from 
the  Papal  Curie  whether  or  not  they  would  agreeably  accede  to 
his  just  demands,  and  as  such  declaration  was  not  given,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  as  the  audience  demanded  of  the  Pope  by  the 
Ambassador  was  declined,  the  energetic  minister  resolved  to  take 
the  matter  into  his  own  hands.  In  other  words,  he  determined 
to  put  into  prison,  of  his  own  accord,  all  the  most  guilty  among 
the  Jesuits  who  lived  either  in  Portugal  or  its  colonies,  without 
any  further  regard  to  the  Roman  Court,  and  to  banish  for  ever 
and  ever  out  of  the  State  the  remainder  who  were  less  implicated, 
interdicting  their  return  at  any  time,  either  secretly  or  openly, 
under  threats  of  most  severe  punishment. 

The  necessary  decree  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the 
King  on  the  3rd  September  1759.  Pombal,  however,  still 
delayed  for  fourteen  days  before  publishing  and  bringing  it 
into  operation,  doubtless  in  the  expectation  of  the  receipt 
of  more  favourable  news  from  Rome.  As,  however,  such  did 
not  arrive,  and  as  the  danger  by  which  he  was  surrounded 
increased  continually  more  and  more,  he  no  longer  hesitated 
over  the  matter,  and  without  trembling  passed  the  Rubicon. 
Indeed,  he  burnt  the  bridge  after  him,  in  order  that  be  should 


THE    GREAT    COMMOTION   AT    PARAGUAY. 


143 


not  be  able  to  return,  and  the  sons  of  Loyol  a  now,  for  the  first 
time,  became  convinced  of  the  gigantic  power  of  their  enemy. 
The  language,  indeed,  which  Pombal  employed  in  the  decree 
against  them  was  one  of  annihilation.  After  minutely  enumer- 
ating all  the  disgraceful  acts  and  crimes  of  which  the  Jesuits 
had  been  guilty  in  Portugal  against  the  King  and  State,  and 
bringing  forward  the  necessary  proof  of  everything  stated,  he 
caused  the  monarch  to  ordain,  **  in  order  to  protect  my  royal 
honour,  which  is  equally  the  life  and  soul  of  the  whole  mon- 
archy ;  in  order  to  maintain  uninjured  my  independence  as 
sovereign  and  ruler;  in  order  to  remove  from  the  midst  of  my 
dominions  such  extraordinary  and  great  vexation,  and  to  shield 
my  subjects  from  similar  frightful  occurrences  with  their  sad 
results,  I  declare  the  so-called  ecclesiastics — the  Jesuits,  namely 
— to  be  thoroughly  corrupt,  and  to  have  receded  from  the  rules 
of  their  Holy  Order,  nnd  from  deeply-rooted  depravity  to  have 
become  completely  incnpable  of  ever  again  learning  to  observe 
them  ;  I  declare  them  to  be  notorious  rebels,  traitors,  enemies, 
and  disturbers  of  the  peace,  who  have  opposed,  and  will  again 
oppose,  my  royal  person  and  Government,  the  public  peace  of 
mv  kingdom,  and  the  general  welfare  of  my  subjects,  and,  there- 
fore order  that  each  and  every  one  of  them  may  be  looked  upon 
as  rebels  and  traitors,  and  treated  as  such.  On  the  strength  of 
this  I  declare  them  to  be  denaturalised,  exiled,  outlawed,  and 
banished,  and  decree  that  they  shall  be  expelled  from  all  my  king- 
doms and  lordships,  without  ever  again,  at  any  time,  being  allowed 
to  return.  I  charge,  lastly,  all  my  subjects,  of  whatever  condition 
and  calling  they  may  be,  under  irrevocable  punishment  of  death 
and  confiscation  of  goods  for  the  benefit  of  my  Treasury,  that  they 
give  no  shelter  to  any,  not  even  a  single  one,  of  these  said  expelled 
ecclesiastics,  and  do  not  hold  any  communication  with  them  or 
entertain  any  intercourse  whatever  with  them,  either  verbally  or 
by  letter,  or  through  a  third  person.  I  command  Doctor 
Emanuel  Gomez  de  Carvalho,  as  Senator  of  the  Palace  and  High 
Chancellor  of  my  kingdom,  to  make  known  this  law  now  enacted, 
and  to  transmit  the  same  in  writing  to  all  tribunals,  capitals  of 
provinces,  and  other  towns  in  my  dominions,  in  order  that  it  be 
therein  recorded." 

Thus   ran   the  decree    which    banished    all  the   Jesuits   out 
of  the  Portuguese  states,   and  it   must    be    admitted    that  it 


i 


144 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


could  not  have  been  conceived  in  more  energetic  language. 
The  carryinfi^  out  of  the  decree  must  needs,  therefore,  be  pro- 
ceeded with  no  liess  energetically,  and  on  the  1 7th  Sep- 
tember the  first  ship,  freighted  with  320  Jesuits,  sailed  out 
of  the  Tagus,  bound  for  Civita-Vecchia  in  the  States  of  the 
Church.  Thither  had  Pombal  determined  to  send  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  in  order  that  they  might  all  of  them  be  able  to  gather 
round  their  old  friend  and  protector  the  Pope.  The  second 
transport  took  its  departure  on  the  7th  October  with  170 
Jesuits,  and  there  followed  in  succession,  at  stated  periods  of 
time,  five  other  transports,  which  carried  in  all  about  twelve 
hundred  sons  of  Loyola  to  the  States  of  the  Church. 

In  vain  did  the  good  Fathers  hope  that  the  people  over  whose 
minds  they  had  so  long  ruled  would  rise,  and  by  a  revolution 
neutralise  Pombal's  act  of  violence.  Not  one  single  hand  was 
lifted  in  their  behalf,  and  in  several  places  their  memory  was 
even  execrated. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  out  of  the  whole  of  Portugal  was 
thus  quietly  effected,  and  after  the  lapse  of  a  year  this  kingdom 
saw  itself  completely  freed  from  the  black  coliort.  Yet,  no ;  I 
am  wrong  in  saying  this,  as  Pombal  retained  part  of  them,  the 
most  dangerous  and  most  guilty  ones.  There  were,  besides  the 
eleven  whom  I  have  named  above,  still  113  others,  for  the 
most  part  provincials,  procurators,  rectors,  and  personages  of 
mark,  who  had  been  kept  in  the  fortress  of  St.  Julian,  situated 
upon  a  rock  in  the  sea,  about  three  hours  sail  from  Lisbon.* 
Thirty-nine  of  these  died  there  between  1759  and  1777,  most  of 
them  at  a  great  age  ;  thirty-six  were  transferred  to  Italy  in  the  year 
1767,  among  their  brethren  who  had  preceded  them  ;  and  the 
rest,  with  the  exception  of  one  in  particular,  who  was  brought 
to  trial,  were  allowed  to  go  free  without  further  punishment 
after  the  death  of  King  Joseph.  The  particular  individual 
in  question  was  Father  Gabriel  Malagrida,  of  whom  mention 
has  frequently  been  made,  one  of  the  most  influential  of  the 

•  Among  them  were  found  Jesuits  of  all  nations,  and  especially  the  fol- 
lowing Germans : — Kutger  Hundt,  from  the  Lower  Bhine  ;  Francis  Wolf, 
from  Bohemia;  Ignatius  Szentmartonyi,  an  Austrian;  Martin  Schwarz, 
from  Upper  Germany ;  Joseph  Kuyling,  Austrian ;  Moriz  Thoma,  from 
Augsburg ;  Jacob  Müller,  from  the  Lower  Bhine ;  Jacob  Dolsart,  from 
Alsace ;  Lorenzo  Kaulen,  from  the  Lower  Bhine ;  Antony  Münsterburg  and 
Anselm  Eckart,  both  from  the  Upper  Bhine ;  John  Koffler,  from  Prague ; 
Jacob  Graf,  from  the  Lower  Bhine ;  John  Brauer,  from  WestphaUa  ;  and 
Matthias  Filler,  Austrian. 


THE  GBEAT  COMMOTION  AT  PARAGUAY. 


145 


sons  of  Loyola  in  Lisbon,  to  whom  was  attributed  the  chief 
guilt  respecting  the  attempt  on  the  King's  life  of  the  3rd  Sep- 
tember 1758.  But  as  the  Pope  of  Rome  did  not  authorise  the 
Marquis  of  Pombal  "to  place  ecclesiastics  before  secular  tribu- 
nals on  account  of  secular  crimes,"  the  old  man  of  seventy-two 
was  handed  over  to  the  despotic  tribunal  of  the  Holy  Inquisi- 
tion, which  sentenced  him  to  death  by  fire  on  account  of  heresy 
and  other  misdeeds.  He  underwent  this  punishment  on  the 
20th  September  1 761,  as  the  King  did  not  feel  himself  at  liberty 
to  pardon  him ;  but  as  he  alone  of  all  his  associates  had  ex- 
piated his  offence  with  his  life,  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  fraternity  gave  him  out  to  be  a  holy  martyr  and 
honoured  him  as  such. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  the  Jesuits  in  Portugal,  and  it  must  be 
remarked  as  extraordinary  that  such  an  expulsion  should  take 
place  from  a  Court  which  had  so  slavishly  obeyed  them  for 
centuries.  But  the  possibility  of  such  being  brought  about  was 
alone  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  a  Marquis  de  Pombal  con- 
ducted the  government,  as  it  was  only  a  man  of  his  energy, 
genius,  and  iron  will,  that  could  dare  to  bid  defiance  to  an 
Order  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  the  credit  of  being  the  oracle 
of  the  kings  and  the  idol  of  the  people.  Naturally  enough, 
now,  the  consequence  of  such  a  bold  step  could  be  no  other 
than  a  shriek  of  rage  on  the  part  of  the  whole  Society  of  Jesus, 
and  their  Gener.il  from  this  time  forth  continually  kept  dinning 
into  the  ears  of  the  Pope,  Clement  XIII.,  that  an  interdict 
should  at  once  be  imposed  upon  the  kingdom  of  Portugal.  This, 
however,  the  Holy  Father  did  not  dare  to  do,  as  the  more 
sensible  of  the  Cardinals  gave  him  to  understand  that  the  times 
of  a  Hildebrand  were  now  gone  by,  and  that  the  nations  would 
no  longer  trouble  themselves  much  about  a  Bull  of  Excommu- 
nication. On  the  other  hand,  a  still  greater  evil  might  easily 
arise  out  of  such  behaviour,  as  it  might  occur  to  the  Marquis  of 
Pombal  to  make  Portugal  quite  independent  of  Rome,  with  its 
own  proper  Church  government  under  a  Lusitanian  Patriarch. 
The  contemplated  excommunication,  therefore,  remained  in 
abeyance,  but,  none  the  less,  a  breach  of  the  peace  between 
Rome  and  Portugal  occurred  on  that  account. 

On  the  5th  July  1 760,  the  Portuguese  ambassador  accompa- 
nied by  all  his  countrymen,  quitted  Rome,  as  he  was  no  longer 

11.  10 


146 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


able  to  bear  the  insults  of  the  Jesuits  ;  and  some  weeks  previous, 
owing  to  a  want  of  courtesy  towards  the  royal  house,  Pombal, 
on  the  I5th  June,  gave  the  Papal  Nuncius  his  passports,  with  an 
intimation    that   he  must  quit  the  country  within  four  days. 
With  the  departure  of  the  two  ambassadors,  the  connection  of 
Portugal  and  the  States  of  the  Church  was  completely  severed, 
and  the  Jesuits  took  care  to  prevent  any  reconciliation  as  long 
as  Clement  XIII.  lived.     The  fools  thought  that  no  Catholic 
State  would  be  able  to  exist  without  a  Pope,  and  that  sooner  or 
later  the  King  of  Portugal  must  cringe  to  the  Cross ;  but  the 
State  of  Portugal  continued   to  exist,   and  Don  Joseph  I.  did 
not  bow  to  the  Holy  See,  notwithstanding  that,  for  eight  years, 
the  Pope,  so  to  speak,  did  not  exist  in  Portugal. 


147 


CHAPTEE   V. 

DON  PEDRO  PABLO  ABARACA  DE  BOLEA,  COUNT  OF  ARANDA  ; 
OR,   THE   ABOLITION   OF   JESUIT   NESTS   IN   SPAIN. 

We  have  already  shown  in  the  Second  Book  how  the  Jesuits  in 
Spain  became  quite  an  extraordinary  power  under  King  Philip  IL, 
and  if  later  on  they  somewhat  lost  ground,  because  the  Domini- 
cans, with  their  Inquisition,  opposed  them,  there  still  remained 
to  them  their  great  riches  which  they  had  accumulated,  as  well 
as  frequently  their  extraordinary  influence  over  the  retainers  of 
the  Court,  and  even  over  the  rulers  themselves.  It  is  true, 
indeed,  that  in  rlie  middle  of  the  18th  century  there  still  ruled 
in  Spain  kings,  from  Philip  II.  onwards,  whose  minds  were 
darkened  completely  by  bigotry,  and  if,  perhaps,  Philip  V.  formed 
somewhat  an  exception,  on  account  of  the  influence  of  his  jovial 
and  sprightly,  although  otherwise  very  pious,  and  as  regards  the 
Church  well-disposed  wife.  Queen  Elizabeth,  born  a  princess  of 
the  House  of  Parma,  this  ray  of  light  was  again  extinguished 
with  the  accession  to  the  throne  of  Ferdinand  VI.,  the  son  of 
Philip  and  Elizabeth.  The  latter,  a  man  afflicted  with  melancholy, 
possessed  so  little  mental  power,  that  he  was  not  in  a  position 
to  overcome  the  suggestions  of  his  Father  Confessor,  a  Domi- 
nican, whose  influence,  however,  was  paralysed  here  and  there 
by  the  power  which  his  mother  exercised  over  him.  What  about 
this  Queen-mother,  however?  Owing  to  her  piety,  which  towards 
the  end  of  her  life  developed  into  regular  bigotry,  she  had  fallen 
more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  and,  consequently, 

10  ♦ 


148 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


all  measures  of  government  were  dictated  either  by  the  Domi- 
nicans, that  is,  by  the  King's  Father  Confessor,  or  by  the  Order 
of  Jesus,  that  is  by  the  Father  Confessor  of  the  Queen-mother. 
On  this  account  it  arose  that  the  highly  treasonable  conduct  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola  in  Paraguay,  from  which  country  the  Crown 
of  Spain  derived  as  much  advantage  as  that  of  Portugal,  did  not 
produce  by  any  means  such  bad  blood  at  the  former  as  at  the 
latter  Court,  an  inclination  being  displayed  to  substitute  grace 
for  justice.  Indeed,  the  half-demented  King  allowed  himself  to 
be  persuaded  to  give  credit  to  the  suggestions  of  the  Fathers, 
that  "the  Marquis  of  Baldilirios,  who  acted,  as  we  have  before 
seen,  as  Spanish  Commissary  and  General,  in  regard  to  the  well- 
known  Paraguay  boundary  regulation  question,  was  an  enemy 
of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  wished  to  bring  ruin  on  this  so 
thoroughly  innocent  Society  by  lies  and  calumnies." 

So  the  monarch,  in  the  year  1757,  sent  Don  Pedro  Cavaglios, 
a  man  devoted  through  and  through  to  the  Jesuits,  to  his  South 
American  colonies,  in  order  to  subject  the  Jesuitical  doings  there 
to  another  trial.  How  he  conducted  himself  can  be  well  imagined, 
and  the  result  was  that,  although  the  King's  minister,  the  Duke 
of  Alba,  perceived  that  the  memorandum  of  Cavaglios  was  but  a 
romance  written  in  favour  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Spanish  ruler 
could  never  be  brought  to  allow  of  a  thorough  investigation 
being  instituted  in  regard  to  the  Jesuitical  disturbance  in  Para- 
guay. On  this  account,  also,  as  long  as  Ferdinand  VI.  lived, 
the  sons  of  Loyola  in  Spain  were  never  brought  to  punish- 
ment for  the  crimes  committed  by  them  beyond  the  sea, 
solemnising,  in  fact,  a  regul.u-  triumph,  while,  in  the  neigh- 
bouring Portugal,  they  were  subjected  to  strict  imprisonment  or 
transported  out  of  the  country. 

Still  more  gloriously  did  they  unfurl  their  standard,  as,  after 
the  death  of  Ferdinand,  the  Queen  Elizabeth  long  retained  the 
reins  of  government,  until  her  second  son,  the  future  King 
Charles  III.,  who  had  hitherto  ruled  over  Naples  and  Sicily, 
arrived  in  Madrid;  the  marriage  of  her  first-born  with  the  Por- 
tuguese Princess  Anna  Barbara  had  been  without  issue,  while  the 
latter  also  died  before  her  husband,  so  Elizabeth  did  everything 
that  her  beloved  Fathers  required  of  her.  Indeed,  she  went  so 
far  ns  to  cause  the  pamphlets  written  in  Portugal  by  direction  of 
Pombaljin  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  wereproved  to  have  instigated 


THE   ABOLITION   OJ*   JESUIT   NESTS   IN   SPAIN.        149 


the  rebellion  against  the  Spanish  as  well  as  the  Portuguese 
Crown  in  South  America,  to  be  burnt  publicly  in  Madrid  by  the 
executioner,  and,  moreover,  by  her  express  command,  the  Holy 
Inquisition  had  to  prepare  a  regular  decree  of  commendation  as 
regards  the  Society  of  Jesus.  To  the  great  misfortune  of  the 
said  Order,  however,  the  government  of  their  exalted  protectress 
did  not  last  even  one  whole  year,  as  Charles  III.  took  posses- 
sion of  his  newly-inherited  throne  at  the  beginning  of  1760, 
and  this  Prince,  unfortunately — that  is,  for  the  Jesuits — allowed 
it  to  be  seen  at  once,  from  the  commencement,  that  he  was  by 
no  means  disposed  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  brother  Fer- 
dinand, nor  yet,  indeed,  of  his  mother  Elizabeth.  His  friend 
was  the  enlightened  Marquis  of  Montallegre,  with  whom  he  had 
read  already,  with  uplifted  eyes — oh,  frightful  crime! — the 
nefarious  Monita  ad  Principes,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made  in  the  Fifth  Book.  Besides,  did  he  not  possess  for  Father 
Confessor,  in  the  Franciscan  Joseph  Elela,  Bishop  of  Osma,  a 
confirmed  enemy  of  the  Jesuits  ?  Yes.  Did  he  not  decide,  too, 
at  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  against  the  fraternity  in  the 
great  strife  between  the  Chapter  of  the  Metropolitan  Church  of 
Mexico  and  Puebla  de  los  Angelos,  on  one  side,  and  the  Order 
of  Jesus  on  the  other  ?  Certainly  from  such  a  ruler  it  was 
impossible  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  promise  anything  good  for 
themselves,  and  they  contemplated,  also,  the  future  with  timid 
countenances.  It  is  certainly  true  that  open  measures  were 
not  taken  against  them  at  the  first,  and  they  were  allowed, 
as  heretofore,  to  remain  at  peace ;  they  dared  also  to  preach, 
teach,  and  hear  confessions  at  Court,  exactly  as  during  the  time 
of  the  Queen-mother.  On  the  other  hand,  it  did  not  escape 
their  observation  that  all  their  proceedings  were  everywhere 
watched  with  keen  eyes,  and  this  manifest  supervision  distressed 
them  much  more,  indeed,  than  even  if  an  open  storm  had  over- 
taken them.  Was  it,  perhaps,  that  proofs  were  quietly  sought 
for  against  them,  in  order  that  they  might  be  sharply  attacked, 
as  had  already  occurred  in  Portugal  ?  It  almost  appeared  to  be 
so,  as  in  the  surrounding  of  the  King  not  a  single  Jesuit  was  to 
be  found,  not  even  a  friend  of  theirs,  with  the  single  exception 
of  Father  Bramieri,  the  Father  Confessor  of  the  Queen-mother. 
Many,  too,  were  the  enemies  of  the  Society,  if  one,  indeed,  might 
consider  as  such  all  those  who  were  enlightened.    Thus  the 


■  — —<■  ^^:.^w 


150 


HISTOBY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


King  did  not  hesitate  to  confide  the  important  oflBce  of  Fiscal 
of  the  High  Council  of  Oastille,  in  the  year  1762,  to  Pedro 
Rodriguez,  Count  of  Campomanes,  who  had  a  great  reputation 
for  heresy,  while  the  minister  Gregory,  Marquis  of  Squillens, 
with  many  other  high  ofl&cials,  did  not  certainly  belong  to  the 
strong  believers.  In  short,  it  began  to  appear  every  moment 
more  serious  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  at  the  Court  of  Madrid,  and 
when  they  at  length  learned,  beyond  doubt,  that  the  Bishop  Roxas, 
another  confidant  of  Charles  III.,  had  in  a  select  company 
approved,  in  candidly  expressed  terms,  the  conduct  of  Pombal 
in  regard  to  the  Jesuits,  there  remained  no  longer  any  doubt 
among  the  latter  what  was  in  store  for  them.  But  what  remedy 
was  there  for  it  ?  For,  in  regard  to  this,  how  could  it  be  cleared 
up,  all  the  more  as  they  had  given  no  reason  to  the  King  to 
warrant  such  boldness  and  craft.  Towards  the  end  of  Lent 
1766,  a  peculiar  kind  of  commotion  was  observed  among  the 
lower  orders  in  Madrid,  and  not  infrequently  slight  disturb- 
ances took  place  in  the  evening.  Not  the  less  did  it  turn  out 
that  the  sons  of  Loyola  gave  themselves  particular  trouble  to 
entice  into  the  so-called  congregations  instituted  by  them,  of 
which  mention  has  been  previously  made,  working  men  and  ser- 
vants of  all  kinds,  and,  indeed,  even  people  of  suspicious  calJing, 
as,  for  instance,  thieves  and  the  like,  and  they  were  observed, 
too,  to  visit  the  gaols,  in  order  to  undertake  spiritual  exercises 
with  the  prisoners  there.  What  could  have  been  the  object? 
It  could  be  nothing  else  than  to  acquire  a  right  good  influence 
over  the  lower  classes  of  the  population  of  Madrid,  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  power  increased  considerably  day  by  day. 
Marvellously,  however,  in  the  same  proportion  that  the  influence 
of  the  Jesuits  increased,  the  crowds  of  common  people  also 
swelled  in  like  degree,  and  the  Government,  so  far  as  the  police 
were  concerned,  frequently  had  trouble  in  dispersing  the  popu- 
lace, in  spite  of  the  assistance  of  the  military.  At  length,  in 
the  night  of  the  23rd  of  March,  an  insurrection  broke  out,  and 
great  crowds  collected  together  in  all  quarters  of  the  city, 
which,  whilst  penetrating  into  private  houses  amidst  wild 
cries,  in  order  to  plunder,  rolled  towards  the  royal  palace. 
They  carried  with  them  stones  and  clubs,  and  not  a  few  of  them 
had  provided  themselves  also  with  weapons,  and  when  they 
arrived   before  the  closed  gates  of  the  palace,  they  began  to 


THE   ABOLITION   OF   JESUIT   NESTS   IN    SPAIN.         151 

bombard  them,  madly  shouting  at  the  same  time,  "  Down  with 
Gregory  I      Long  live  Enzenada!     Out  with  the  scoundrel  of  a 
Father  Confessor !     Long  live  the  holy  Fathers  of  the  Order  of 
Jesus  !  "     The  rebels  evidently  had  a  political  aim,  which  was, 
indeed,  no  other  than  to  efi'ect  a  change  of  Government  in  favour 
of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  Enzenada  was  a  minister  who  had  been 
discharged  on  account  of  his  friendship  for  the  Jesuits,  whereas 
the  King's  Father  Confessor  and  the  minister  Gregory  were  well 
known  as  enemies  of  the  Jesuits.     Of  course,  the  whole  of  the 
available  royal  troops  were  at  once  called  into   requisition  in 
order  to  disperse  the  ringleaders ;  but  in  vain.     The  troops  were 
too  weak,  the  crowds  of  people  too  strong,  and  it  was  feared  that 
the  whole  of  Madrid  would  be  set  on  fire  if  serious  resistance 
were  ofl'ered.     Charles  III.  proceeded  to  fly  to  Aranjuez,  and 
thither  the  whole  Court  followed  him,  with  all  who   had  reason 
to  believe  that  the  vengeance  of  the  people  might  extend  also  to 
them.     Thereupon  the  King  was  urged  to  remove  the  most  hated 
among  his  present  counsellors,  in  order  to  appease  the  revolted 
city,  and  Charles  III.  at  once  saw  that  he  would  be  obliged  to 
give  in  about  this.     He,  therefore,  dismissed  the  minister  of  the 
day,  Gregory,  together  with  Bishop  Koxas,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
sent  for  the  Count  of  Aranda,  the  Governor-General  of  Valeniia, 
in  order  to  form  a  new  ministry.     He  did  not  do  this,  however, 
in   any  way   because  Aranda  happened  to  be  a  friend  of  the 
Jesuits,  but  because  he   knew  him   to  be    a    shrewd  man    of 
culture,  of  whom  one  might  be  convinced  beforehand  that  he 
would  steer  the  rudder  of  the  State  with  extraordinary  power. 
The  first  thing,   then,  that  the  new  minister  proposed  to  do, 
was  to  surround  himself  at  once  with  men  only  of  the  same 
character,  as,  for  instance,  the  Count  Pilo,  Don  Pablo  Olavides ; 
and  secondly,  by  the  proclamation  of  a  general   amnesty,  he 
brought  the  capital,  which  was  highly  jubilant  at  the  dismission 
of  Gregory  and  Roxas,  to  a  state  of  complete  quietude.     The 
amnesty,  however,  was  not  intended  to  be  thoroughly  general, 
as  the  heads  and  originators  of  the  revolt  were  excluded  there- 
from, and  an  especial  court  of  investigation,  of  which  Aranda 
himself  was  president,  was  appointed  to  search  into  the  matter. 
A  number  of  witnesses  were  now  examined,  partly  indeed  from 
amongst  mere  spectators,   and  partly  also  from  those  who  had 
taken  a  share  in  the  disturbance.     He,  also,  did  not  avail  him- 


^"^9^ 


wm 


152 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


self  of  torture  in  order  to  get  at  the  truth,  but  contented  himself 
with  voluntary  admissions  and  answers.  What  now  came  out, 
however  ?  Behold,  it  was  this,  that  the  chief  leaders  of  the  uproar, 
besides  the  Marquis  of  Baldeflores,  a  man  inflamed  with  a  wild 
feeling  of  revenge,  were  no  other  than  the  three  Jesuit  Fathers, 
Isidor  Lopez,  Michael  Benavente,  and  Ignatius  Gonzalez.  This 
was  proved  by  the  most  positive  assurance  of  highly  respectable 
men,  such  as,  for  instance,  Don  Sylvester  Palamarez,  Benedetto 
Navarro,  Juan  Barracan,  and  others,  and  it  was  likewise  known 
that  different  Jesuits,  although  well  disguised,  were  engaged  in 
the  thickest  of  the  crowd  during  the  revolt,  inciting  and 
encouraging  the  people.  This  was  an  uncomfortable  discovery 
for  the  good  Fathers  ;  it  was,  indeed,  more  than  uncomfortable, 
and  it  came  more  and  more  to  be  suspected  that  this  revolt  was 
got  up,  not  merely  for  the  removal  of  a  particularly  obnoxious 
minister,  but  for  something  else,  indeed,  of  much  greater  im- 
portance, the  deposition,  namely,  of  the  King  himself.  That  the 
Order  of  Jesus  might  be  firmly  established,  what  had  taken  place 
was  not  alone  sufficient;  their  aim  could  only  be  effected  by 
getting  rid  of  the  Monarch,  who  had  been  from  the  first  opposed 
to  the  Order.  In  other  words,  he  must  be  compelled  to  abdicate 
in  favour  of  his  younger  brother,  the  Infant  Don  Louis,  a  prince 
who  was  most  enthusiastic  for  the  Jesuits.  Plans  such  as  these 
which  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  in  their  heads,  came  out  more  and 
more  distinctly  during  the  course  of  the  investigation ;  and  was 
it  now  a  wonder,  under  such  circumstances,  when  some  members 
of  the  Council  of  State  itself,  in  relation  to  this  Jesuitical  high 
treason,  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  in  the  presence  of  the  King, 
that  peace  and  security  for  the  State  could  only  be  obtained  by 
expelling  the  Jesuits  from  Spain  ?  A  formal  proposition  was, 
certainly,  not  brought  forward,  and  still  less  was  any  resolution 
come  to  on  the  matter ;  but  the  thing  was  so  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed that  the  King  himself  became  penetrated  with  the  con- 
viction "  that  the  expulsion  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  was  the  sole 
radical  means  that  could  be  of  any  avail."  On  the  other  hand, 
his  mother  Elizabeth,  as  soon  as  she  heard  a  whisper  of  the 
matter,  stepped  energetically  into  the  lists  for  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  with  the  object  of  making  her  son  waver,  through  her 
extraordinary  power  of  eloquence.  Indeed,  she  was  so  far  suc- 
cessful as  to  infuse  some  distrust  into  him  of  the  men  to  whom 


THE   ABOLITION    OF   JESUIT   NESTS   IN   SPAIN.        153 

he  had  for  the  present  given  his  confidence,  such  as  Aranda, 
Campomanes,  Olavides,  d'Ossun,  Alba,  Florida-Blanca,  and 
whatever  they  might  be  called  ;  and  it  almost  appeared  as  if  the 
light  which  had  now  begun  to  dawn  over  Spain  would  be  again 
extinguished.  But,  behold  !  while  the  investigation  as  to  the 
revolt  was  proceeding,  the  old  Queen-mother  died,  so  that  there 
was  nothing  more  to  fear  from  her  influence,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  a  discovery  was  made  by  which  the  impossibility  of 
allowing  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  exist  any  longer  became  perfectly 
clear  to  Charles  III.  Through  the  vigilance  of  Count  Aranda 
he  succeeded  in  arresting  a  messenger  who  had  with  him  a  letter 
from  the  General  of  the  Order,  Ricci,  directed  to  the  Provincial 
of  Toledo,  which  contained  a  plan  to  drive  from  the  throne  the 
reigning  King,  under  the  pretence  of  his  being  a  bastard,  and 
to  put  in  his  place  the  Infant  Louis.  It  was  further  found,  on 
a  domiciliary  search  being  made  at  the  residence  of  the 
Procurator- General  of  the  Jesuits  in  Madrid,  that  there  was  a 
printed  paper  in  which  the  same  theme  was  treated  of,  and  in 
which  it  was  attempted  to  be  proved  that  Charles  III.  was  no 
son  of  his  reputed  father,  Philip  V.,  but  the  fruit  of  a  love  affair 
which  the  late  Queen  Elizabeth  had  cherished  with  Cardinal 
Alberoni.  Finally,  two  Jesuits  were  arrested,  close  on  the 
French  frontier,  whose  intention  it  was  to  proceed  from  Madrid 
to  Rome,  and,  on  search  being  made  in  their  travelling  bags,  a 
packet  was  found  addressed  to  the  General  of  the  Order,  Ricci, 
which  contained  two  copies  of  the  above-mentioned  highly 
treasonable  document. 

There  was  now  more  than  sufficient  proof  of  what  had  been 
intended  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  it  is  obvious  that,  in  the 
present  position  of  the  matter,  no  other  course  remained  open  to 
King  Charles  than  to  wage  war  against  the  Society  of  Jesus. 
His  Crown,  his  honour,  as  well  as  that  of  his  deceased  mother, 
were  at  stake — the  same  lady  who  had  shown  such  infinite  kindness 
to  the  Jesuits,  and  who  now,  in  the  grave,  reaped  such  a  reward. 
The  affair  must  be  proceeded  with,  and  they  must  be  punished, 
and,  indeed,  in  an  exemplary  manner  !  But  how  was  the  work 
to  be  set  about  ?  Somewhat  in  the  same  way  as  Pombal  had 
done  in  Portugal — by  a  public  trial  ?  It  would  have  been  easy 
to  institute  this,  and  to  have  proved  the  crimes  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola    over   and  over   again  ;   but  then  it  would  have  been 


164 


HISTORY  OF    THE    JESUITS. 


THE   ABOLITION    OP   JESUIT   NESTS   IN    SPAIN«         155 


necessary   to  go  into   the   bastard  question,  and,   although    it 
was   all   a  Jesuitical  invention,   it   would  have   given   rise   to 
a   monstrous   scandal.      Campomanes   and  Mognino,   the   two 
Crown  Fiscals,  and  at  the  same  time  the  greatest  juridical  nota- 
bilities of  Spain,   on  this  account,  advised  another    course  of 
procedure  ;  and  of  this  the  whole  Council  of  State  approved,  as 
well  as  the  juridical  faculty  of  Alcala,  wlio  were  privately  con- 
sulted on  the  subject.     In  other  words,  a  resolution  was  come 
to,  on  the  28th  February  1767,  to  banish,  then  and  for  ever,  the 
JSociety  of  Jesus,  as  being  generally  injurious  and  highly  treason- 
able, out  of  all  the  possessions  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  and  to 
recommend    to    Count   Aranda    to   carry    out   this    resolution 
forthwith.     Moreover,  the  whole  of  the  members  of  the  Council 
of  State  took  an  oath  to  the  King  not  to  breathe  a  word  or  give 
the  shghtest  hint  of  what  was  in  contemplation,  but,  on  the 
contrary,    to   preserve    towards   the   Jesuits    a    perfectly    easy 
demeanour,  in  order  that  the  blow  against  them  might  be  all 
the  more  certain  of  being  successful.     As  soon  as  all  this  was 
clearly   determined.  Count  Aranda   set  himself  about  carrying 
into  effect   the  proposition   resolved  upon,    and  he  did  so  in 
such  a  way,    indeed,    that   no  one  could  withhold  admiration. 
AH  the  superior  Spanish  officials  in^  the  whole  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  as  well  as  all  the  military  commandants  in  the  towns 
in  which  there  existed  Jesuitical  colleges,  residencies,  or  houses 
of  other  description,  at  once  received  packets,  the  contents  of 
which  were  precisely  the  same,  and  provided  with  the  King's 
seal ;  the  contents  thereof  were  extremely  mysterious,  as,  upon 
the  packet  being  opened,  another  was  found  provided  with  three 
seals,  together  with  an  open  note,  in  which  the  following  words 
were  to  be  read  : 

**  On  pain  of  death  you  shall  not  open  the  document  provided 
with  three  seals,  previous  to  the.  2nd  of  April,  at  the  hour  of 
sunset,  and  the  same  punishment  will  await  you,  if  anyone,  be 
he  whom  he  may,  discloses  his  having  received  a  secret  writing.'' 
Precisely  similar  instructions  were  forwarded  to  all  the 
prefects,  governors,  and  commandants,  in  the  different  colonies 
of  Asia  and  America,  only,  of  .course,  in  this  case,  owing  to 
the  far  distance  of  the  localities,  the  date  of  the  opening  was 
necessarily  deferred.  One  may  well  imagine  the  anxiety  that 
existed  among  those  officials  and  commandants  on  their  receiving 


this  remarkable  document,  and,  not  the  less  may  it  be  supposed, 
how  difficult  it  was  for  them  to  restrain  their  anxiety;  but  they 
all  did  so,  without  a  single  exception,  and  the  secret  remained 
inviolate  up  till  the  2nd  April.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  sun 
went  down  on  that  day,  all  these  secret  packets  were  opened  at 
the  same  time,  and  what  was  now  their  astonishment  when  the 
matter  in  question  became  known  to  them !  Among  other 
things,  the  document  ran  as  follows : 

**  1  convey  to  you  herewith  all  my  authority  and  Royal  power ; 
as  soon  as   you  have  opened  this  document  you  will  at  once 
summon  all  the  troops,  and,  accompanied   by  them,  you  will 
immediately   betake    yourself  to   the  house   or   college   of  the 
Jesuits.     Having  arrived  there,  you  shall  place  a  sentinel  at  the 
door ;  you  shall  awaken  all  the  members  of  the  Society,  one 
with  another,  out  of  their  sleep,  and  arrest  them.     Thereupon 
you  shall  seal,  with  the  Royal  seal,  the  archives  and  magazines, 
take  the  whole  books  and  papers  which  may  be  found  there  into 
safe  keeping,  and  intimate  to  the  Jesuits  that  they  must  follow 
you  without  daring  to  take  anything  away  with   them  except 
their  prayer-books,  mantles,  and  hats,  and  whatever  linen  may 
be  required  for  a  long  journey.     As  soon  as  you  have  requi- 
sitioned a  sufficient  number  of  carriages,  you  shall  place  the 
Jesuits  therein  and  convey  them  to  the  seaport  I  here  point  out 
to  you.     There,  ships  shall  be  already  in  waiting  to  transport 
the   Fathers    to   their   destination,    and    as  soon  as   you   have 
delivered  over  your  prisoners  to  the  captains,  your  responsibility 
shall  be  at  an  end.    But  this,  however,  I  must  tell  you,  that  after 
the  embarkation  of  the  Fathers,  if  a  single  one  of  the  Society — 
the  sick  not  even  excepted — be  found  in   your  department  or 
province,  you  shall  atone  for  this  by  death.     Yo  el  Rey,  that  is, 

[,  the  King." 

Thus  ran  the  order  which  the  governors  and  superior  officials 
received  from  the  Government,  and  that  they  strictly  carried  out 
the  same  may  be  well  understood.  In  this  manner  were  the 
whole  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  throughout  all  Spain,  numbering 
about  six  thousand,  arrested  at  the  same  hour,  that  is,  about 
midnight  on  the  2nd  April  1767,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  they 
all  found  themselves,  without  exception,  on  the  ships  already 
prepared  for  them.  It  was  a  master-stroke,  the  like  of  which 
had  never  before  been  seen,  and  the  whole  of  Christendom  were 


156 


mSTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


167 


w 


so  astonished  thereat  that  it  could  not  for  a  long  time  recover 
itself.  The  King,  on  this  account,  now  found  it  necessary  to 
make  public  the  reasons  for  which  he  had  perpetrated  this  great 
deed,  and  thus  at  once  that  celebrated  decree  called  "  The 
Pragmatic  Sanction  **  made  its  appearance,  in  which  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  the  confiscation  of  their 
whole  property,  was  authorised.  Besides,  the  Pope  was  imme- 
diately informed,  by  special  courier,  of  what  had  taken  place, 
and  it  was  declared  to  him  that  it  was  only  from  the  direst 
necessity  that  this  had  been  done.  But  what  did  all  these 
representations  signify? 

The  laity  perceived  that  the  ruler  of  Spain  could  not  have 
acted  differently;  that  he  had,  indeed,  proceeded  even  very 
leniently  against  a  Society  which  had  tried  to  rob  him  of  his 
honour,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  his  throne,  when  he  merely 
expelled  them  from  the  country  and  confiscated  their  possessions. 
The  Pope,  on  the  other  hand,  with  his  congenial  clergy,  became 
quite  beside  himself  from  terror  and  confusion,  and  many  even, 
as,  for  instance,  the  General  Ricci,  fainted.  So  soon,  however,  as 
the  first  impression  was  got  over,  rage  and  fury  took  its  place, 
and  they  would  gladly  have  ushered  the  King  of  Spain  into 
eternity.  As,  however,  this  could  not  be  done,  his  Holiness 
at  once  addressed  a  letter  to  the  said  Monarch,  on  the  16th 
April,  in  which  the  latter,  by  the  welfare  of  his  soul  which  stood 
in  great  danger,  was  conjured  to  withdraw  the  measures  which 
had  been  taken  against  the  Jesuits,  as  there  did  not  exist  a  more 
guiltless,  more  useful,  more  pious,  and  more  holy  society  than 
theirs.  But  King  Charles,  after  he  had  previously  deliberated 
with  his  counsellors,  replied  shortly  and  concisely  that  he  abided 
by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  and  that  he  would  not  depart 
from  his  resolution ;  and,  as  the  Papal  Court  threatened  that 
the  expelled  Jesuits  would  not  be  received  into  the  Roman 
States,  but  would  be  sent  back  again  to  Spain,  he,  on  that 
account,  assip;ned  to  each  of  the  6,000  exiles  a  yearly  income  of 
100  piasters  for  life,  to  be  paid  to  them  in  ready-money  until 
the  last  of  the  Spanish  Jesuits  had  died  out.  None  of  them, 
however,  dared  to  return  again  to  Spain  as  long  as  Charles 
III.  and  his  son,  Charles  IV.,  governed. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


BEGICIDES   IN   FRANCE. 


In  no  country  in  the  world  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  bring  their 
theory  of  regicide  more  into  practice  than  in  France,  as  in  no 
other  land  were  their  interests  so  often  and  so  greatly  at  stuke 
as  in  Gaul.  The  reader  knows,  from  what  has  gone  before,  iliat 
the  Jesuits,  towards  the  end  of  the  16th  century,  formed  the 
plan  of  uniting  the  whole  of  European  Christendom  into  one 
universal  monarchy  under  the  sceptre  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg, 
which  was  totally  dependent  on  them,  and  which  already  in 
those  days  had  possession  of  a  great  part  of  the  world,  namely, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Lower  Italy,  the  Netherlands,  Germany,  and 
Hungary.  To  carry  this  plan  into  operation  in  France,  they 
instituted  the  *'  Guise  party,"  which  might  just  as  well  have 
been  called  the  "  Spanish  party,"  as  it  was  principally  supported 
through  the  money  and  troops  of  Philip  IL,  the  monarch  desig- 
nated to  be  the  universal  sovereign. 

Publicly,  however,  the  Jesuits  were  prudently  silent  about  their 
project  of  placing  the  crown  of  France  in  the  hands  of  Philip  IL, 
and  only  their  most  ardent  adherents  were  very  secretly  initiated 
into  this  secret.  They  sought,  however,  to  bring  the  great 
masses,  and  more  especially  the  reigning  Royal  House,  into  the 
belief  that  the  *'  Guise  party  "  was  the  "  party  of  good  Catholics," 
that  is,  the  party  of  those  at  whose  heart  lay  the  defence  and 
extension  of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  every  Frenchman  who  did 
not  adhere  to  the  heretical  Huguenots  must  necessarily  be 
brought  to  join  the  same. 


il 


158 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


At   that  time   Henry   III.   swayed  the  destinies  of  France 
(1574-89),  a  had  man  and  ruler,  like  the  whole  hrood  of  Queen 
Catherine  de  Medici,  called  by  an  author  of  those  days  "  the 
Florentine  she-wolf,"  at  the  same  time  a  very  good  Catholic, 
and,  especially,  a  bigoted   adherent  of  the  Roman   priesthood. 
The  Jesuits,  on  that  account,  brought  him  with  ease  to  enter  the 
League  of  the  Guises,  and  later  on,  at  Blois,  on  the  19th  July 
IÖ88,  he  confirmed  by  oath  on  the  Host  his  adherence  thereto. 
But  immediately  afterwards   a  renegade  confided    to   him  the 
secret  of  the  League,  and,  as  he  became  sufiBciently  convinced, 
on  accurate  investigation,  that  in  deed  and  in  truth  it  was  really 
a  question  of  causing  a  revolution  in  favour  of  the  Hapsburger, 
Philip  IL,  he  thereupon  resolved  to  be  beforehand  with  this  plan 
by  an  act  of  violence.     He,  therefore,  caused  the  Duke  of  Guise 
with  his  brother  the  Cardinal  of  Loraine,  to  be  murdered,  on 
the  23rd  of  December   1588,  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
persons  of  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons, 
the  Prince  de  Joinville,  and  the  Duke  of  Nevers.     A  severe  blow 
for  the  League,  certainly      It  did  not,  however,  lose  courage  on 
that  account,  and  at  once  chose  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  brother 
of  the  murdered  Guises,  as  its  leader.     Indeed,  the  city  ot  Paris 
called    upon   him    to   become    the    General- Viceregent    of  the 
kingdom,  and  the  Sorbonne  absolved  the  French  people  from  all 

obedience  to  the  King ! 

In  this  great  necessity  there  was  nothing  remaining  for  the 
latter  to  do  but  to  throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  Henry  of  Navarre,  the  great  leader   of  the   Protestant 
Huguenot  party,  and,  on  the  30th  April  L^89,  he  determined  on 
an  alliance  with  him  for  life  or  death.  Thereupon,  they  augmented 
their  united  armies   to  40,000  men,  and  at  once  advanced  on 
Paris,  which  was  defended  by  the  Duke  of  Mayenne.     The  siege 
began,  and  made  rapid  progress,  notwithstanding  that  the  Pope 
came  to  the  assistance  of  the  Parisians  with  a  Bull  of  Excommu- 
nication, which  he  now  launched  against  Henry  III.,  as  well   as 
against  Henry   of  Navarre.     Already  the   dispositions  for  the 
storm  were  made,  and  there  could  not  be  the  slightest  doubt  of  a 
successful  result,  as  the  besieged  began   to  sufler  severely  from 
hunger.     A  young  fanatical  Dominican  monk,  named  Jacques 
Clement,  endeavoured  now  to  give  a  new   turn  to  the  matter  by 
a  deed  of  blood,  and  he  succeeded  by  most  extraordinary  bold- 


I 


REGICIDES   IN    FRANCE. 


159 


ness.  He  went,  in  Paris,  where  he  lived,  to  the  Count  of  Brienne, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  a  secret  retainer  of  Henry  III.,  and  begged 
him  to  give  him  a  pass  and  letter  of  recommendation  to  the 
King,  as  he  had  to  disclose  to  him  extraordinarily  important 
facts  relative  to  the  League.  The  Count  accorded  the  petition 
of  the  monk  without  forming  the  least  distrust  about  the  matter, 
and,  provided  with  the  pass  and  letter,  the  latter  hastened  to  the 
royal  camp  at  St.  Cloud,  two  miles  to  the  west  of  Paris,  on  the 
31st  of  July  1589. 

Early  next  morning,  at  7  o'clock,  he  was  brought  by  Jacques 
de  Guesle,  the  General  Procurator,  in  person  to  the  King,  who 
had  already  got  up,  and  Clement  at  once  delivered  to  him  the 
letter  of  the  Count  of  Brienne.  "  Well,"  said  the  King,  "  the 
Count  writes  me  that  you  have  very  important  communications 
to  make ;  well,  I  am  ready  to  listen."  The  monk  crossed  his 
arms  and  threw  a  significant  look  on  the  Procurator- General, 
as  well  as  on  the  King's  Adjutants,  Colonel  Montpesat  of 
Lognac,  and  Jean  de  Levis,  Baron  of  Mirepoix ;  thereupon,  the 
King  gave  a  sign  to  the  three  to  withdraw  out  of  ear-shot,  and  as 
soon  as  this  occurred  Clement  advanced  close  to  the  Monarch. 
Instead  of  speaking,  however,  he  drew  a  sharp  knife  out  from 
his  wide  sleeves,  and  buried  it  deeply  in  the  abdomen  of  the 
King.  Henry  cried  aloud,  and  immediately  withdrew  the  knife 
out  of  the  wound  in  order  to  throw  it  in  the  face  of  the 
murderer.  He  then,  however,  fell  back  and  lost  conscious- 
ness. "  The  King  is  dead  !  "  cried  out  the  two  officers  and  the 
Procurator- General,  and  threw  themselves  on  the  miserable 
monk,  whom  they  transfixed  twenty  times  with  their  swords, 
and  they  did  not  cease  thrusting  at  him  until  he  lay  dead  at 
their  feet,  and  then  they  bethought  them  to  summon  doctors,  in 
order,  if  possible,  still  to  save  the  King.  This,  however,  was 
not  possible,  and  he  died  four- and- twenty  hours  afterwards,  in 
the  early  morning  of  the  2nd  of  August. 

This  was  the  first  regicide  which  took  place  in  France,  and, 
of  course,  it  was  sought  with  great  energy  to  ascertain  who  it 
was  that  had  impelled  the  monk  to  such  a  cruel  deed.  But  only 
very  unsatisfactory  data  were  now  obtainable,  as  they  had  been 
in  such  a  hurry,  after  the  perpetrated  deed,  to  remove  the  mur- 
derer out  of  the  world,  instead  of  making  previous  inquiries  and 
investigations,   and   it  is   even    now   impossible    to    say   with 


160 


HISTOBY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


historical  certainty  whose  tool  Jacques  Clement  had  heen.  There 
were  still,  however,  strong  indications  that  the  Jesuits  had  a 
hand  in  the  game,  as  they,  at  the  time,  proclaimed  loudly  from 
the  pulpit  that  whoever  would  procure  the  removal  of  the  present 
Nero  Sardanapalus,  that  is.  King  Henry  III.,  into  the  other 
world  would  do  a  most  serviceable  work  They  also  instituted 
in  Toulouse  and  other  places,  as  soon  as  the  murder  had  been 
accomplished,  public  prayers,  processions,  and  other  indications 
of  rejoicing,  and  everywhere  celebrated  Clement  as  a  holy 
martyr  for  the  good  cause.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
members  of  the  Mariana,  so  highly  esteemed  by  them,  denomi- 
nated the  miserable  murderer  as  the  "  eternal  honour  of  France  " 
{(Bternum  Gallics  decus),  and  even  pronounced  the  crime  {De 
Rege,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi.)  *^  to  be  a  charming  and  distinguished 
deed,  from  which  the  rest  of  the  rulers  might  derive  a  wholesome 
lesson."  Other  Jesuit  authors  expressed  themselves  in  precisely 
similar  terras,  and  the  least  song  of  praise  given  to  him  by  them 
was  that  the  cowardly  assassin  resembled  Judith,  Eleazer,  or 
Maccabeeus. 

In  short,  it  was  doubly  certain — first,  that,  if  it  was  the  hand 
of  a  Dominican  who  had  killed  the  last  of  the  Valois,  this 
Dominican  had  obtained  his  murderous  design  from  the  teaching 
of  the  Jesuits  on  regicide ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  by  their  fooli&h  songs  of  praise  which  in  their  writings 
and  preaching  they  paid  to  the  murderer,  made  themselves 
accomplices  in  the  deed  of  infamy.  None  of  them,  however, 
were  brought  to  justice,  and  the  sole  accomplice  who  suffered 
the  punishment  of  death  was  the  Dominican,  Father  Edmund 
Bourgoin,  prior  of  the  cloister  in  which  Jacques  Clement  lived. 
He  was  condemned  by  the  Parliament  of  Tours,  in  the  year 
1590,  to  be  torn  asunder  by  four  horses,  simply  and  solely 
from  his  having  confessed  to  having  been  aware  of  Clement's 
intention,  and  not  having  given  any  hint  thereof. 

On  the  death  of  Henry  III.,  Henry  of  Navarre,  although  only 
after  a  severe  battle  with  the  League,  ascended  the  throne  of 
France  under  the  title  of  Henry  IV.  He  solemnly  abjured  his 
Protestant  faith  on  the  2oth  July  1593,  in  order  to  meet  the 
prejudices  of  his  Catholic  subjects,  who  numbered  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  French  population.  The  Catholics  of 
France  had  thus  no  longer  any  reason   to  contend  against  this 


BEGICIDES   IN   FBAKGE. 


161 


Prince,  about  whose  right  to  the  throne  there  could  not  be  the 
slightest  doubt,  and  the  less  so,  indeed,  as  Pope  Clement  VIII. 
immediately  afterwards  absolved  him  from  the  excommunication 
which  had  been  launched  against  him  by  Sixtus  V.  Thus  was 
Henry  IV.,  in  fact,  recognised  by  almost  all  his  enemies  as  King 
of  France ;  and  the  whole  kingdom  breathed  again  more  freely, 
as  the  civil  war  which  had  so  frightfully  desolated  the  country 
began,  at  length,  to  reach  its  termination.  One  single  party 
alone,  however,  namely  the  Jesuits,  who,  by  the  succession  to  the 
throne  of  the  Bearners,  saw  their  project  of  a  universal  Hapsburg 
monarchy  destroyed,  never  allowed  themselves  to  come  to  any 
understanding  about  it,  but,  now  that  there  was  no  longer  any 
prospect  of  a  renewal  of  an  open  state  of  war,  sought  to  attain 
their  end  by  secret  cabals,  by  conspiracies,  by  secret  intrigues, 
and  by  misdeeds.  Cost  what  it  would,  Henry  IV.  must  be  at 
once  removed  from  the  world,  as  under  so  fine  a  statesman  and 
powerful  a  warrior  as  him  France  must  necessarily  be  raised  to 
too  great  a  height  to  be  later  on  easily  conquered  by  a  Haps- 
burger.  He  must,  therefore,  be  made  away  with,  and  this  could 
best  be  done,  most  surely  and  most  quickly,  by  murder.  This 
deed,  however,  must  not  be  accomplished  by  a  regular  Jesuit, 
because  thereby,  possibly,  there  would  arise  danger  for  the 
existence  of  the  whole  Society  of  Jesus,  and,  consequently,  there 
remained  nothing  else  for  it  but  to  procure  from  the  rest  of 
mankind  a  suitable  instrument.  Such  an  one  was,  indeed,  dis- 
covered, or,  more  properly,  three  were  by  degrees  found,  namely, 
Peter  Barriere,  Jean  or  Johann  Chatel,  and  Francis  Ravaillac, 
but  it  was  only  the  last  who  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the 
King's  death. 

In  the  summer  of  1593  an  agent  of  the  Duke  of  Florence,  a 
man  of  about  thirty  years  of  age,  who  in  dress  and  conduct 
betrayed  himself  to  have  been  a  soldier,  addressed  the  Dominican 
Father  Seraphin  Barchi  in  the  streets  of  Lyons,  and  requested 
that  he  should  immediately  hear  his  confession.  The  Dominican, 
greatly  struck  by  the  shy  and,  at  the  same  time,  fanatical  look  of 
the  man,  took  him  into  his  private  dwelling,  and  at  once  begged 
him  to  tell  him  everything  that  weighed  upon  his  mind.  The 
man  did  as  he  was  requested ;  but  his  confession  must  have 
comprised  something  very  frightful,  as,  when  he  had  come  to  an 
end,  Father  Seraphin  looked  fearfully  pale,  as  if  he  had  been 

u.  11 


162 


HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Struck    with   lightning.      Still    more    remarkable   was  it    that 
the  Father  did  not,    as   was  the   usual  practice,   accord  abso- 
lution   to  his   new  confessant;   but,   on  the  contrary,  refused 
it   to  him,  not   even   allowing  him  to    depart  without  violent 
words.      In    the    meantime,    a    Monsieur   de    Brancaleone,    a 
nobleman  in  the  service  of  Queen   Louisa,    widow  of  Henry 
III.,  entered  the   room  of  the  Dominican,  and  thereupon  the 
man  of  soldierly  appearance  suddenly  dashed  out  of  the  apart- 
ment.    M.  de  Brancaleone,  however,  had  time  to  fix  his  eyes 
upon  the  man,  and  so  accurately,  indeed,   as  at  once  to  ob- 
serve that  something  very  unusual  had  happened.     He  did  not, 
however,  long   remain   unenlightened   as  to  what  the  unusual 
occurrence  had  been,  as  the  Dominican,  trembling  from  horror 
and  indignation,  communicated  everything  that  the  soldier  had 
confided  to  him  under  the  seal  of  secrecy    as  a   confessional 
mystery.     He  betrayed  it  to  him,  as  it  was  a  question  of  life  and 
death,  and  as  the  fortune  of  the  whole  of  France  was  at  stake 
if  be  delayed  for  a  moment  to  keep  back  the  statement.     The 
man  who  had  just  dashed  out  of  the  apartment  was  formerly  a 
soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Due  de  Guise,  called  Peter  Barriere, 
and  had  nothing  less  on  his  mind  than  the  intention  to  murder 
King   Henry  IV.     He   had   for  a   long   time   entertained   this 
thought,  and  chiefly  from  conversation  with  a  Jesuit  Father; 
but  as  he  then  confessed  his  intention  to   several  other  eccle- 
siastics, and,  among  them,  even  to  the  Chief  Vicar  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  he  had  been  most  earnestly  dissuaded  from  his 
enterprise.    The  same  also  occurred,  as  we  have  seen,  with  regard 
to  the  Dominican,  Seraphin  Barchi,  but  without  result,  as  Peter 
Barriere  or  La  Barr,  dashed  out  of  the  apartment,  exclaiming 
that  he  would  immediately  go  to  Paris,  and  obtain  there  better 
advice  from  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  the  Rue  Jacob.     There  was 
not  a  minute  to  lose,  then,  if  King  Henry  was  to  be  saved, 
and  Brancaleone,  after  a  shorl  discussion  with  Father  Seraphin, 
threw  himself  on  horseback,  in  order  to  hasten  to  Nevers  to  the 
Duke  of  the  same  name,  to  be  provided  by  him  with  a  proper 
pass.      The  latter  did  this  at  once,  and  Brancaleone  pursued 
his  journey  forthwith  in  search  of  the  King,  but  he  met  with  so 
many  hindrances  on  the  way,  that  several  weeks  elapsed  before 
he  reached  the  city  where  Henry  IV.  had  his  temporary  residence 
at  that  period. 


BEGIOIBES   IN   FBANCE. 


163 


Barriere  had,  in  the  meantime,  safely  arrived  in  Paris,  and 
was  there  at  once  brought  by  the  Pastor  of  St.  Andre  des  Arts, 
under  the  name  of  Christopher  Aubry,  to  the  Rector  of  the 
Jesuit  College,  Father  Claude  de  Varade.  He,  however,  took  up 
the  matter  in  a  very  different  way  from  what  Seraphin  Barchi 
had  done  in  Lvons,  as  he  at  once  declared  to  Barriere  that  the 
circumstance  of  the  King  becoming  Catholic  was  nothing  but  a 
political  comedy,  and  not  the  result  of  any  inward  conviction 
whatever;  accordingly  it  was  only  the  death  of  Henry,  that 
horrible  heretic,  that  could  preserve  the  Catholic  religion  in 
security.  Precisely  the  same  opinion  was  enunciated  by  Father 
Comraolet,*  who,  by  command  of  the  Rector,  heard  the  confession 
of  Barriere,  and  thus  the  wretched  man,  in  obtaining  complete 
absolution  for  his  murderous  intention,  had  his  last  scruples 
of  conscience  removed.  He  was  thus  now  firmly  determined, 
according  to  the  invitation  of  the  Jesuits,  to  remove  King 
Henry  out  of  the  world,  and,  with  this  purpose,  as  soon  as  he 
left  the  house  in  the  Rue  Jacob,  he  bought  for  himself  a  strong 
knife,  which  he  got  sharpened  on  both  sides.  He  now  informed 
himself  as  to  the  place  of  the  King's  residence,  and,  as  he  ascer- 
tained that  he  was  in  St.  Denys,  he  at  once  betook  himself 
there.  As,  however,  no  favourable  opportunity  presented  itself, 
he  followed  his  high  game  from  there  to  Grouay,  then  to  Crecy, 
thence  to  Champs-sur-Marne,  and,  lastly,  to  the  town  of  Melun, 
where  he  in  vain  sought  an  opportunity  for  making  use  of  his 
knife.  In  the  latter  city,  at  length,  there  was  to  be  an  end 
to  his  chase,  as,  upon  the  26th  of  August,  the  very  day  on  which 
Brancaleone  arrived,  Barriere  was  arrested  by  the  Grand  Provost 
of  the  royal  house.  After  a  short  denial,  the  miserable  wretch 
confessed  everything,  without  even  being  put  to  the  torture.  He 
was,  consequently,  only  justly  condemned  to  a  cruel  death,  and 
this  he  suffered  on  the  31st  August  1593.  His  accomplices, 
on  the  other  hand,  escaped  all  punishment,  as  the  city  of 
Paris   had  not,   up   to  this  time,  yielded  to  King  Henry,  and 

*  It  appears-that  this  Oommolet,  after  Barriere  had  coDfessed  to  him,  was 
pretty  certain  of  the  matter,  as  he  immediately  preached  in  the  church  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  in  Paris,  upon  the  murder  perpetrated  by  Ehud  of  the  King 
of  Moab,  and  loudly  exclaimed,  "  We  require  likewise  an  Ehud,  let  him  be 
monk,  soldier,  or  shepherd  matters  not,  but  we  require  an  Ehud."  "  But 
console  yourselves,"  he  added,  at  the  end  of  his  discourse,  "  within  a  few 
days  you  shall  witness  this  divine  deed,  and  heaven  grant  that  this  miracle 
may  be  successfully  accomplished."  The  words  openly  apply  to  the  assas- 
sination intended  by  Barriäre. 

11  ♦ 


164 


HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


they  could  not  therefore  he  caught.  Later  on,  however,  as 
Paris  also  declared  itself  ready  to  pay  homage  to  its  right- 
ful lord,  those  above  named  found  it  hest  to  escape  secretly 
from  Paris,  in  the  suite  of  the  Cardinal  Legate  Plaisance,  and 
to    seek    for  protection   and   security    in    the    Papal   city   of 

Avignon. 

This  attempt  at  murder  on  the  part  of  Peter  Barriere  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  no  hurtful  consequences  for  King  Henry  IV. ;  it 
was  otherwise,  however,  for  the  sons  of  Loyola,  as  they  were  un- 
hesitatingly blamed  throughout  the  whole  of  France  as  the  authors 
of  this  attempt.     Moreover,  people  busied  themselves,  immeasui-- 
ahly,  to  discover  the  grounds  of  their  hatred  to  Henry,  and  it 
was  found  out   at  once  that   it  was  a    question   with  them  of 
nothing  less  than  conferring  the  crown  of  France  on  a  foreign 
Prince,  and  putting  it   on   the   head  of  the  Hapsburger,  Philip 
IL     In  consequence  thereof  it  was  judged  expedient,  by   the 
Government,  in  the  year  1594,  to  issue  a  public  address  to  the 
French  people,  holding  forth  against  the  Spanish  machinations, 
and  at  the  same  time,  in  relation  thereto,  to  demand  a  new  oath 
of  fidelity  from  its  subjects.     Every  Frenchman,  whether  belong- 
ing to  the    priesthood   or   the   laity,  rendered    this    oath ;    the 
Jesuits  alone  declined  to  do  so,  and,  in  the  event  of  the  people 
becoming  infuriated,  as,   for  instance,  when  their  college  was 
stormed  in  Lyons,  they  shut  their  schools  and  churches  rather 
than  render  compliance.     In  consequence  of  this,  it  came  to  be 
a  subject  of  debate  in   many  circles  whether  it  would  not   be 
expedient   that  the  Society  of  Jesus  should    be    entirely  pro- 
hibited in  France,  and  more  particulariy  the  University  of  Paris 
occupied  itself  with  this  question,  as  the  Jesuits  had  infringed 
80  much  and  so  powerfully  on  their  rights.    Indeed,  they  carried, 
as  we  have  already  noticed  in  a  former  Book,  their  old  strife 
with  the  Society  of  Jesus  so  far  as  to  bring  the  matter  afresh 
before  Parliament,  and  earnestly  urged  the  King  that  this  tri- 
bunal should  deliver  its  judgment  thereon. 

There  was  much  at  stake,  then,  as  far  as  the  Jesuits  were 
concerned — indeed,  unusually  much ;  nothing  less  than  their 
very  existence  on  French  soil,  and  this  could  never  be  assured 
80  long  as  a  King  sat  upon  the  throne  who  had  only  become 
Catholic  from  political  motives — so  long,  in  fact,  as  Henry  IV. 
lived,  who   conceded    the  Protestants  the  same  rights  as   the 


REGICIDES   IN   FRANCE. 


165 


orthodox  believers,  and  continually  allowed  himself  to  be 
governed,  or,  at  all  events,  influenced,  by  his  heretical 
Minister,  Sully.  "  Away  with  him,  then,"  was  once  more  the 
cry  of  the  Jesuits ;  **  away  with  him,  under  any  circumstances, 
and,  indeed,  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  there  is  danger  in  every 
moment's  delay."  Moreover,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  not 
satisfied  with  words  merely,  but  they  also  soon  caused  them  to 
be  followed  by  deeds,  and  their  instrument  this  time  was  Jean 
Chatel,  a  youth  of  nineteen,  whom  they  had  educated  especially 
to  be  a  regicide. 

The  matter  proceeded  as  follows:  On  the  27th  December 
1594  Henry  IV.  returned  to  Paris  from  Picardy,  where  he  had 
just  recently  obtained  a  victory  over  his  enemies,  and  at  once 
betook  himself,  followed  by  a  jubilant  number  of  the  people,  to 
the  Hotel  Bouchage,  in  which  resided  Gabrielle  d'Estr6e,  Duchess 
of  Beaufort,  his  beautiful  mistress.  Here  he  received  the  homage 
of  several  Parisian  gentlemen,  who  hastened  to  greet  their 
Monarch,  and  there  he  was  in  a  very  happy  and  freehearted 
mood,  for  no  one  was  denied  access  to  him.  Among  others  who 
presented  themselves  to  him  were  Messieurs  Ragny  and  Mon- 
tigny,  and  the  latter  kneeled  down  to  kiss  the  King^sh^nd,  while 
the  Monarch,  on  his  part,  bent  to  raise  him  up  and  embrace 
him.  At  this  moment,  a  pale  thin  young  man  rushed  through 
the  crowd  standing  at  the  door,  and  threw  himself  upon  Henry  IV. 
and  dealt  him  a  violent  blow  with  a  knife  that  he  flourished. 
The  murderer  aimed  at  the  heart  of  the  King,  but,  as  the  latter 
had  just  bent  himself  forwards,  the  blow  missed  its  mark  and 
only  cut  his  lip.  This  was  cut  through,  and  even  one  of  his 
teeth  was  broken  by  the  blow,  but  the  ruler  sustained  no  further 
injury,  nor  did  he  lose  his  presence  of  mind  for  an  instant. 
Those  present,  of  course,  threw  themselves  at  once  upon  the 
assassin,  who,  in  the  first  moment  of  rage,  was  nearly  torn  in 
pieces.  The  King,  however,  ordered  him  to  be  delivered  over 
to    the    Provost  Marshal,   and  this  mandate  was  consequently 

obeyed. 

While  the  Monarch  now  hastened  to  Notre  Dame  in  order  to 
offer  up  thanks  to  God  for  his  safety,  an  investigation  into  the 
abortive  crime  at  once  began,  and  even  at  the  first  hearing, 
which  lasted  until  late  in  the  night,  the  full  truth  came  out. 
The  name  of  the  young  man  was,  as  we  have  said  above,  Jean 


166 


HISTOKY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Chatel,  and  he  was  the  son  of  a  well-to-do  and  respectahle 
married  couple,  the  cloth-makers  Pierre  Chatel  and  Dame  Denise, 
n^e  Hazard.  In  order  to  give  him  a  good  education,  his  father 
sent  him  to  the  Jesuits,  in  the  so-called  College  of  Clermont, 
and  here  he  pursued  his  studies  up  to  his  eighteenth  year.  Good 
morals,  however,  he  did  not  learn,  as  there  never  existed  such 
a  dissolute  and  disorderly  young  man  as  Jean  Chntel,  who  did 
not  even  recoil  from  incest  with  his  youngest  sister,  of  whom 
there  were  two,  but  no  brother.  Besides,  there  were  occasions 
when  he  was  seized  with  the  most  bitter  remorse,  and  it  was  in 
one  of  these  that  the  thought  came  into  his  head  for  the  first  time 
of  murdering  the  King.  He  had  been  frequently,  of  late,  taught 
by  his  teacher  of  philosophy,  the  Father  Jean  Gueret,  that  it 
would  be  a  very  meritorious  deed  to  remove  out  of  the  world 
the  tyrant  Henry  IV.,  because  he  was  the  patron  of  heretics,  and 
he  also  had  the  idea  that  should  he  execute  this  meritorious 
work  he  might  escape  the  pains  of  hell,  which  he  so  very  much 
feared,  or,  at  all  events,  in  some  degree  lessen  them.  The 
thought  soon  took  root  in  him,  and  as  the  Rector  of  the  College, 
the  Father  Jean  Guignard,  to  whom  he  spoke  about  the  matter, 
expressly  assured  him  that  by  an  especially  meritorious  trans- 
action, like  the  crime  which  he  contemplated,  he  would  not 
merely  moderate,  but  might  even  be  enabled  to  avert,  eternal 
damnation  altogether,  those  ideas  sank  deeper  and  deeper  into 
his  heart,  till  in  the  end  he  formed  the  firm  resolution  to  per- 
petrate the  murder  of  the  King. 

In  order  that  this  determination  might  not  prove  to  be 
evanescent,  the  pious  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  put  him 
through  a  course  of  spiritual  exercises,  and  displayed  before  him 
frightful  pictures  of  hell  and  the  punishments  of  hell-fire,  pro- 
ducing in  him  thereby  an  almost  insane  kind  of  ecstasy.  In 
short,  from  Chatel's  confession  it  became  apparent  that  no  one 
bat  the  Jesuits  had  instilled  the  thought  into  him  of  taking  the 
King's  life,  and  the  people  of  Paris  became  so  enraged  on  this 
account  that  they  proceeded  to  storm  the  College  ot  Clermont, 
with  the  view  of  devoting  it  to  flames,  with  all  that  it  con- 
tained. It  was  found  necessary,  therefore,  to  place  a  strong 
armed  force  there,  in  order  to  save  the  hated  Loyolites  from  this 
fate ;  the  authorities  would  not  have  been  justified,  however, 
in  adopting  this  measure  had  not  Father  Gueret,  Chatel  s  teacher. 


REGICIDES   IN    FRANCE. 


167 


been,  at  the  same  time,  arrested,  while  it  had  heen  made  known 
that  the  whole  College  would  be  thoroughly  searched,  and  the 
guilty  proceeded  against  with  the  strictest  severity. 

The  investigation  was,  in  fact,  at  once  carried  out,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  the  Rector  of  the  College,  Father  Guignard, 
was  also  brought  into  the  Conciergerie,  wherein  were  all  the 
other  prisoners.     In  the  secret  drawer  of  a  writing-table  several 
manuscripts  prepared  by  him  were  found,  in  which   he  quite 
unblushingly  defended  the  regicide,  and  said  of  Jaques  Clement, 
among  other  things,  that  he  had  performed  an  extremely  heroic 
action  when  he  murdered  King  Henry  III.     Further,  he  laid 
down,  in  this  document,  the  proposition  that  there  never  would 
be  any  peace  or  good  fortune  for  the  Catholic  Church  until  the 
crown  of  France  should  be  torn  from  the  House  of  Bourbon  ; 
and,  lastly,  he  endeavoured  to  prove  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
every  Catholic  to  remove,  either  publicly  or  secretly,  the  Fox  of 
Beam,  that  is.  King  Henry  IV.,  whom  he  held  to  be  worse  than 
even  a  Herod,  and  yet  a  regular  warfare  could  not  be  carried  on 
against  him.     Frightful  teaching,  in   truth— teaching,  indeed, 
eminently  calculated  to  direct  the  horror  of  the  world  against 
the  entire    Society  of  Jesus;  for  could  the  Jesuit  College   be 
regarded  as  anything  else  than  a  nursery  for  assassination  and 

assassins  ? 

After  those  proofs  had  been  clearly  established,  not  only 
against  Chatel  but  also  against  the  aforesaid  Jesuits,  the  Par- 
liament proceeded  to  pass  sentence,  and,  first  of  all,  condemned 
the  murderer  to  well-merited  punishment.  This  was  carried  out 
on  the  29th  December,  and  therefore  only  two  days  after  the 
attempted  murder;  it  took  place  on  the  evening  of  that  day 
bv  torchlight,  and  a  right  fearful  punishment  it,  indeed,  was. 
The  delinquent  was  first  of  all  brought  to  the  square  in  front  of 
Notre  Dame,  with  nothing  but  his  shirt  on,  and  upon  his  knees 
made  to  beg  pardon  for  his  contemplated  crime.  He  was  then 
taken  on  an  ash  cart  to  the  Place  de  Groves,  where  the  execu- 
tioners were  in  readiness,  in  order  to  pinch  his  hands  and  thighs 
with  red-hot  tongs  Thereupon  the  knife  with  which  he  had 
thrust  at  the  King  was  placed  in  his  hand,  and  the  latter  was 
laid  on  the  bl«ck  and  struck  off  with  an  axe.  Lastly,  four 
horses  were  attached  to  his  arms  and  feet,  and  in  this  way  he 
was  torn  into  four  pieces,  the  remains,  with  the  hand  and  trunk. 


168 


HISTOBY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


were  then  thrown  upon  a  heap  of  wood,  which  was  set  on  fire, 
and  all  was  humt  to  ashes. 

Thus  died  Jean  Chatel,  the  murderous  pupil  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  not  less  severe  was  the  judgment  which  was  awarded  to  the 
Jesuits  hy  Parliament   Father  Guignard,  like  Chatel,  was  hrought 
in  his  shirt  to  do  penance  on  his  knees  at  Notre  Dame,  and 
suffered  the  punishment  of  death  at  the  Place  de  Graves.     The 
life   of  Father  Gueret  was   spared,  hut   he,   together  with  five 
others    helonging    to    his    College,    were    banished     for    ever, 
from  French    soil.      The  Jesuit  body,    as   a   whole,   was   ban- 
ished out  of  France,  because  it  had  been  proved  incontestably 
that   as   leaders  of  youth,   as  disturbers    of  the  public  peace, 
the  pious  Fathers  were  enemies  of  the  King  and  State  ;  and 
within  three  days  after  the  proclamation  had  been  made,  they 
had  to  leave  their  colleges,  and  the  country  itself  within  fourteen 
days.     Lastly,  the  Parliament  ordered  that  the  house  in  which 
Chatel  had  lived  should  be  pulled  down,  and,  when  this  was 
done,  it   caused  to  be  erected  on  the  spot  a  pyramid  upon  which 
the  shameful  deed  of  the  murderer,  as  well  as  the  vileness  of  the 
Jesuits,  was  engraven  in  golden  capital  letters,  in  order  that 
the  latest  posterity  should  not  forget  what  a  frightful  thing  had 
occurred  in    Paris    towards    the  end    of   the    year  1594  ;    and 
especially,  that  horror  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  for  ever 
remain  ineffaceable. 

Thus  acted  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  in  which  sat  none  but 
sagacious  and  enlightened  men;  but,  unfortunately,  things  did 
not  long  remain  thus,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola  contrived  to  evade 
completely  this  edict  of  expulsion.     Strict,  indeed,  as  the  order 
ran,  which  expelled  the  Jesuits  out  of  the  whole  of  France,  and 
strictly  as  it  was  urged  to  be  carried  out  in  such  towns  as  Paris, 
Eennes,  Dijon,   Rouen,  and   others,  a  number  of  the  Fathers 
succeeded  in  evading  the  order,  and  not  a  few  of  them  remained 
in  the  country  unmolested,  as  soon  as  they  arrayed  themselves 
in  secular  clothing.     Besides,   a  great  number  of  them  fled  to 
the  provinces  of  Guienne  and  Languedor,  as  well  as  to  Loraine, 
where  the  last   of  the   Guises,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  resided 
under   the    protection   of   Spain,    and    in    the    towns  of  Tou- 
louse, Metz,  Verdun,  &c.     The  Black  Cloaks  ^warmed  opeuly, 
therefore,  for  a  long  time.     In  short,  the  order  of  their  expul- 
sion existed,  for  the  most  part,   merely  on  paper,  and  it  was 


REGICIDES   IN    FRANCE. 


169 


observed,  from  the  schemes  which  they  ventured  to  hatch  on 
behalf  of  their  re-establishment,  that  the  more  influential  among 
them  had  remained  within  the  boundaries  of  France.  Recog- 
nising the  fact  that,  in  order  to  win  the  favour  of  a  monarch,  it 
is  above  all  things  requisite  to  bring  over  to  one's  side  those  in 
his  immediate  company,  they  made  a  dead  set  at  certain  Court 
favourites,  as  Messieurs  Bellievre,  La  Varennes,  and  others, 
who  were  to  Henry  IV.  what  later  Lebel,  the  provider  of 
the  ill -famed  deer  park,  was  to  Louis  XV.  ;  nor  did  they  even 
neglect  the  apron-string  of  a  chambermaid,  if  thereby  they  might 
hope  to  penetrate  into  the  bed-chamber  of  a  royal  mistress. 
Most  of  all,  however,  they  relied  upon  the  efforts  of  their 
great  patron,  the  Pope  of  the  day,  Clement  VIII. ;  and,  in  truth, 
he  moved  heaven  and  earth  in  order  to  bring  about  a  change  in 
France  in  favour  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  It  was,  however, 
throughout  a  period  of  several  years  without  avail,  seeing  that 
Henry  IV.  yielded  nothing,  either  to  the  representations  of 
Cardinal  Legate  Villeroy,  who  acted  as  Ambassador  in  Rome, 
or  to  the  many  autograph  letters  of  the  Pope  himself. 

But  it  was  different  from  this  in  the  vear  1599.  At  that  time 
Henry  IV.  had  determined  upon  a  separation  from  his  spouse, 
Margaret  of  Vnlois,  and,  the  matter  having  arrived  at  that  point, 
he  went  to  the  Pope  to  pronounce  the  divorce.  The  latter 
declared  himself  ready  and  willing  to  meet  this  request,  but 
only  on  condition  that  the  edict  of  banishment  against  the 
Jesuits  should  be  revoked.  What  was,  then,  Henry  IV.  to  do  ? 
He  promised  to  act  as  the  Pope  wished,  but  the  latter  must 
give  him  time,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  prepare  his 
French  subjects  for  what  was  to  happen.  A  short  time  after- 
wards, still  in  the  year  1599,  Henry  married  again,  with  Marie 
de  Medicis,  daughter  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and,  as 
she  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  from  her  earliest 
youth,  it  was  apparent  that,  from  the  day  of  her  marriage,  she 
would  not  omit  any  favourable  opportunity  in  order  to  cause 
her  husband  to  become  favourable  to  them.  Besides,  she 
brought  with  her  to  the  Court  Father  Lorenzo  Magius,  in  all 
respects  an  experienced  Jesuit ;  and  at  the  same  time  being  a 
fine  companion  and  wit,  he  soon  obtained  great  influence  over 
the  King.  The  consequence  was,  that  great  forbearance  was 
DOW   endeavoured  to  be   shown    as  to   the    treatment   of    the 


170 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


sons  of  Loyola,  when  they  began  to  return  incognito  into  the 
country  hero  and  there,  as  teachers,  in  secular  clothing ; 
the  Monarch  still  hesitated,  however,  for  several  years  longer,  to 
restore  them  legally,  and  the  edict  of  banishment  still  nominally 
remained  in  force  during  all  this  time.  When,  however,  in  the 
year  1603,  French  Loraine,  the  last  province  adhering  to  the 
Guises  was  conquered,  Henry  IV.  at  once  removed  his  Court 
for  a  time  to  Metz.  He  had  scarcely,  however,  arrived  there 
(for,  as  I  have  already  said,  that  country  was  inundated  by  the 
Jesuits),  when  the  Jesuit  Provincial,  Father  Ignatius  Armand, 
in  company  with  the  most  sagacious  of  his  subjects,  craved  an 
audience  of  the  Monarch,  and  obtained  it  by  the  intercession  of 
Fouquets  de  la  Varennes,  the  confidant  of  the  royal  peccadilloes. 
On  his  knees  he  prayed  the  Monarch  to  fulfil  the  promise  which 
he  had  given  to  the  Holy  Father  in  Rome,  and  assured  him, 
weeping,  with  a  solemn  oath,  that  none  should  surpass  the 
Order  of  Jesus  in  all  France  in  fidelity  and  devotion.  In  short, 
he  left  no  means  untried  to  move  King  Henry  to  revoke 
the  edict  of  banishment,  and  finally,  to  his  joy,  he  actually 
witnessed  the  acomplishment  of  his  designs,  although,  it  is  true, 
only  conditionally. 

In  the  same  year,  at  the  beginning  of  September  1 603,  the 
King  allowed  the  sons  of  Loyola  to  settle  in  the  towns  of 
Toulouse,  Agen,  Rhodes,  Bordeaux,  Perigueux,  Limones,  Tour- 
non,  Le  Puy,  Aubergaz,  Beziers,  Lyons,  Dijon,  and  La- Fläche; 
on  the  other  hand,  they  were  not  permitted  to  do  so  in  the 
remaining  towns  of  France,  except  with  the  special  permission 
of  Royalty.  This  latter  even  was  only  obtainable  when  the 
Jesuits  wished  to  acquire  estates,  or  when  presents  were  made  to 
them ;  and,  besides,  it  was  requisite  that  they  should  all  be 
Frenchmen  bom.  Lastly,  each  one  of  them  had  to  take  a 
solemn  oath  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  never, 
on  any  occasion,  to  presume  upon  the  exceptional  privileges 
accorded  to  them  from  time  to  time  by  the  Popes.  Such  were 
the  conditions  upon  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  again  allowed 
to  return  into  France,  in  spite  of  the  vehement  opposition  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris,  and  they  joyfully  all  swore  whatever  was 
required  of  them.  They  would,  indeed,  right  willingly  have 
pledged  themselves  with  an  oath  to  adhere  even  to  much 
harder  conditions,  if  it  had  been  required  of  them,  for  what  did 


REGICIDES   IN   FRANCE. 


171 


an   oath   signify  to   them,   which,    from    the   first,  they  never 
intended  to  keep  ? 

At  the  same  time  as  the  Jesuits  were  permitted  again  in 
France,  Henry  IV.  took  one  of  them.  Father  Cotton,  to  be  his 
Father  Confessor.  He  did  so  as  he  believed  he  would,  in  him, 
provide  himself  with  a  scourge  which  would  give  security  for  the 
good  conduct  of  the  Order  ;  but  this  Cotton  was  such  a  cunning 
and  accomplished  courtier,  that  he  soon  obtained  mastery  over 
the  heart  of  the  King,  and  gained  as  well,  through  the  courtiers 
and  mistresses,  an  influence  which  proved  to  be  of  great  advan- 
tage to  his  Order  The  latter  soon  obtained  permission  for  the 
erection  of  colleges,  in  addition  to  the  towns  already  mentioned, 
in  Amiens,  Poitiers,  Vienne,  Rouen,  Caen,  Rheims,  Beam,  and, 
at  length,  also  in  Paris,  and  it  may  be  shortly  stated  that  within 
the  next  seven  vears  the  Jesuits  trebled  the  number  of  their 
houses  in  France  Above  everything,  it  was  a  great  object  of 
the  Fathers  to  cause  the  pyramid  which  was  named  the  Pillar  of 
Disgrace  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  because  it  proclaimed  their 
share  in  the  attempted  assassination  of  Chatel,  to  be  pulled 
down,  as  so  long  as  it  was  standing  they  could  not  be  regarded 
as  having  been  completely  restored,  and,  consequently,  the 
Father  Confessor  ceased  neither  night  nor  day  to  urge  the  King 
to  give  his  order  for  its  destruction.  For  a  long  time  Henry  IV. 
refused  his  consent,  and  still  less  was  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
which,  as  we  know,  had  ordered  the  erection  of  the  monument, 
agreeable  thereto.  At  length,  in  May  1606,  the  Council  of 
State  being  won  over  to  the  Order  of  Jesus,  permitted  itself  to 
be  moved  to  deliver  judgment  in  favour  of  the  Jesuits;  Henry  IV. 
accordingly  gave  his  permission  for  the  removal  of  the  pillar. 
This,  however,  was  proposed  to  be  efiPected  during  the  night, 
because  it  was  feared  that  the  people  of  Paris  might  resist  the 
measure  by  force.  But  Father  Cotton  exclaimed  "  Henry  IV. 
is  no  king  of  darkness,  but  of  light !  "  and  by  these  words  in- 
duced the  King  to  have  the  order  for  its  destruction  carried  out  in 
the  broad  daylight,  with  the  assistance  of  a  strongly  armed  force. 
This  took  place  ;  and  who  now  had  reason  to  triumph,  seeing 
that  the  shortly  before  much  despised  sons  of  Loyola  received 
therebv  new  lustre  ?  Under  such  circumstances,  it  might  have 
been  believed  that  it  would  be  absolutely  incumbent  upon  them 
in  future  to  guard,  with  Argus  eyes,  the  life  of  the  King  who 


172 


HISTORY   OF    THE    JESUITS. 


had  proved  himself  to  he  so  good  to  them  ;  hut  the  Jesuits  acted 
quite  difFermtly  to  this,  and  had  good  reason  for  their  course  of 
action. 

After  Henry  IV.  had  internally  pacified  and  strengthened  his 
kingdom,  he  directed  his  attention  to   external  politics,  and  at 
once  found  that  France  had  much  too  little  to  say  in  the  council 
of  nations.      Was  not,  at  that  time,  the  power  of  the  Austro- 
Spanish  House  all-potent,  before  which  all  the  rest  of  Europe 
had  to  bow  submissively  ?     Consequently,  he  designed  the  plan 
of  breaking  through  this  supremacy  by  force  of  arms,  and  thereby 
re-establishing  the  European  balance  of  power  ;  to  this  end  he 
concluded  a  treaty,   offensive   and   defensive,  with  most  of  the 
remaining  European  States,  especially  with  the  Protestant  prin- 
cipalities of  Germany,  as  also  with  England  and  the  Netherlands. 
A  large  army  was  consequently  got  together  and   armed  quite 
secretly,  and  the  campaign  was  to  be  opened  in  the  summer  of 
1610  with  great  energy,  in  two  directions,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Julier  war  of  succession.     The  allies  might  naturally  entertain 
every  hope  of  obtaining  the  victory,  as  neither  Spain  nor  Austria 
had  found  time  to  arm  properly,  and,  consequently,  there  was 
great  rejoicing  on  the  part  of  the  former,  while  in  Madrid  and 
Vienna  the  previous  proud  confidence  was  beginning  to  give  place 
to  gloomy  hopelessness.     Only  a  miracle  could  this  time  save 
the  House  of  Hapsburg,  and   the  day  for  miracles  was  passed. 
Still,  however,  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and   Rudolph  11    of  Austria 
had  no  real  reasons  for  despair,  as  their  great  friends  the  Jesuits 
still  lived,  and  it  was  an  easy  matter  for  them,  when  justifiable 
means  were   wanting,  to  assist  by   a  small  crime.     What  was 
easier  in  the  present  instance  than  to  make  av;ay  with  the  man 
who   was    at    the    head  of  the   whole    undertaking — the  King 
and  Commander,  who  breathed  into  the  whole  body  the  spirit  of 
coalition,  and  without  whom  the   allied  States  would   fall  back 
into  their  old  insignificance  ?     I  allude  to  King  Henry  IV.  of 
France,    the   ingenious    deviser    of    the    plan   of    a    universal 
Christian  Kepublic       And,  wonderful   to  say,  since  something 
of  this  grand  scheme  had  become  noised   about  in  the  world, 
Henry  IV.    almost    daily  received  hints  of  consjnracies  which 
were  in  preparation  against  him,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  kind 
of  fatal  anxiety  took  possession  of  his  mind  that  his  life  would 
be  taken.     Indeed,  this  dread  now  never  left  him   either  night 


HEGICiDES   IN   FBANÖB. 


173 


or  day,  and  he  said  a  hundred  times  to  his  confidential  minister 
Sully,  **  Friend,  I  shall  never  be  permitted  to  take  the  field,  as 
they  will  murder  me  here."  And  these  ominous  presentiments 
did  not  deceive  him,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

On  the   I4th  of  May  1610,  Henry  IV.  quitted  the  Palace  of 
the   Louvre   at   4  o'clock  in   the  afternoon,  in   order  to  pay  a 
visit  to  Sully,  who  was  sick,  and  at  the  same  time  to  take  leave 
of  him,  as  he  had  the  intention  of  placing  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  army  on  the  following  day.     He  was  in  a  coach  open  on 
all  sides,  and  beside  him  sat  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  while  the 
Marquis    of  Mirabeau   and   Monsieur   Duplessis   de   Liancourt 
formed  his  vis  ä  vis.     'J'he  seats  situated  upon  the  coach  steps— 
the  state  carriages  of  those  days  being  differently  constructed  from 
those  of  the  present  time— were  taken  up,  on  the  right  by  the 
Marshals  de  Lavardin  and  De  Roquelaure,  and  on  the  left  by  the 
Due  de  Montbazon  and  the  Marquis  de  la  Force,  and  it  may  be 
well  said  that  the  King  was,  indeed,  very  well  protected,  though 
the  guards  which  usually  escorted  the  royal  equipage  had  on  this 
occasion  been  sent  back,  in  order  to  avoid  all  appearance  of  pomp. 
Having  arrived  in  the  rather  narrow  Rue  de  la  Ferroniere,  the 
coach  was  detained  for  a  little,  as  some  waggons  blocked  up  the 
road,  and  the  King  turned  to  the  Marquis  de  Lavardin,  asking 
what  was  the  matter.    At  this  instant  a  man  stepped  forward  from 
the  gaping  crowd,  amongst  whom  he  had  been  standing,  as  it  he 
wished  to  get  a  better  sight  of  the  King.     Chaise  (such  was  his 
name),  as  soon  as  he  had  approached  near  enough,  swung  himself 
like  lightning  on  the  right  wheel  of  the  carriage  behind,  pulled 
out  a  sharp  knife  and  made  two  thrusts  at  the  breast  of  the  King. 
The  first  thrust  glanced  upon  a  rib,  the  second,  however,  hit  him 
right  through  the  heart,  and  the  Monarch  immediately  sank  dead 
into  the  arms  of  the  Due   d'Epernon,  while  the   blood  poured 
out  in  streams.     The  murderer  endeavoured  to  take  to  flight, 
but  in  vain.     He  was  at  once  seized,  before  he  had  time  even 
to  throw  away  the  bloody  knife,  and  he  was  given  over  to  the 
Provost  Marshal,  who  conveyed  him  into  the  Conciergerie. 

On  the  instant,  before  even  the  bloody  corpse  of  the 
murdered  ruler  was  yet  cold,  the  Parliament  was  assembled 
by  the  Queen,  now  a  widow,  the  Marie  de  Medicis  above 
alluded  to.  The  investigation  in  regard  to  the  murder, 
as   might  have   been   expected,    was  not  commenced  at   once, 


1 


\  \ 


i|! 


II 


174 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  anxiety  was  to  name  the  Queen  to  he  Guardian  and 
Regent — the  son  of  the  murdered  King,  afterwards  Louis  XIII., 
being  at  that  time  only  nine  years  of  age.  This  was  all  that 
was  on  her  mind — she  and  her  friends,  the  Jesuits,  as  well  as 
her  secret  favourite  and  lover,  Concini,  the  tool  of  the  sons 
of  Loyola,  whom  she  afterwards  created  Marquis  and  Marshal 
d'Ancre,  had  their  motives.  She  actually  thus  succeeded  in 
carrying  out  her  intentions,  and  it  was  only  after  this  had  taken 
place,  three  days  after  the  perpetrated  murder,  that  the  wretch 
who  had  done  the  deed  was  brought  before  the  bar  of  Parliament. 
He  declared  his  name  to  be  Francis  Ravaillac,  born,  in  1578, 
at  Angouleme,  where  he  had  for  several  years  occupied  the  place 
of  a  teacher.  He  had  long  resolved  on  the  assassination  of  the 
King,  and,  indeed,  on  this  account,  that  the  latter  had  been  an 
inveterate  enemy  to  Catholicism,  and  had  allowed  himself  to  be 
drawn  into  relationship  with  the  enemies  of  the  Church,  the 
heretical  Protestants.  To  murder  such  a  ruler,  he  had  been 
taught,  was  not  only  allowable,  but  was,  indeed,  a  highly  service- 
able work,  and  he  bad  the  intention  of  perpetrating  the  deed 
whenever  he  got  an  opportunity.  Moreover,  in  the  true  meaning 
of  the  word  he  had  no  guilty  associate,  and  was  unable  on  that 
account  to  betray  anyone.  He  held  to  this  statement  even  when 
brought  to  torture,  and  he  only  admitted  that,  shortly  before 
doing  the  deed,  he  hrd  confessed  his  intention  to  Father  Aubigny, 
and  had  obtained  absolution  from  him  in  that  respect. 

Thus  he  had  no  accomplice  of  his  guilt,  and  no  one  knew 
anything  about  it,  with  the  exception  of  Father  Aubigny;  but 
this  affirmation  was  simply  a  falsehood,  as  the  enemies  of 
Henry  IV.  had  already,  for  some  time  before  the  murder,  been 
accurately  informed  that  it  would  take  place.  It  was  proved, 
indeed,  that  the  approaching  death  of  Henry  was  spoken  about 
fourteen  days  before  in  Madrid,  Milan,  Antwerp,  Douay,  Arras, 
Brussels,  Mechlen,  and  Prague,  in  all  of  which  the  Jesuits  were 
notoriously  powerful,  while  several  persons  in  Rouen  received 
letters  from  Brussels,  wherein  was  contained  a  detailed  report 
of  this  murder,  though  at  the  time  the  King  was  still  alive. 
Thus  eight  days  before  the  murder  a  courier  passed  through 
Aix-laChapelle,  and  said  he  had  brought  news  to  the  German 
Princes  tliat  the  King  of  France  was  dead.  A  note,  too,  was 
found  on  the  altar  of  the  chief  church  of  Montargis,  the  purport 


i! 


BEGICIDES  IN  FBANOE. 


175 


of  which  was  that  an  end  would  soon  be  made  of  the  King's 
life  by  a  daring  fellow,  and  Father  Lagona  of  Naples  publicly 
announced  the  monarch's  death  from  the  pulpit.  Thus  the 
Prevost,  or  City  Judge,  of  Poitiers,  which  town  lies  two  days' 
journey  from  Paris,  while  in  a  large  company  playing  at  skittles, 
precisely  at  the  time  that  Henry  was  being  murdered,  allowed 
the  following  words  to  escape  from  him :  **  The  King  is  either 
dead  or  now  dying."  As  he  had  two  sons  among  the  Jesuits,  he 
was  afterwards  arrested  in  order  to  question  him,  but  he  at  once 
strangled  himself  with  his  trouser-braces.  Moreover,  a  certain 
Monsieur  Target  received  a  letter  in  Paris  from  Herzogenbusch, 
in  which,  fifteen  days  before  the  King's  death,  it  was  intimated 
to  him  that  almost  at  any  hour  might  be  expected  intelligence 
of  an  approaching  great  event  in  that  city,  as  also  that  in  all  the 
Austrian  dominions  subject  to  Belgium,  prayers  had  been  insti- 
tuted night  and  day  in  order  that  a  mighty  undertaking  might 
meet  with  the  desired  accomplishment.  So  also  the  Spaniards 
who  belonged  to  the  garrison  of  Cologne  on  the  Rhine  declared 
in  a  whisper,  even  in  the  middle  of  May,  that  Henry  would 
soon  be  removed  out  of  the  world,  and  in  Mastricht  it  was 
stated  that  then  was  the  time  to  place  the  King  of  Spain  upon 
the  throne  of  France  in  the  room  of  a  Bourbon. 

In  short,  among  good  Catholic  circles,  more  especially  in 
towns  where  Jesuit  colleges  existed,  several  weeks  before  Henry's 
death,  news  was  spread  abroad  of  his  approaching  murder.  How, 
then,  could  it  be  that  Ravaillac  had  no  guilty  accomplice,  and 
that  there  had  been  no  conspiracy  relative  to  the  murder  ? 
Who,  then,  I  ask  further,  were  these  guilty  accomplices  ?  Sus- 
picion fell  upon  the  Jesuits,  and  with  great  reason,  seeing  that, 
as  friends  of  the  Spanish  Court  and  of  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg,  they  had  a  particular  interest  in  the  removal  of  Henry 
from  the  world,  as  I  have  already  shown  above.  Particulars 
regarding  the  conspiracy,  however,  never  came  to  light,  because, 
by  the  influence  of  the  Queen  Regent,  the  great  protectress  of 
the  Order  of  Jesus,  the  investigation  respecting  Ravaillac  had 
been  carried  out  with  a  carelessness,  superficiality,  and  party 
spirit  which  had  been  unheard  of  before  in  France.  It  appeared  as 
if  people  were  afraid  to  discover  guilty  accomplices,  and  on  that 
account  avoided  entirely  examining  those  who  might  have  been 
able  to  give  some  details.     Indeed,  some,  as,  for  instance,  the 


« 


1. 


176 


H18T0BT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


"1     f 
«I 


i 


I 


former  captain  of  the  guard,  Du  Jardin,  and  Madame  Coman, 
the  late  chamhermaid  of  the  Marquis  de  Vermeuil,  both  of 
whom,  by  peculiar  circumstances,  had  been  acquainted  with 
Bavaillac,  knew  exactly  by  whom  the  latter  had  been  advised 
— both  of  these,  besides  some  others  were  detained  under 
similar  circumstances  until  the  trial  had  come  to  a  termination, 
and  then  hastened  over  the  frontiers  of  the  country.  But  was 
Father  Aubigny,  who  w^as  acquainted  about  the  crime,  and  yet  did 
not  give  any  information  regarding  it,  punished  in  any  way  ?  Oh 
no  !  the  authorities  were  satisfied  with  his  declaration  that  he 
was  unable  to  recollect  that  Ravaillac  had  confided  anything  to 
him,  as  he  had  been  endowed  by  God  with  the  attribute  of 
forgetting  at  once  confessional  secrets  entrusted  to  him  ! 

In  short,  it  was  not  wished  that  details  should  be  known,  and 
nothing,  therefore,  was  actually  ascertained,  while  the  members 
of  Parliament,  by  superior  direction,  refrained  from  making 
any  minute  investigation.  That  Ravaillac,  too,  should  remain 
steadfast,  Father  Cotton,  the  celebrated  Father  Confessor,  who 
frequently  visited  him  in  prison,  took  good  care.  Thus  was 
Francis  Ravaillac  the  sole  person  who  was  sentenced  to  death — 
the  same  frightful  one  that  Jean  Chatel  had  suffered — and 
this  sentence  was  carried  out  on  the  27th  of  May  1610.  The 
really  guilty  ones,  however — they  who  had  worked  the  wretch 
up  to  the  violent  resolution — rubbed  their  hands  with  satisfac- 
tion, as  they  had  attained  the  end  which  they  wished. 

With  the  commencement  of  the  Regency,  Marie,  the  widowed 
Queen,  immediately  altered  the  whole  system  of  government,  that 
is  to  say,  she  absolved  herself  from  the  coalition  established  by 
her  late  husband,  and  changed  the  enmity  hitherto  observed 
towards  Spain  into  an  extremely  close  friendship.  Indeed,  in  order 
to  make  the  union  of  the  crowns  more  complete,  she  betrothed  her 
under-aged  son,  Louis  XII L,  with  the  Infanta  Anna,  as  also  her 
daughter  Elizabeth  with  the  Prince  of  the  Asturias.  And  what, 
then,  could  the  Jesuits  have  more  desired  ?  Certainly,  no  sensible 
man  could  have  the  least  doubt  that  such  a  union  was  opposed 
to  the  interests  of  France,  and  equally  was  it  clear,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  altered  condition  of  affairs,  that  the  strife  would 
recommence  with  the  Huguenots,  who  had  hitherto,  under  Henry 
IV.,  enjoyed  quietly  and  peacefully  the  protection  of  the  laws. 
But  all  this  did  not  trouble  the  Queen  Regent,  as,  from  the  first. 


BEGICIDES   IN   FBANCE. 


ill 


she  belonged  to  the  most  bigoted  ladies  of  her  times,  and  never 
ceased,  during  the  whole  period  of  her  government,  to  do  exactly 
what  the  Jesuits  suggested  to  her.  Also,  under  Louis  XIIL, 
the  latter  obtained  the  mastery  over  the  Court,  at  least  at  the 
commencement  of  his  reign,  as  was  proved  by  the  fact,  that 
his  Father  Confessors  were  the  Fathers  Cotton,  Arnoux, 
Seguiran,  Öuö'ran,  and  Caussin,  all  of  whom  were  Jesuits,  and, 
indeed,  the  consequence  of  their  supremacy  was  that  the  long- 
dreaded  war  with  the  Huguenots  actually  broke  out  in  the  year 
16/il.  Still,  it  was  ended  in  the  following  year,  and  in  such 
a  way  that  the  Protestants,  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  obtained 
again  their  guaranteed  religious  liberty.  From  this  time  for- 
ward they  again  ventured  to  be  Protestant  in  their  **  belief/'  to 
"  hear  Protestantism  preached,"  and  to  **  confess  as  Protestants." 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Jesuits  managed  so  that  no  Huguenot 
obtained  any  State  otiice,  and  that  none  of  them  who  looked  to 
the  -army  for  advancement  in  J^'rance  need  think  of  doing  so. 
On  thiij  account,  under  Louis  XllL,  a  number  of  Protestants 
came  over  to  the  camp  of  the  Catholics.  Even  the  Duke  Cardinal 
de  Richelieu^  who  was  First  Minister  of  the  King  in  the  year 
lö?4,  opposed  tüie  Huguenots  by  his  measures,  on  the  advice 
of  the  Jesuits,  «dthough  he  was  otherwise  strongly  adverse  to 
the  latter  äs  regards  political  questions.  For  instance,  he 
again  adopted  the  plan  of  Henry  iV.  to  humiliate  the  House  of 
Hapsbnrg  at  any  price,  and  took  the  side,  therefore,  of  Sweden 
and  the  Prut^estaufcs  during  the  Thirty  Years'  war.  The  course 
of  his  politics,  also,  was  followed  by  the  best  fesulte,  as  Franc  e 
at  the  termination  of  the  war  held  a  much  greater  and  more 
powerful  position  thau  before^  while  Spain  and  Austria  were 
completely  exhausted  and  nnüt  to  carry  out  the  leading  parts 
they  had  hitherto  played  m  Europe.  He  himself,  however,  did 
not  live  to  enjoy  tljis  satisfaction,  nor  even  did  King  Louis  XIII. 
Both  had  died  several  years  before,  the  first  in  the  y^ar  lö4^> 
the  second  m  the  year  X04{^,  and  in  their  Kwm  reigned 
Louis  XIV.,  called  by  many  the  Ghreat,  filtvhough  he  was  unde- 
serving of  such  a  title.  Thus,^  however,  he  proved  himself 
great,  that  he  made  Richelieu's  politics  his  own,  and- from  the 
commencement  of  his  reign  no  other  course  was  followed  but 
to  weaken,  or  rather  humihate,  Spain  and  Austria  more  than 
ever.     Therefore,  a  light  broke   in  upon  the  Order  of  Jesus  j 

u,  la 


I 


\ 


17Ö 


HiSTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  idea  of  a  Universal  Christian  Monarchy  was  an  impossibihty 
80  far  as  regarded  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  which  had  completely 
retrograded,  while  the  position  seemed  to  pertain  much  more  to 
France,  and,  consequently,  they  forsook  suddenly  the  standards 
of  Spain  and  Austria  in  order  to  throw  themselves  entirely  into 
the  arms  of  the  Most  Christian  King.  Louis  XIV.     It  was  their 
wish  henceforth  to  fight  for  his  interests  as  their  own,  sum- 
moning  all  their  forces  thereto  ;  naturally,  however,  under  the 
condition  that  he  proved  himself  entirely  favourable  to  them, 
and  rendered   every  obedience   to    their  counsels.     The  treaty 
came  into  effect,  and  was  faithfully  maintained  by  both  sides, 
and  especially  by  Louis  XIV.,  when  he  became  older.     From 
that  time  the  Jesuits   completely  governed  him,    and  mainly, 
indeed,  through  the  royal  Father  Confessor,  Father  La  Chaise, 
as  also  by  his  successor.  Father  Le  Tellier,  not  to  omit  mention 
of  the  royal  mistress,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  whose  heart  was 
entirely  Jesuitically  inchned. 

I  could  now  write  a  long  history  about  the  frightful  conse- 
quences of  this  sway  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  a  sway  which  might 
fairly  be  termed,   indeed,  exclusive ;  but  I  refer  the  reader  to 
general  histories  of  the  world,  in  which  is  portrayed  m  prominent 
characters  the  mischief  which  the  Government  of  Louis  XIV. 
brought  about  in  France  and  over  the  whole  of  Europe.     One 
thing  I  cannot,  however,  pass  over  in  silence,  namely,  that  the 
sons    of  Loyola   misused    all  their  power,  in    order    to    cause 
the  King,  above   everything,    to  revoke  the   Edict  of   Nantes, 
a  step  whereby  the  whole  of  his  Protestant  subjects  would  be 
brought  into  the  lap  of  the  only  saving  Church. 

A  frightful    panic  pervaded  the  whole   of  France ;    indeed, 
beyond  that  kingdom  even  into  Savoy,  whose  Duke  did  every- 
thing that  Louis  XIV.  commanded  him,  as  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
accompanied  bv  a  whole   army  of  executioners   and   soldiers, 
chiefly  dragoons-whence  the  expression  "  Dragonades '^-began 
the  extermination  of    the   hated  heresy.      This   exterminaüon 
was  ultimately  put   an  end  to,  but  only  after  the  sacnhce   of 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  preferred  death  to  going  to  Mass, 
and  by  the  loss  of  other  hundreds  of  thousands  who  succeeded, 
in  all  kinds  of  disguises,  and  by  leaving  behind  them  almost  all 
their  property,  in  making  their  escape  across  the  frontiers.   But 
a  truce  with  all  these  horrors,  which  were  not  even  surpassed  in 


EEGICIDES   IN    FRANCE. 


179 


the  previous  Thirty  Years'  war ;  a  truce  to  them,  as  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  wherever  it  had  become  all-powerful,  has  everywhere 
made  itself  immortal  by  such  atrocities. 

Under  the  Regency,  too,  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Jesuits 
remained  all-powerful  in  France,  as  the  prime  favourite  and 
Minister  of  the  Regent  was  the  ill-famed  Father  Dubois,  for 
whom  they  obtained  a  Cardinal's  hat ;  on  that  account  he  was 
their  declared  friend,  and  aided  them  in  their  victory  over  the 
Jansenists,  during  the  strife  which  went  on  in  those  days 
between  the  two  parties.  It  must  be  remembered  that  after  the 
death  of  Louis  XIV.,  in  the  year  1715,  his  grandson  and 
successor,  Louis  XV.,  was  only  five  years  of  age,  and  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  therefore,  as  first  prince  of  the  blood,  took  over  the 
Government  during  his  minority. 

The  sons  of  Loyola  obtained  a  still  greater  supremacy  on  the 
termination  of  the  Regency,  under  the  Government  of  the  said 
Louis  XV.,  at  any  rate,  at  the  commencement  of  his  rule, 
and  it  is  well  known  what  great  influence  the  Royal  Father 
Confessor,  Father  Claude  Bertrand  Tascherau  de  Lignieres, 
exercised  over  the  Monarch.  Besides,  they  possessed  the  heart 
of  Cardinal  Fleury,  who,  as  First  Minister  of  Louis,  governed 
France,  almost  absolutely,  up  to  the  year  1743,  and  it  appeared 
as  though  their  power  would  never  be  shaken  in  the  least  degree, 
as  long  as  Louis  XV.  sat  upon  the  throne.  It  happened  otherwise, 
nevertheless,  and  all  through  the  influence  of  a  woman,  the 
Marquise  de  Pompadour,  who,  from  the  year  1745,  had  become 
the  reigning  mistress  of  the  Monarch.  At  that  time,  namely,  in 
the  middle  of  the  18th  century,  there  existed  io  Paris,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  whole  of  France,  two  powerful  parties  contending 
against  each  other  for  life  or  death — the  Jansenists  and  the 
Molinists — as  1  have  shown  already  in  a  preceding  Book.  To 
every  candid  thinker,  this  strife  appeared  truly  laughable,  as  it 
was  a  question,  on  the  whole,  of  but  little  difference  as  regards 
faith ;  but  the  Jesuits  staked  their  all  upon  the  issue,  so  as  to 
hunt  the  Janseoists  to  death,  and  consequently  they  induced 
their  friend  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  Christof  de  Beaumont,  to 
prohibit  all  who  had  not  openly  declared  themselves  adverse  to 
Jansenism  from  administering  the  Holy  ^Communion  and  Ex- 
treme Unction  to  the  sick  and  dying.  The  Pompadour,  however, 
bided  in  opiuiou  with   the   Jansenists,    aud,    on    that  account, 

12  * 


180 


HISTOBY   OF    THE    JESUITS. 


influenced  the  King,  so  that  he  issued  a  precisely  opposite  com- 
mand. Moreover,  the  Archbishop  was  also  banished  to  Conflans, 
as  an  arbitrary  rebel,  and  everyone  of  his  colleagues  who 
thought  fit  to  adhere  to  him  was  threatened  with  the  same  punish- 
ment. Thereupon  the  Parliament  again  mixed  itself  up  in  the 
strife,  and  the  result  was  such  a  complete  confusion  that  every 
moment  it  was  to  be  feared  that  an  utter  dissolution  of  the 
existing  order  of  things  would  take  place.  But  the  sons  of 
Loyola  showed  themselves,  above  all,  the  most  busy  in  the 
matter,  and  roiised  up  such  a  great  hatred,  by  word  and  writing, 
against  those  who,  according  to  them,  had  become  recreant  to 
the  King,  that  one  cannot  sufficiently  wonder  at  their  temerity. 
Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  this  frightful  confusion,  the  cry  was 
raised  that  Louis  XV.  had  been  assassinated,  and  boundless 
constornation  seized  upon  all  those  who  wished  well  to  France. 

It  was  on  the  5th  of  January,  the  day  of  the  three  Kings,  towards 
7  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  the  Chateau  of  Versailles.  The  King 
wanted  to  proceed  to  the  Trianon,  with  the  Dauphin,  to  take 
supper,  and  a  company  of  the  guard  received  orders  to  escort 
the  chaise.  All  was  ready,  and  precisely  at  7  o*clock  the  Mon- 
arch was  seen  to  approach  the  portal,  followed  by  a  train  of 
coui'tiers,  among  whom  was  Marshal  Kichelieu,  Chancellor 
Lamoignou,  and  Seal-bearer  Machault.  On  the  steps  of  th« 
coach  was  the  Due  d'Ayen,  captain  on  duty,  and  the  guard  pre- 
sented erras  as  the  Monarch  stepped  into  the  chaise.  It  must 
b«  remarked,  moreover,  that  in  spite  of  the  darkness  of  the 
evening,  the  lighting  was  extren:ely  bad,  as  it  consisted  only  of 
a  few  lanterns,  which  were  borne  by  about  a  dozen  servants,  and 
thus  it  was  not  noticed  that,  at  the  moment  at  which  His  Majesty 
had  got  to  the  coach-steps^  a  man  had  quite  silently  insinuated 
himself  through  the  guard  among  the  crowd  of  courtiers  which 
surrounded  the  King.  The  Monarch  suddenly  felt  a  stab  on 
his  breast,  and,  as  he  immediately  put  his  hand  to  the  place, 
he  observed  that  it  was  coloured  red  with  his  blood.  He 
quickly  turned  round,  and,  so  doing,  distinctly  saw  the  man 
who  had  stabbed  him ;  he  thereupon  exclaimed,  *'  Seize  the  mur- 
derer I"  This  took  place  on  the  instant,  und  the  wretch,  who  at 
once  confessed  the  deed,  was  hurried  into  a  room  on  the  ground 
floor,  the  so-called  "  Salle  des  Gaides,**  where  he  was  strictly 
searched.     Nothing  was  found  on  him,  however,  except  thirty 


REGICIDES   IN   FRANCE. 


181 


heavy  pieces  of  gold,  a  prayer-book,  and  a  sharp  knife  with 

two  blades. 

He  was  at  once  handed  over  to  the  Provost-Marshal,  who  had 
been  quickly  summoned,  and  who  conveyed  him  immediately 
into  the  same  prison  in  which  previous  regicides  had  been  con- 
fined. While  this  was  taking  place,  a  report  spread  abroad  that 
the  King  had  been  either  severely  wounded  or  murdered,  and 
this  went  like  lightning  through  the  whole  city,  causing,  as  may 
be  imagined,  the  greatest  excitement.  Still  greater,  even,  wad 
the  consternation  at  Court,  as  it  was  at  first  believed  that  the 
wound  of  the  King,  who  betook  himself  immediately  to  his  own 
apartments  after  the  murderous  attempt,  was  dangerous,  and 
that  there  might  be  a  change  on  the  throne.  The  party  of  the 
Dauphin,  to  which  the  Jesuits  gave  the  tone,  already  began  to. 
rejoice,  while  the  latter  went  so  far  as  to  induce  the  heir  to  the 
throne  to  issue  an  order  for  the  immediate  removal  from  Court 
of  Madame  de  Pompadour.  In  the  meantime  it  came  out  that 
there  was  no  great  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  King  s 
wound,  and  after  a  few  days  he  wa^  entirely  convalescent.  When, 
then,  Madame  da  Pompadour  learned  this,  slie  triumphantly 
returned  again  to  Court,  and,  from  the  manner  in  which  she 
was  received  by  the  King,  it  became  clearly  apparent  to  every- 
one    that    her  power    and    influence    were   not  in   the    least 

diminished. 

But  to  return  now  to  the  murderer.  The  investigation,  which 
was  at  once  instituted  against  him,  showed  that  his  name  was 
Pobert  Franz  Damiens,  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  he  named 
Tieulay,  near  Arras,  in  the  Department  of  Artois,  as  his  birth- 
place. His  father  had  been  a  farmer,  but  as  he  had  become  bank- 
rupt, the  education  of  the  youth  was  not  much  considered.  His 
parents  were  glad  when  he  was  engaged  as  a  cook's  boy  in  the 
Jesuit  College  at  Arras,  and  left  him,  after  this,  completely  to 
himself  and  his  good  fortune.  This  latter,  however,  did  not 
particularly  favour  him,  as  it  brought  him  no  further  than  to 
be  a  cook,  and  on  quitting  Arras  he  was  servant  here  and  there 
to  diff'erent  gentlemen.  He  also  did  not  distinguish  himself  by 
any  means  by  a  moral  mode  of  life,  although  he  had  been  brought 
up  by  the  sons  of  Loyola  in  bigoted  fanaticism,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  he  was  a  slave  to  the  commonest  vices,  and  was  well 
acquainted   with  the  art  of  thieving.     This,  however,  did  not 


« 
i 

V 

I 


X 

f 


4 
« 


» 


182 


REGICIDES   IN   FRANCE, 


183 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


prevent  the  Jesuits,  when  he  happened  to  he  without  hread,  from 
giving  him  some  support,  and  two  years  before  the  attempt  they 
installed  him  as  cook  in  the  Jesuit  college  in  Paris,  in  place  of 
his  former  post  in  Arras ;  this  time,  however,  for  only  a  short 
period,  as,    on  their  recommendation,  he   entered   into  service 
again  with  a  gentleman,  and  remained  in  his  place  until  a  few 
weeks  before  the  attempt.     Nothing  more  could  be  ascertained 
regarding  his   former  life ;  but  did  it  not  seem  quite  apparent 
that  he   was  nothing   more  than   a  tool  in  the   hands    of  the 
Jesuits?      He    certainly    himself    denied   having    any    guilty 
accomplices,  and   even    adhered    to    this   statement  on   being 
subjected  to   torture.     He  admitted,  however,  that  eight  days 
before  the  deed  he  confessed  his  whole  intention  to  a  Jesuit 
Father,  and  obtained  absolution  from  him.     Besides,  he    gave 
still  further  proof,  which  but  too  clearly  showed  that  it   had 
been  the  sons  of  Loyola  who  had  driven  the  fanatical  man  to 
venture  on  the  attempt  at  murder,  as  well  as  that  they  had  also 
full  knowledge  of  his  intention.     But  how  ?     Was  not  a  coach- 
man coming  from  Versailles  at  8  o^clock  in  the  evening  of  the 
5th  of  January  accosted  by  two  gentlemen,  who,  it  was  clearly 
seen,  wore  the  Jesuit  costume  under  their  mantles,   and  asked 
whether  anything  new  had  taken  place   at  Versailles  ;  and  on 
the  coachman  saying  that  he  knew  of  nothing  fresh,  did  not  the 
one  gentleman    whisper    to    the    other,    "  The    act   has,  then, 
failed  "  ?     Did  not  a  cobbler's  wife  in   Paris,  called  Margaret 
Lepin,  who  had  a  son  in  the  Jesuit  College,  write  on  the  31st 
December  1756  to  a  relative  at  Langest,  that  she  would  commu- 
nicate to  him   on  the   6th  of  January  next  a  piece  of  intelli- 
gence of  which  he  little  dreamt  ?      Did  not  the  Treasurer  of 
England,  Monsieur  de  la  Boissiere,  in  a  society  at  Calais,  in 
which  the  present  position  of  France  was  vehemently  being  dis- 
cussed, hear  a  Father  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  exclaim,  "  The  King 
had  better  take  care,  as  there  were  always  other  Ravaillacs  to  be 
found "  ?     Did  not  the  Queen's   Father  Confessor,  the  Polish 
Jesuit  Father  Brigansesky — ^the  Queen  Marie  Lesziuska  was  a 
daughter  of  Stanislaus,  King  of  Poland — make  use  of  the  fol- 
lowing words  to  Count  Zalutzky,  the  Grand  Befendary  of  Poland, 
a  few  days  before  the  attempt,   "The  Pompadour  will  be  con- 
quered at  length  if  all  goes  as  it  ought  to  go "  ?     In  short, 
there  was  proof  sufficient  of  the  complicity  of  the  Jesuits,  and 


) 


the  population  of  Paris,  therefore,  affirmed  afresh  that  the  sons 
of  Loyola  were  the  originators  of  the  attempt.     Indeed,   they 
conspired  together  and  assembled  round  the  Jesuit  College,  in 
order  to  set  it   on  fire,  with  all  its   contents,  and  this  would 
most  certainly  have  taken  place  had  not  the  crowds  been  dis- 
persed by  an  armed  force.     Because,  however,  no  perfectly  clear 
proof  was  brought  forward,  the  first  President  of  the  Court  of 
Justice,  named  Maupeou,  who  was  well  disposed  towards  the 
Jesuits,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  enter 
into  minor  details  respecting  the  trial,  and,  as  the  majority  of 
the  judges   agreed  with    him   in  this  opinion,  they   contented 
themselves  with  passing  a  single  sentence,  that  is,  on  the  assassin, 
Bobert  Franz  Damiens.     Certainly  it  could  not  be  concealed 
that  this  conclusion  did  not  altogether  satisfy  public  opinion ; 
but  this  circumstance  was  got   over  by   impressing  upon    the 
execution  of  the  criminal  a  character  of  extraordinary  seventy, 
and  making  a  grand  spectacle  thereof.     And  this  was,  indeed, 
done,  and,  truly,  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  gave  the  execution  an 
impress  of  martyrdom,  which  had  never  before  been  known ; 
indeed,   the    sentence    was   carried    out   with    such  frightfully 
cruel  severity,  that  it  makes  one  shudder  to  read  of  it.     I  will, 
therefore,  make  but  a  short  allusion  to  the  matter. 

On  the  28th  of  March,  at  half  past  4  o'clock,  Damiens  was 
brought  out  of  prison  and  dragged  upon  the  scafi-old  erected  on 
the  Place  de  Greves  ;  there  he  was  stripped  naked  and  bound 
with  iron  chains  to  a  stake  which  was  raised  in  the  centre  of 
the  scaffold.  Then  the  hand  by  which  the  deed  had  been  per- 
petrated  was  uncovered,  bound  round  with  sulphur,  and  held 
over  a  red-hot  pot  until  it  was  completely  consumed  and  reduced 
to  charcoal.  After  this,  large  pieces  of  flesh  were  torn  from 
his  breast,  arms,  and  legs,  with  red-hot  tongs,  and  boiling  oil 
and  melted  lead  were  poured  into  the  wounds  along  with  burn- 
ing pitch.  Lastly,  four  horses  were  yoked  on  to  his  arms  and 
legs  and  the  body  was  thus  torn  slowly  into  four  pieces  Fully 
three  hours  were  employed  in  executing  this  horrible  butchery 
and  during  these  three  hours  the  miserable  wretch  still  lived 
and  continued  to  breathe.  Indeed,  it  was  only  after  the  com- 
pletion  of  the  quartering  that,  losing  consciousness,  he  at 
length  expired.  By  the  hideousness  of  the  execution,  the 
Parisians  became  so  satisfied  as   to  begin    to  forget   that  the 


Hfr;— ^_»i_  ;■_ ji;„.  "     ,.     __  -^T!^^^ 


184 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS« 


BEGICIDES   IN   FRANCE. 


185 


guilty  accomplices  had  been  allowed  to  escape  through  their 
fingers.  This  was  not  the  case,  however,  as  regards  Madame 
de  Pompadour,  for  she  felt  internally  a  wrathful  indigna- 
tion towards  those  who,  when,  the  King  was  wounded, 
had  brought  about  her  banishment  from  Versailles,  that  is, 
towards  the  Jesuits,  and  her  great  desire  was  to  have  her  revenge 
upon  them.  Well  knowing,  besides,  with  what  dangerous 
enemies  she  had  to  deal,  she  determined  to  proceed  to  work  as 
carefully  as  possible,  and  to  consider  carefully  every  step  prior 
to  action.  Before  everything,  for  this  reason,  «he  set  about 
gaining  subtle  allies  over  to  her  side,  and  with  thra  object  she 
took  care  to  form  an  intimate  relationship  with  th^  Due  de 
Ohoiseul,  whom  the  King,  at  her  instigation,  had  made  at  once 
his  Prime  Minister.  This  new  minister  was,  however,  su^  a 
keen  observer,  and  clear-headed,  as  well  as  powerful  and  energetic 
man,  that  be  soon  acq^uired  for  himself  the  name  of  the  Frewih 
Pombal. 

The  Jesuits,  loo,  had  every  reason  to  take  precautions,  and 
to  collect  all  their  forces  to  guard  against  him,  and  counter- 
act the  Pompadour- Choiseul  coalition.  But  the  extraordinary 
height  to  which  the  fraternity  had  risen  under  Louis  XJV.  and 
his  grandson,  Louis  XV.^  had  engendered  in  them  &^ch  a  spirit 
of  arrogance  that  they  considered  it  to  be  impossible  that  they 
should  ever  be  <Hsturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  power,  and, 
consequently,  they  opposed  to  that  coalition  merely  presumption 
and  defiance.  And  still  further,  they  even  allowed  themselves 
publicly  to  attack  and  slander  the  King  in  vehement  discourses 
from  the  pulpit,  on  account  of  his  intimacy  with  Pompadour,  while 
they  hoped  in  their  haughty  giddiness  tiat  the  Monarch  would 
be  so  crushed  thereby  that  he  would  at  once  dismiss  his  mistress 
with  disgrace  and  scorn  !  However,  this  did  not  come  about  in 
the  least  degree,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  ruler  now  gradually 
took  a  regular  hatred  to  the  Order  of  Jesus,  and  lent  full  belief 
to  the  assurances  of  his  minister  that  for  all  the  quarrels  and 
evil  confusion  that  at  that  time  prevailed  in  Prance  the  Society 
was  alone  to  blame.  Having  got  him  thus  far,  it  was  no 
longer  difiBcult  for  the  Pompadour  to  bring  him  to  the  convic- 
tion that  the  best  method  of  putting  an  end  to  this  would  be  to 
drive  the  whole  Society  of  Jesus  completcly^out  oi  France;  and 
from  this  time  forward  he  only  waited  for  a  suitable  opportunity 


to  free  for  ever  his  native  land  from   the  great  plague  of  the 
black  cohort. 

This  opportunity  soon  came,  as  just  at  that  time  Father 
La  Vallette  became  notoriously  bankrupt,  as  I  have  already 
related  in  the  Fourth  Book.  The  Parliament,  to  whom  the 
creditors  complained,  decided,  as  the  reader  will  remember, 
against  the  Jesuits,  and  condemned  them  to  pay  the  debts  of  La 
Vallette.  It  further  decided,  moreover^  that  a  body  which  had 
such  institutions  as  those  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  not 
have  any  existence  or  be  tolerated  in  Any  well-regulated  State ; 
and  upon  this  decision  Louis  XY.,  in  the  year  1762,  addressed 
himself  to  the  General  of  the  Order,  Bioci,  at  Rome,  in  order 
to  inducB  him  to  jeffect  some  improvements  in  the  statutes  of 
the  Society,  at  ^1  events  «o  far  as  France  was  concerned.  Eicci 
proudly  replied,  "  Sipt  ut  mnt,  aut  nou  sint,"  that  is  to  say, 
"  The  Jesuits  must  remain  «s  they  ftre>  or  ^ase  to  exist  **  A 
precisely  similar  reply  w^  given  also  by  Pope  Clement  XIIL, 
to  whom  the  King  had  also  applied  respecting  the  reformation 
of  the  Order^  and  it  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  both  of  them,  the 
Pope  as  well  as  the  General,  believed  that  Louis  XV.  would 
allow  himself  to  be  intimidated  by  such  an  arrogant  refusal. 
The  ounning  Pompadour,  however,  and  the  energetic  minister  took 
good  eare  thai  this  «hould  not  be  the  case,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
that  be  should  %Wq  the  Parliament  free  permission  to  submit 
all  the  statutes  of  the  Ordei*  of  Jesus  to  a  renewed  accurate 
examination.  'I'his  took  place,  and  the  Parliament  at  once 
declared  %\\g  Society  of  Ignatius  to  bß  one  whose  teaching  was 
insulting  to  Christian  morality,  disturbing  at  the  same  time 
every  principle  of  religion — as  one  which,  in  all  States  and  in 
all  places,  was  the  occasion  of  the  greatest  «iisturbances,  so  that 
the  sacred  persan  of  the  ruler  could  no  longer  enjoy  any 
security      It  went  on  to  say  further : 

•*  Such  a  Society  could  not  any  longer  be  endured,  and  there- 
fore it  should  be  abolished  in  France.  If,  however,  it  would 
suit  those  who  had  been  hitherto  members  of  the  Society  to 
retire  from  the  Order,  severing  their  connection,  in  truth  and 
for  ever,  from  the  General  in  Rome,  giving  over  to  the  State 
their  colleges  and  other  houses,  and  living  henceforth  as  private 
individuals,  their  residence  in  France  might  be  allowed  to  them; 
while,  if  they  swore  to  be  faithful  subjects  for  the  future,  and  to 


I 


I 

I 


j 


186 


HISTORY   OP  THE   JESUITS. 


I  ' 


submit  themselves  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  they  might  lay  claim 
to  a  considerable  pension.'* 

Such  was  the  resolution  of  Parliament ;  but  the  Jesuits  were 
not  agreeable  to  do  this,  and  declined  to  take  the  oath.  Some 
five  or  six,  indeed,  among  the  five  thousand — the  number  to  which 
the  sons  of  Loyola  now  amounted  in  France — individually 
declared  themselves  prepared  to  render  obedience  to  the  edict 
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice,  and  were  formally  expelled  from 
the  Order  as  recreant  and  perjured  transgressors!  This  was, 
indeed,  too  much  of  a  resistance  to  law,  and,  consequently, 
on  the  9th  of  March  1764,  the  Parliament,  in  solemn  conclave 
assembled,  declared,  almost  unanimously,  that  all  the  members  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  should  be  compelled  to  quit  France  within  the 
period  of  one  month.  This  resolution  was  at  once  laid  before  the 
King  for  confirmation,  and  the  whole  world  was  now  intent  to  know 
what  he  would  do,  as  the  said  resolution  was  of  no  effect  without 
the  King's  signature.  The  sous  of  Loyola  still  entertained  hope, 
as  they  held  it  to  be  impossible  that  a  descendant  of  Louis  XIV. 
could,  in  bitter  earnest,  think  of  their  destruction,  and  they  had 
the  heart  of  the  Dauphin  completely  in  their  hands.  They 
therefore  besieged  the  ruler,  through  him,  in  all  kinds  of  ways, 
in  order  that  he  might  refuse  his  sanction  to  the  resolution  of 
Parliament  The  fact  is  that  the  Monarch  wavered  for  some 
time,  but  at  length  he  decided  against  the  Society.  He  decreed 
that  the  Society  of  Jesus  should  henceforth  cease  to  have  any 
existence  in  France  or  in  any  lands  or  colonies  subject  to  French 
rule ;  further,  that  the  non-French  members  of  the  Society 
should  at  once  quit  the  country  ;  and  that,  lastly,  those  bom  in 
France  should  only  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  country 
if  they  relinquished  all  their  ecclesiastical  functions,  living  for 
the  future  as  private  individuals,  subject  to  the  laws  'I'hus 
enjoined  Louis  XV.  ;  and  that  such  decree  should  be  strictly 
carried  into  effect  the  Due  de  Choiseul,  his  First  Minister  and 
Councillor,  took  good  care. 


BOOK    VII. 


w 


THE    APPABENT    DEATH    OF    JESUITISM; 


AND 


ITS    TERKIBLE    REVIVIFICATION. 


IB!) 


MOTTO : 

Auf,  ihr  Männer,  rüstet  euch  nun  mannhaft, 

Lasat  euch  von  der  Mönohrotf  nicht  betrügen 

Höret  auf  zu  schlafen,  wachet  emsig. 

Jagt  das  schwarz'  Gesindel  aus  dem  Landet 

Auf,  ihr  Männer,  wappnet  euch  zum  Handeln, 

Zeiget,  welcher  Glaube  sei  der  eureJ 

Duldet  nicht,  dass  man  euch  spottend  schelte, 

Lasst  euch  von  den  List'gen  nicht  verschlingen 

Wieder  bau'n  sie  ihre  Brütenester, 

ünsres  Zornes  haben  sie  vergessen, 

Der  sie  aus  dem  Land  getrieben  hatte.; 

Wieder  schiebt  sie  her  zu  uns  der  Teufel  l 

Wo  bist  Du,  Luthere,  mit  den  Spiessen, 

Diese  Pfaffen-Igel  sauft  zu  kitzeln? 

Ha,  rechtzeitig  wird  er  auferst^en 

Und  mit  seiner  scharfen  Zung*^  euch  fassen ; 

Einen  bittern  Schmaus  ^bts  dann,  ihr  Bursche, 

Ihr  Berführer,  Lügner  und  Betrüger, 

Ihr  Berderber  jeden  guten  Werkes. 

Ei  ja,  diese  Burche  mid  der  Glatze, 

Die  sich  brüsten  mit  dem  Namen  Jesu. 

Und  doch  sind  die  ärgsten  Widersacher 

Jesu — ha,  mit  euch,  den  Jesuiten, 

Wird  der  Teufel  seine  Oefen  heizen, 

Sämmtlich  musst  ihr  in  der  Hölle  braten! 

Alte  Hfimchroiih. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    ABOLITION   OF   THE   JESUIT   ORDER   BY   POPE 

CLEMENT   XIV. 

It  may  easily  be  supposed  that  the  fury  of  the  Jesuit  General, 
Kicci,  in  Rome,  was  beyond  all  bounds  when  he  became 
acquainted  with  the  frightful  news  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuit 
Order  from  Portugal,  Spain,  and  France,  and  this  fury  was 
shortly  still  more  to  be  increased.  In  the  year  1767,  Ferdi- 
nand IV.,  King  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  who  had  obtained  these 
Crowns  from  his  father,  Charles  III.  of  Spain,  on  the  importunity 
of  the  latter,  as  also  by  the  counsel  of  his  very  enlightened 
minister,  Bernard  Tanuzzi,  determined  to  do  away  with  the 
Society  of  Jesus  throughout  his  dominions,  and  simply  on  this 
account,  that  the  peace,  security,  and  well-being  of  his  subjects 
had  been  completely  undermined  by  them.  Scarcely  had  his  reso- 
lution been  formed  than,  in  the  night  between  the  20th  and  2 1st 
November  in  the  year  mentioned,  the  whole  of  the  Jesuits  were 
arrested,  put  into  carriages  which  were  in  readiness,  and  taken 
to  the  nearest  seaports,  whence  they  were  transported  in  ships  of 
war  to  Civita  Vecchia,  in  the  States  of  the  Church.  This  was, 
again,  another  frightful  blow  to  the  Order,  and  the  General 
became  almost  mad  on  account  thereof;  and  not  only  he, 
but  also  the  great  patron  and  friend  of-  his  Society,  the 
then  reigning  Pope  Clement  XIIL;  so  his  Holiness  imme- 
diately protested  in  the  strongest  manner  against  such  a  decree 
of  the  Government.     But  this  protest  had  no  effect  whatever,  aa 


190 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


ABOLITION   OF   THE    ORDER. 


i9i 


Ferdinand  IV.,  or,  rather,  his  minister  Tanuzzi,  strongly  adhered 
to  his  determination  to  expel  the  black  cohort;  and  still  less 
result  had  a  petition  of  complaint  sent  by  the  Pope  to  the  Im- 
perial Court  of  Vienna.  On  the  contrary,  through  the  strong 
language  in  which  the  memorial  was  couched,  Jesuit  matters 
were  still  further  injured,  and  the  immediate  effect  was  that  two 
other  Rulers,  namely,  Emanuel  Pinto,  the  Grand  Master  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  at  Malta,  and  the  Ruler  of  Parma,  the 
young  and  courageous  Duke  Ferdinand,  a  very  near  relation  of 
the  King  of  Spain,  caused  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
to  be  seized  over-night,  and  transported  in  a  body  to  the  States 
of  the  Church. 

Thus,  then,  the  smaller  Catholic  potentates  imitated  the 
example  of  their  greater  brethren — even,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
Prince  of  Parma,  ruler  of  one  of  the  most  diminutive  States 
existing  in  the  world,  of  a  State,  moreover,  over  which  for 
centuries  the  Popes  claimed  entire  control.  Matters  proceeded, 
indeed,  beyond  all  conception,  and  Clement  XIII.  allowed  him- 
self to  be  completely  overcome  by  rage.  Moreover,  the  Jesuits, 
as  he  had  always  shown  himself  to  be  their  submissive  creature, 
continually  stirred  up  the  fire,  and  while  they  whispered  to  him 
that  it  would  be  the  easiest  matter  in  the  world  to  deal  with  such 
an  insignificant  ruler  through  his  apostolical  power,  they  never 
desisted,  until  the  spirit  of  Gregory  VII.  came  over  him  and  hurried 
him  on  to  adopt  a  most  foolish  and  eccentric  method  of  procedure. 
Under  date  the  30th  January  1768,  he  issued  a  Bull  with  the 
title  of  An  Admonition,  in  which  he  declared  the  decrees  of  Duke 
Ferdinand,  relative  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  to  be  null 
and  void,  and  also  strictly  forbade,  at  the  same  time,  the  Bishop 
of  Parma  to  proceed  against  them.  He  also  excommunicated 
from  the  Church  all  those  connected  with  the  prepu  ration,  pro- 
clamation, and  carrying  out  of  the  said  decrees,  m(  re  especially 
the  ruling  Duke  himself,  and  his  minister.  Du  Tillot,  and 
declared  them  to  be  deprived  of  all  religious  consolation  until, 
through  humble  submission,  they  had  again  obtained  the  Papal 
favour.  This  was  the  utterance  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  caused 
Pope  Clement  XIII.  to  make ;  and,  certainly,  even  the  Bull 
ilnigenituSf  emitted  during  the  Jansenist  strife,  of  unhappy 
memory,  could  not  have  been  more  worthily  expressed  by  a 
Hildebraud  or  an  Innocent  III.;  but  Clement  XIII.  was  soon 


to  learn  that  the  times  of  Hildebrand  and  Innocent  had  gone 
by,  that  is,  that  the  Papal  lightning  of  excommunication  no 
longer  terrified,  but  was  rendered  harmless  by  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  secular  rulers. 

No  sooner  had  Clement  XIII.   caused  his  Bull  of  Condem- 
nation,   called    Monitorium,    to   be   put    up   in    the   principal 
churches  of  Rome,  and  to  be  proclaimed  to  the  whole  of  Catholic 
Christendom,  than  a  general  outcry  of  dissatisfaction  was  raised 
against  the  misuse  of  ecclesiastical  power,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
formal  protestations  followed  from  the  French,  Spanish,  Portu- 
guese, and  Neapolitan  Governments.     Indeed,  in  Venice,  Genoa, 
Monaco,  and  other  places,  it  was  proclaimed  in  the  streets,  by 
sound  of  kettledrum  and  trumpet,  that  the  Pope  was  not  autho- 
rised  to  mix  himself   up    in    State   affairs;    and,  in  a  word, 
almost   all  the    Catholic   States  made  the  case    of    the   Duke 
of  Parma  their  own.     Consequently,   Clement  XIII.  was  from 
all  sides  assailed  to  withdraw  the  so-called  Monitorium,  and 
to  allow   the  Jesuits,  who   had   certainly  been  the  originators 
of   tlie   same,  to  fall.     The  more  he    was  attacked,   however, 
the  more  obstinate  was  he,  and  the  louder  he  bestowed  on  his 
dear  friends  the  Jesuits  the  most  extravagant  eulogies.    **  Sooner," 
declared  he,  *'  shall  the  world  fall  to  pieces,  than  that  he  should 
allow  anything  to  befall  them,  as  they  were  the  only  true  sup» 
port  of  the  Papacy,  or  (as  he  expressed  it)  of  Christendom,  and 
this  itself  would  be  in  danger  if  they  were  overtaken  by  calamity." 
Consequently,  not  only  did  he  not  retract  the  Bull  of  Excom- 
munication   against  Parma,  but   he   required   at   once  all   the 
Governments,   who   had    expelled    the  Jesuits,   to  adopt   con- 
trary measures,  and  to  dismiss,  at  all  events,   those  who  had 
originated  the  decree  of  banishment.    This  drove  the  matter,  then, 
to  extremities,  and  at  once  verified  the  adage,  **  When  one  enters 
the  wood  so,  it  resounds  again."     In  other  words,  as  nothing 
was  to  be  gained  in  the  way  of  friendly  representations,   the 
Bourbon  Courts  resolved  upon  more  serious  measures,  and  the 
King   of  the  Two  Sicihes  seized  Benevent  and  Ponte  Corvo, 
while    the    King    of    France,    took   possession    of    Avignon, 
together   with  the    county   of    Venessain.     These   were   Papal 
lands   upon   Neapolitan   and   French  territories,  to  which  the 
kings  mentioned  had  no  claim  whatever;  but  they  desired  to 
testify  to  the  Pope,  that,  if  he  wished  for  war,  be  must  abide  by 


192 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


ABOLITION   OF   THE   OBDEB. 


193 


the  consequences ;  and  they  gave  him  to  understand,  that  even 
the  States  of  the  Church  would  be  snatched  from  him  if  he  did 
not  yield.  It  did  not  come  to  this,  a«  Clement  XIII.  died  sud- 
denly from  apoplexy  in  the  night  of  the  3rd  February  1769,  and 
all  further  violent  measures  at  once  ceased,  as  it  was  hoped 
that  it  might  be  possible  to  cause  a  much  more  tolerant  Prince  of 
the  Church  to  succeed  him.  This  actually  occurred,  but  not  with- 
out much  trouble,  as  the  Jesuits  had  on  their  side  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  Cardinals,  with  whom  the  election  of  Pope 
rested,  and  these  did  everything  in  their  power  to  obtain  a  victory. 
So  it  happened  that  immediately  on  the  first  scrutiny — the  con- 
clave took  place  on  the  15th  February  1709 — most  of  the  votes, 
although  not  a  decisive  number,  fell  upon  Cardinal  Ohigi,  a 
declared  friend  of  the  Jesuits ;  and  he  would  certainly  have  been 
elected  as  Pope  had  not  Cardinals  Orsini  and  Bernis,  in  the 
name  of  the  Kings  of  Naples  and  France,  declared  that  no 
election  could  be  valid  until  the  foreign  Cardinals,  residing  in 
Naples,  Paris,  Lisbon,  and  elsewhere>  had  arrived.  tStill,  even 
after  the  appearance  of  these  prelates^  it  remained  doubtful 
whether  the  Jesuitically-disposed  party  might  not  prevail,  as  this 
latter  formed  a  firmly-united  body,  while  the  remaining  Cardinals 
were  more  or  less  divided  as  to  their  votes.  But  why  shouM  1 
dilate  further?  Finally,  besides  Chigi,  the  lot  Jfell  successively 
upon  the  Cardinals  Serbelloni,  Stoppani,  Fantuzzi,  and  SeFsaie, 
and  the  majority  of  the  princes  of  the  Church  were  compelled  to 
come  to  the  opinion,  that  if  the  tiara  was  not  placed  upon  a 
candidate  approved  of  by  the  Bourbon  Courts — as  it  was  not  so 
much  the  election  of  a  Pope  as  of  a  Bishop  of  Home  thai  was  in 
question — then  the  rulers  of  France,  öpain,  Naples,  and  Portugal 
would  appoint  some  Patriarch  who  should  be  independent  of 
Kome.  Thus  alarmed,  most  of  the  votes,  on  the  18  th  M.y,  fell 
upon  Cardinal  Ganganelli,  who,  from  the  opinions  hitheito  held 
by  him,  gave  occasion  to  hope  that,  by  malting  concessions,  he 
would  be  in  a  position  to  re-establish  peace  with  the  enraged 
Monarchs. 

Giovanni   Vicenzo   Antonio    Ganganelli"'*'  belonged    to    the 

•  The  Jesuits,  latterly,  gave  out  that  Giovanni  Ganganelli  was  by  birth  a 
German  heretic  of  the  name  of  Johann  Oeorg  Lange,  au4  had  only  come  to 
Bome  in  the  later  period  of  his  life,  whither  he  had  wandered  as  a  journey- 
man printer,  in  order  to  change  his  religion  t  of  course,  however,  merely  os- 
tensibly, as  he  remained  mwardly  a  heretic,  a  tact  which  the  abolition  oi  the 


number  of  those  few  cardinals  who  had  declared  themselves  to 
be  against  the  views  of  the  Pope  in  the  Congregation  which 
Clement  XIII.  had  held  regarding  the  afi'airs  of  the  Jesuits  and 
those  of  the  Duke  of  Parma,  and  he  persisted  in  his  anti- 
Jesuitical  notions,  as  he  possessed  a  strength  of  character  not 
easily  to  be  shaken,  although  Clement,  on  that  account,  caused 
him  to  feel  the  full  weight  of  the  Papal  displeasure.  It  was  to  be 
feared,  after  he  had  obtained  the  tiara,  that  the  Jesuits  might  still 
be  able  to  bring  him  over  to  their  side — that  he  might  be  treated 
with  the  same  persistency  as  his  predecessor.  But,  assuredly, 
this  was  not  the  case  with  him ;  and,  on  this  account,  the 
sons  of  Loyola  were  filled  with  unspeakable  rage  when  they 
became  aware  of  the  result  of  the  Conclave.  They  believed 
nought  else  than  that  it  was  a  question  of  their  existence,  as, 
even  though  the  new  Pope  took  the  name  of  his  predecessor, 
and  called  himself  Clement  XIV.— and  in  this  name  lay  a  very 
good  augury  for  them — he  would,  doubtless,  at  once  accede  to  the 
demands  of  the  Bourbon  Powers  respecting  the  complete  aboli- 
tion of  the  Jesuit  Order.  Besides,  not  only  did  they  believe 
this,  but  a  number  of  other  people  also  held  the  same  view, 
particularly  those  kings  and  rulers  of  whom  I  have  already 
spoken.  On  this  account  the  whole  world  was  the  more  asto- 
nished when  Clement  XIV.,  immediately  on  his  accession  to 
the  government,  dispensed  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  for  their 
missions  in  distant  regions  of  the  earth,  entirely  new  and  most 
extensively  indulgent  privileges,  and  some  weeks  later,  on  the 
15th  of  July  1769,  wrote  to  the  King  of  France  that  it  was 
quite  impossible  for  him  to  overthrow,  or  to  be  too  hard  upon, 
such  a  praiseworthy  institution  as  the  Sons  of  Loyola,  which 
had  been  confirmed  by  nineteen  of  his  predecessors.  People 
now  asked  themselves,  could  they  be  so  remarkably  deceived  in 


Jesuit  Order  distinctly  proved.  In  all  this,  however,  there  was  not  a  word 
of  truth,  for  Giovanni  was  the  son  of  a  good  Catholic  physician,  and  was 
born  on  the  31st  October  1705,  at  San  Arcangelo,  near  Rimini.  OriginaUy 
destined  to  the  study  of  medicine,  he  made  no  inconsiderable  progress  in  the 
sciences.  On  the  death  of  his  father,  however,  he,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
entered  into  the  Franciscan  Minoriten  Order,  and  devoted  himself  with 
much  zeal  to  the  study  of  theology.  Latterly  he  attracted  the  notice  of  the 
keenly-observant  Pope  Benedict  XIV.,  who  entrusted  him  with  the  im- 
portant post  of  a  Consultant  of  the  Inquisition.  The  successor  of  Benedict, 
however,  Clement  XIII.,  raised  him,  in  the  year  1759,  to  the  digmty  of  a 
Cardinal,  and  from  this  time  forth,  up  to  the  period  of  the  Jesuit  comphca- 
tions,  took  counsel  with  him  in  all  important  State  affairs. 


n. 


13 


194 


mSTORY   OF    THE   JESUITS, 


ABOLITION   OF   THE    ORDER. 


195 


Ganganelli,  or  had  the  latter  been  already  tamed  and  brought  over 
by  the  cunning  Loyolites  to  favour  their  cause  ?     No,  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other,  but  the  now  Pope  wished  to  secure  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  in  order  that  he  might  not  be  impeded  from 
carrying  out  his  intentions  through  cabals,  stratagems,  and  deeds 
of  violence.     He  did  not  wish  to  run  counter  at  the  beginning 
to  the  College  of  Cardinals,  of  which  he  anticipated    nothing 
good  from  its  friendliness  to  the  Jesuits,  in  order  that  he  might 
set  to  work  the  less  undisturbed  with  his  plans,  and  be  able  to 
succeed  in  them.     On  this  account  he  put  his  trust  in  none,  not 
even  in  those  by  whom   he  was  immediately  surrounded,  and  he 
did  not  even  nominate  a  Cardinal  secretary  of  state,  that  is,  a 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.     He  rather,  on  the  contrary,  preferred 
to  treat  directly  himself  with  the   foreign  Powers,  and  all  the 
correspondence  with  the  Kings  of  Portugal,  Spain,  France,  and 
Naples,  as  well  as  with  their  ministers,  such  as  Pombal,  Aranda, 
Choiseul,   Du  Tillot,  &c.,  passed  through  his  own  hands.     So 
surely  did  the  new  Pope  understand  how  to  shroud  his  true 
views  in  the   cloud  of  secrecy ;    and  much,  in    some   political 
circles,  as  people  were  puzzled,  his  transactions  were,  at  least, 
carried  on  in  such  a  way  that  he  attempted  to  place  himself  on 
a  good  footing  with  the  Royal   Courts  so  deeply   insulted  by 
the    proceedings    of  his    predecessor — endeavouring   not    only 
to  allow  the  split  which  had  already  occurred  between  them  and 
Rome  to   extend   no   further,  but  altogether  to  do  away  with 
the  disagreement  by  adopting  conciliatory  steps.     He  at  once 
revoked    the    Monitorium    issued    by    Clement  XIII.    against 
the  Duke  of  Parma,  and  fornally  freed  this  Prince  from  excom- 
munication.    Thereupon  he   begged  the  King   of  Portugal  to 
keep  again,  as  formely,  an  ambassador  in  Rome,  and  at  once 
sent  on  his  part  a  Nuncius  as  his  representative  at  Lisbon.     He 
did  precisely  the  same  thing  with  the  Court  of  Spain,  and  here, 
also,  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  met  half  way.     The  Govern- 
ments of  Naples,  Venice,  and  Tuscany  conducted    themselves 
rather  differently,  as  they  did  away  with  a  number  of  cloisters, 
and,  of  their  own  accord,  instituted  numerous  reforming  innova- 
tions ;    but,  instead    of   resenting   this    with   fire   and   sword, 
Clement  XIV.  remained  quiet,  even  with  the  danger  of  being 
blamed     by    many   for    his    inaction,    by    some    for    secretly 
favouring  these  innovations.     In  short,  he  clearly  wished  to  re- 


establish peace,  and  displayed  by  his  conciliatory  acts  a  mode- 
ration and  benevolence  which  had  not  for  centuries  been  shown 
by  the  See  of  Rome.     One  stone  of  offence  he  could  not,  how- 
ever, remove,  with   all  his  complaisance,  namely,  the  Jesuitical 
scandal,  and  all  the  Bourbon  Courts  intimated  to  him  unani- 
mously, through  their  ambassadors,  that  no  formal  reconciliation 
could  take  place,  and  no  restitution  of  the  territories  of  Bene- 
vent,  Ponte   Corvo,   Avignon,    and    Venessain,   be    made,   no 
Peter's  Pence,  and  no  contributions  and  other  monevs  sent  to 
Rome,  unless  the  Society  of  Jesus  were  formally  expelled  from 
the  Roman  Curie.     In  vain  did  the  Holy  Father,  by  Cardinals 
Bernis  and  Orsini,  and  by  the  Abbe  Azparu,  who  represented 
the  French,  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  Courts,  beg  that  he  might 
have  time  for  consideration,  "  as  he  could  not  suppress  such   a 
celebrated  Order  without  having  reasons  which  would  justify  him 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  particularly  in  those  of  God."     In 
vain  did  he  defer  the  affair  for  three  full  years,  in  the  hope  of  tiring 
out  the  Bourbon  Courts  by  temporising;  in  vain,  finally,  did  he 
expect  these  latter  to  be  satisfied  with  certain  reforms  which  he 
promised  to  make  in  the  Jesuitical  establishment,  and,  in  fact,  the 
beginning  of  which  was  the  closure,  between  the  years  1770  and 
1772,  of  several  of  the  seminaries  in  Rome,  Frascati,  and  Bologna. 
The  Bourbon  Courts,  in  short,  which  now  included  that  of  the 
piously- bigoted    Maria   Theresa   of   Austria,    categorically    re- 
quired the  complete  abolition  of  the  Order,*  and,  consequently, 
the  Pope  was  compelled,  for  good  or  evil,  to  accommodate  him- 
self to  this  step.     [  said  for  good  or  evil,  and  did  this  on  good 
grounds.     Although  Clement  XIV..  as  long  as  he  was  Cardinal, 
strenuously  opposed  Jesuit  attacks;  although  he  might  have  been 
completely   convinced   as    to    the   injurious    tenor    of    Jesuit 
morality    and    teaching;     although    the    sons    of   Loyola   un- 
reservedly placed  obedience  to  their   General  far  higher  than 
that  to  the  Holy  See ;  although,  on  these  grounds,  they  often 
denied  their  services  to  the  latter,  and,  indeed,  openly  opposed 
it ;   although,  lastly,  the  whole  of  the  remaining  Orders,  as  well 
as  most  of  the  secular  clergy,  lived  at  enmity  with  the  Loyohtes, 
and  longed  for  nothing  better  than  to  be  released  from  their 

# 

*  The  first  time  this  occurred  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1769 ;  it 
was  repeated  in  July  1769,  again  in  the  summer  of  1770,  and,  lastly,  in 
March  1772.  { 

13  • 


196 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


arrogance ;  although  all  this  was  the  case,  it  must  also  be 
admitted,  on  the  other  side,  that  no  institution  had  been  of  so 
much  use  to  the  Papacy  as  that  of  the  Loyolites,  as  it  was  they 
alone  who,  at  the  time  of  the  reforming  commotion  against  the 
supremacy  of  Rome,  had  saved  the  greater  part  of  the  Catholic 
dominions,  and  in  later  times  had  constituted  themselves  the 
champions  for  the  Papal  sublime  rights  against  the  pretensions 
of  secular  monarchs.  Besides,  could  it  be  concealed  that  the 
Pope  who  ventured  to  call  the  Order  of  Jesus  into  ques- 
tion undertook  an  act  of  far  greater  daring  than  a  warrior  who 
placed  his  cannon  against  them  in  the  field  of  battle  ?  while, 
too,  every  representative  of  Christ  on  earth  who  had  contem- 
plated anything  of  the  kind  before — I  call  to  remembrance 
among  the  Popes,  Sixtus  V.,  Clement  VIII.,  and  Innocent  XIII. 
—  had  been  quickly  removed  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Only 
dire  necessity  could  have  induced  Clement  XIV.  to  fulfil  the 
wishes  of  the  monarchs,  and  thus  he  at  length  issued  the 
Brief  that  decreed  the  abolition  of  the  Jesuit  Order. 

Though  bearing  date  the  21st  of  July  1773,  it  was  not 
at  that  time  made  public.  The  Pope,  first  of  all,  wished  that 
its  contents  might  be  proved  to  be  correct,  and  on  that  account 
nominated  a  Commission  or  Congregation,  consisting  of  Cardinals 
Corsini,  Marefoschi,  Caraffa,  Zelada,  and  Casoli,  of  the  Prelates 
Macedonio  and  Albani,  and,  lastly,  of  two  celebrated  theolo- 
gians. Brother  Mamachi,  a  Dominican,  and  Brother  Christopher 
de  Monferrate,  a  Franciscan.  These  nine  assembled  daily  with 
His  Holiness,  and,  with  him  went  over  the  contents  of  the 
Brief  word  by  word ;  each  of  them,  however,  was  solemnly 
pledged  not  to  divulge  a  single  syllable  as  to  their  transactions, 
and  thus,  in  fact,  no  one  knew  what  was  going  on.  On  the  16tli 
of  August  the  consultation  was  brought  to  a  conclusion,  and  the 
Pope  then  subscribed  the  document,  which,  from  the  words  with 
which  it  began,  received  the  title  Dominus  ac  Redemptor 
nuster.  It  was  an  act  of  great  importance,  as  the  Pope  thereby 
signed  the  death-warrant  of  an  Order  which,  shortly  before,  from 
its  power,  bad  been  in  a  position  to  shake  the  whole  world,  and 
he  thereby,  too,  sealed  his  own  fate.  He,  also,  had  a  clear  pre- 
sentiment of  this,  as  he  exclaimed  while  signing,  **  I  hereby 
attest  the  proximity  of  my  death."  But,  nevertheless,  his  hand 
did  not  tremble,  the  appearance  of  his  signature  being  as  firm 


ABOLITION   OF   THE   ORDEB. 


197 


and  determined  as  ever,  and  it  was  apparent  that  he  had  acted 
with  the  most  complete  and  well-considered  determination.* 

•  As  characteristic  of  this  Brief,  I  will  here  extract  a  few  of  the  most 
important  passages  of  the  same  : — 

'♦  §  17 Nevertheless   one  perceives,  from  the  contents  and 

expressions  of  these  apostolical  enactments,  that  in  this  Society,  imme- 
diately on  its  institution,  various  seeds  of  discord  and  jealousy  germinated, 
not  only  in  its  interior  economy,  but  also  in  regard  to  other  regular  Orders, 
the  secular  priesthood,  the  academies,  universities,  and  public  schools,  and 
even  against  the  princes  in  whose  States  they  had  been  received,  and  that 
contentions  soon  sprang  up  in  respect  to  the  quality  and  nature  of  the 
vows,  the  time  of  admission  to  the  same,  the  power  of  expelling  members, 
the  admission  of  these  latter  to  the  holy  functions  without  the  priestly 
office,  and  the  solemn  vows,  according  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  and  of  Pope  Pius  V. ;  then,  again,  also,  in  respect  to  the 
unlimited  power  with  which  the  General  of  this  Order  was  endowed,  as  to 
dogmas,  schools,  freedoms,  and  privileges,  which  the  bishops,  and  other 
persons  holding  ecclesiastical  and  secular  offices,  judged  to  be  antagonistic  to 
their  jurisdiction  and  prerogatives.  Finally,  there  were  never  wanting 
accusations  of  the  greatest  consequence  which  were  made  against  members 
of  this  Society,  especially  that  such,  from  their  audacious,  vehement, 
and  persecuting  zeal  were  continually  disturbing  the  peace  and  quiet  of 
Christendom." 

"  §  21.  .  .  .  We  have  remarked,  to  our  deep  regret,  that  our  admoni- 
tions to  them  to  serve  God,  and  not  to  mix  themselves  up  with  other 
matters,  especially  secular  and  political,  as  well  as  many  other  practical 
measures,  have  been  almost  powerless  and  of  no  effect,  with  the  view  of 
dispersing  and  extinguishing  the  very  many  disturbances,  accusations,  and 
complaints  against  this  frequently-mentioned  Society,  and  that  numbers  of 
our  predecessors  in  vain  gave  themselves  much  trouble  on  this  account 
in  re-establishing  the  desired  peace  in  the  Church,  namely.  Popes 
Urban  VII.,  Clement  IX.,  Clement  X.,  Clement  XI.,  Clement  XII.,  Alex- 
ander VII.,  Alexander  VIII.,  Innocent  X.,  Innocent  XI.,  Innocent  XII., 
Innocent  XIII.,  and  Benedict  XIV.  Our  predecessors  had  to  undergo  much 
vexation  on  that  account ;  indeed,  Pope  Innocent  XI.,  driven  by  necessity, 
went  so  far  as  to  forbid  the  Society  to  receive  and  invest  novices.  Further, 
Innocent  XIII.  was  compelled  to  threaten  them  with  the  same  punishment, 
and  Benedict  XIV.  closed  the  visitation  of  the  inspection  of  the  houses  and 
colleges  in  the  dominions  of  our  well-beloved  son  in  Christ,  the  most 
faithful  King  of  Portugal  and  Algarvien.  Lastly,  the  Holy  See  has 
received  no  consolation,  no  assistance,  from  the  Society,  and  no  advantage 
to  Christendom  from  the  Apostolical  Brief,  which  was  rather  extorted  than 
obtained  from  our  predecessor  Clement  XIII.,  of  holy  memory — a  Brief  in 
which  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  much  extolled  and  freshly  constituted." 

"  §  23.  .  .  .  After  so  many  and  violent  storms,  all  well-disposed  people 
hoped  to  see  once  more  the  much  wished-f  or  day  which  should  bring  peace 
and  quiet.  There  occurred,  however,  only  still  more  vehement  and 
dangerous  outbreaks  as  long  as  this  Clement  XIII.  sat  upon  the  Chair  of 
St.  Peter,  as  stronger  complaints  and  cries  were  raised,  and  even  here  and 
there  the  most  dangerous  revolts,  rebellions,  and  scandals  broke  out ;  the 
more,  then,  was  the  bond  of  Christian  love  snapped  and,  indeed,  torn,  and 
the  hearts  of  the  faithful  incited  to  party  spirit,  hatred,  and  enmity  ;  and  it 
lastly  went  so  far  that  even  those  who  inherited  from  their  forefathers 
piety  and  magnanimity  towards  the  generally  esteemed  Society,  and 
prominently  our  beloved  sons  in  Christ,  the  Kings  of  Spain,  France,  Portu- 
gal, and  the  Two  Sicilies,  saw  themselves  constrained  to  banish  and  expel 
the  members  of  the  Order  out  of  their  kingdoms,  because  they  looked  upon 
this  as  a  necessary  measure  in  order  to  prevent  Christ  being  seized  and  torn 
out  of  the  lap  of  the  Holy  Mother  Church." 

"  §  25.  .  .  .In  consideration  that  the  Society  mentioned  no  longer 
produces  rich  fruit,  and  fails  to  be  of  any  more  use  in  the  way  for  which  it 


198 


HISTOBY  OF  THK  JESUITS. 


ABOLITION  OF  THE  OBDEB. 


199 


i 


As  soon  as  the  Brief  of  Abolition  was  complete,  its  accom- 
plishment was  resolved  on,  and,  indeed,  this  occurred  on  the 
night  of  the  said  16th  of  August  at  half-past  1  o'clock.  Pre- 
cisely at  that  hour  the  whole  of  the  Corsican  Guards  advanced 
and  occupied  the  gates  of  all  the  Jesuit  colleges  and  houses  in 
Rome,  so  that  no  one  could  pass  in  or  out.  A  few  minutes  after 
the  Papal  commissaries,  followed  by  the  whole  corps  of  con- 
stables or  city  watchmen,  with  a  prelate  and  a  notary,  pene- 
trated into  the  houses,  and  immediately  assembled  all  that  were 
present  and  read  to  them  the  act  dissolving  their  Order.  They 
were  thereupon  allowed  three  days  for  consideration  whether 
they  would  continue  to  live  in  the  same  houses,  under  the  super- 
vision of  an  ordinary  priest,  without  conducting  any  religious 
worship,  or  whether  they  would  rather  completely  retire  into  the 
world  and  become,  as  may  be  said,  secularised.  In  each  case 
they  would  receive  a  suitable  sum,  in  order  to  live  in  future ; 
and  those  who  contemplated  returning  to  their  relatives  and  lead- 
ing a  family  life,  were,  in  addition,  promised  a  proper  travelling 
allowance.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whole  of  the  Fathers  must 
without  delay  leave  oflf  the  costume  of  their  Order,  with  which 
view  secular  clothing,  which  had  been  already  prepared,  was 
given  to  them.  In  this  manner  were  the  sons  of  Loyola  present 
in  Rome  treated.  As  regards  their  General,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  often-mentioned  Lorenzo  Ricci,  a  slight  difference  was  made. 
In  the  case  of  this  individual,  who,  with  his  assistants,  lived  in  the 
charming  profess-house  Al  Jesu,  in  Rome,  an  especially  strong 
guard  was  placed  before  the  door,  and  then  his  solemn  oath  was 
taken  that  he  would  deliver  over  into  the  hands  of  the  Papal  officials 
the  whole  of  his  possessions,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Order.  There- 
upon, all  the  rooms,  and  other  places,  the  profess-houses  as  well 
as  the  remaining  Jesuit  houses  in  Rome,  were  most  carefully 
searched,   the   archives,   chests,  and  treasuries  sealed,  and  all 

was  instituted ;  indeed,  as  it  is  scarcely  possible,  as  long  as  it  exists,  to 
re-establish  true  and  durable  peace  in  the  Church  :  from  these  weighty 
motives,  on  mature  consideration,  we,  in  the  plenitude  of  Apostolic  power, 
abolish  the  said  Society,  suppress  it,  and  dissolve  it,  and  do  away  with  and 
abolish  all  and  every  one  of  their  offices,  services,  and  administrations, 
their  houses,  schools,  colleges,  hospitals,  and  all  their  plans  for  assembling, 
in  whatever  kingdom  they  may  be  situated,  or  in  whatever  province  and 
dominion.  We  likewise  abolish  and  do  away  with  for  ever  their  statutes, 
habits  and  customs,  decrees  and  constitutions,  even  when  sealed  by  oath  or 
Apostolical  confirmation  ;  so  that  from  this  day  henceforth  the  Society  of 
Jesus  no  longer  exists." 


ingress  to  them  strictly  watched  by  double  sentries.  His  assist- 
ants were  also  removed  from  the  profess-house  to  other  localities, 
where  they  were  separately  confined  in  order  the  more  effec- 
tually to  be  able  to  prevent  all  embezzlements.  But  it  soon 
appeared  that  even  these  measures  were  not  sufficiently  stringent, 
as,  on  the  night  of  the  1 8th  of  August,  a  thick  smoke  was 
suddenly  perceived  to  issue  from  the  chimneys  of  the  German 
and  Hungarian  Colleges,  and  on  closer  investigation  it  was 
found  that  this  was  occasioned  by  papers  which  the  Jesuits  had 
committed  in  masses  to  the  flames.  In  consequence  of  this. 
Fathers  Stefan ucci,  Favre,  Benincosa,  and  Coltraro,  with  some 
other  participators,  were  conducted  to  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
and  strictly  questioned  as  to  what  had  been  the  contents  of 
the  burnt  papers.  They,  however,  confessed  nothing  ;  as  much, 
equally,  as  could  be  got  out  of  their  General  and  his  assistants, 
from  whom  it  was  desired  to  ascertain  where  the  ready-money 
and  capital,  which  must  certainly  have  been  in  the  profess- 
houses,  as  well  as  in  the  colleges,  had  flown.  Indeed,  they 
admitted  nothing  at  all ;  but  at  the  same  time  made  themselves 
appear  to  be  as  innocent  and  stupid  as  if  they  were  unable  to 
count  five.  The  General  Ricci  had  even  the  foolish  assurance 
to  affirm  that  his  Order  had  never  possessed  ready-money  or 
bonds ;  that  such  a  supposition,  indeed,  was  an  idle  invention  of 
fanciful  or  evil-disposed  persons,  and  that  he  could  not  imagine 
how  people  of  any  sense  should  not  be  ashamed  even  to  suggest 
such  a  fable. 

Precisely  the  same  affirmation  was  made  by  his  secretary 
Comoli,  as  well  as  by  his  assistants  John  de  Gusman  of  Por- 
tugal, Ignatius  Romberg  of  Germany,  Carl  Koryki  of  France, 
Francis  Montes  of  Spain,  and  Antony  Gongo  of  Italy,  and,  truly, 
with  such  a  unanimity  that  it  was  at  once  apparent  that  this 
little  argument  had  been  learnt  by  heart.  This  was,  indeed, 
too  much  of  an  open  bravado  for  the  Judge,  named  Andreatti, 
charged  with  the  investigation,  and  he  therefore  gave  orders,  on 
the  3rd  September,  that  the  General,  together  with  his  secretary 
aud  assistants,  should  at  once  be  conveyed  to  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angelo,  in  the  hope  that  they  would  be  made  more  pliable  by 
strict  confinement.  This  removal  was  immediately  effected,  and 
those  arrested  were  closely  confined  ;  but  "there  was  no  question, 
however,  of  any  of  them  becoming  more  compliant,  and  the 


200 


HI8T0BY  OP  THE   JE8triTS. 


/ 


General  Kicci,  in  particular,  kept  to  his  false  declaration  up  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  on  the  24th  of  November  1775,  although 
it  was  then  pretty  well  proved  that  the  money  of  the  Jesuits 
had  heen  for  several  years,  as  a  precautionary  measure,  most 
carefully  concealed  and  taken  care  of  by  some  of  the  Order, 
especially  those  in  high  stations,  including  a  couple  of  Car- 
dinals. One  feels  overcome  by  a  peculiar  sensation  when  a 
mighty  one  of  the  earth,  whose  glory  had  at  one  time  filled  the 
world,  comes  to  a  miserable  end  in  reduced  circumstances  ;  and 
this  feeling,  also,  overtakes  us  when  we  contemplate  the  extinction 
of  the  Jesuit  Order.  It  had  become  gigantic  during  the  short 
period  of  its  existence,  more  gigantic  than  any  other  institution 
ever  hitherto  founded  by  mankind,  as  it  numbered  no  fewer  than 
22,792  consecrated  members,  without  taking  into  account  the 
many  associates,  novices,  and  lay  brothers.  Their  possessions, 
for  ten  years,  extended  over  the  whole  world,  and  its  Generals,* 
who  directed  the  entire  arrangements  from  their  profess- house 
palace  in  Rome,  commanded  such  riches  and  dominions  f  as  it 

•  It  may  interest  the  reader  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  names  of  all 
the  Jesuit  Grenerals,  and  I  therefore  append  the  following  list  of  them : — 

,    _         .       ^  Elected. 

1.  Ignatius  Loyola,  Spaniard 1541 

2.  Jacob  Lainez,  Spaniard 1558 

3.  Francisco  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia,  Spaniard        .    1568 

4.  Everhard  Mercurien,  Belgian         ....     1573 
6.  Claudio  Aquaviva,  Italian 1581 

6.  Mucins  Vitelleschi,  Italian 1615 

7.  Vincenti  Caraffa,  Italian 1646 

8.  Francesco  Piccolomini,  Italian        ....  1649 

9.  Alessandro  Gothofredi,  Italian        ....  1652 

10.  Godwin  Nickel,  German 1662 

11.  Johan  Paul  Oliva,  Italian 1664 

12.  Carl  de  Koyelle,  Belgian 1682 

13.  Thyrius  Gonzalez,  Spaniard 1697 

14.  Maria  Angelo  Tamburini,  Italian   .        .        .        .1706 

15.  Franz  Ketz,  German 1730 

16.  Ignatius  Visconti,  Italian 1751 

17.  Aloys  Centurioni,  Italian 1766 

18.  Laurentio  Kicci,  Italian 1758 

t  As  regards  the  Dominion,  it  was  divided  into  five  Assistances  :— 

(1.)  The  Italian,  with  the  provinces  of  Rome,  Sicily,  Naples,  Milan, 

and  Venice. 
(2.)  The  Portuguese,  with  the  provinces  of  Portugal,  Goa,  Malabar, 

and  Japan  (including    Siam,  Tonquin,   and  Cochin    China), 

China,  Brazil,  and  Maramnon. 
(3.)  The   Spanish,  with  the  provinces  of    Toledo,  Castillo,  Arragon, 

Bestia,  Sardinia,  Peru,  Chüi,  Terra  Firma,  Mexico,  Philippines, 

Paraguay,  Quito. 

(4.)  The  French,  with  the  provinces  of  the  Isle  of  France,  Aquitania, 
Lyons,  Toulouse,  Champagne. 


mmmmm 


ABOLITION   OF   THE    ORDER. 


201 


would  not  be  easy  to  find  any  ruler  able  to  boast  of.  But 
as  regards  these  two  things,  I  mean  great  riches  and  great 
dominions,  the  Jesuits  were  proud  even  to  madness,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  avaricious  to  the  extent  of  meanness.  Indeed,  vet 
more — while  possessing  much,  they  wished  to  acquire  all,  and, 
in  order  to  do  this,  they  did  not  refrain  from  the  most  frightful 
crimes,  even  including  the  murder  of  reigning  sovereigns. 

Was  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  by  degrees  they  at  length  found 
enemies  both  in  God  and  men,  or  that  the  whole  of  Christendom 
longed  to  be  rid  of  them  ?  Thus  it  happened  that  nowhere 
throughout  Europe,  and  not  even  in  Rome  itself,  where  their 
head-quarters  were,  was  a  hand  or  foot  raised  for  them  on 
their  expulsion  and  abolition;  and  they  who  in  their  self-inflicted 
fall  fancied  to  the  last  moment  that  they  were  almost  demi-gods, 
as  to  power,  now  blushed  to  confess  that  the  first  begging 
monk  to  be  met  with  enjoyed  as  much  consideration  as  them- 
selves. 

Verily,  for  100  or  150  years  it  would  have  occasioned,  at 
least  in  Rome,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  a  small  revolt  if  force  had 
been  exercised,  as  in  this  case,  against  them  ;  but  now  all  had 
become  chauged,  and  the  commandant  of  the  Corsican  Guard, 
who  had  caused  his  troops  to  have  their  weapons  carefully  loaded 
before  surrounding  the  Jesuit  houses,  must  have  smiliugly  con- 
fessed to  himself  that  he  had  looked  upon  the  enemy  as  much 
more  formidable  than  he  proved  to  be.  In  spite  of  all  this,  how- 
ever, people  would  be  entirely  deceived  were  they  to  believe  that  the 
sons  of  Loyola  had  quietly  submitted  and  resigned  themselves  to 
their  fate,  like  fallen  pigeons,  or  that  while  they  had  been  struck 
on  the  right  cheek,  according  to  Christian  precept,  they  had 
offered  the  left  also.  That  would  have  been  equivalent  to  con- 
ceiving that  from  wolves  they  had  suddenly  become  sheep,  and 
such  a  speedy  change  of  character  could  not  so  easily  be  brought 
about.  And,  in  fact,  such  was  not  the  case  in  the  present  in- 
stance, for  the  Jesuits  did  their  utmost  in  order  to  parry  the 
hard  blow  that  had  been  dealt  them,  and  tried  eventually  to  repair 

(5.)  The  German,  with  the  provinces  of  Upper  Germany,  Lower 
Germany,  Upper  Rhine,  Austria,  Bohemia,  Netherlands,  Flan- 
ders, Poland,  Lithuania,  and  England. 

An  enormous  dominion  certainly,  especially  when  it  is  considered  that  in  each 
one  of  the  provinces  there  never  existed  less  than  twenty  colleges  and  other 
Jesuit  houses. 


^i 


aiSTOB?  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


AeOLIIIOM   OF   THE   OBDEß. 


203 


it ;  they  played  the  part  of  the  warrior  who,  when  he  is  attacked, 
draws  his  sword  and  deals  blows  right  and  left  of  him.  /fiut 
much  more  had  they  resort  to  their  old  accustomed  weapons  of 
cunning  and  secret  mischief,  combined  with  calumniation,  lies, 
and  hypocrisy,  in  order  to  undermine  the  position  of  the  enemy 
gradually,  and  from  behind  their  backa^  Indeed,  they  did  not 
even  disdain  the  use  of  other  yet  morfe  effectual  means,  whereby 
they  might  be  able  to  overcome  a  powerful  enemy  more  quickly 
and  surely ;  and  what  is  to  be  understood  by  these  other 
means  the  reader,  if  he  has  not  already  divined,  will  very 
shortly  be  made  acquainted  with.  Before  everything  they 
desired  to  make  Clement  XIV.  suffer  for  his  decree  of 
abolition  ;  as,  firstly,  they  could  not  hope  to  be  re-established 
so  long  as  he  reigned,  and  also  the  world  must  be  convinced 
that  the  crime  of  laying  hands  upon  the  Jesuit  Order  could 
be  expiated  by  no  less  a  punishment  from  Heaven  than  that  of 
instant  death,  'therefore  the  Pope  was  declared,  first  of  all, 
to  be  a  sacrilegious  heretic,  a  blasphemer,  and  as  having  attained 
the  Curie  by  bribery,  and  thereupon  reports  were  spread  abroad 
that  each  of  the  four  monarchs  who  had  demanded  the  abolition 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  more  especially  Clement  XIV.,  who 
had  in  such  a  nefarious  way  given  his  acquiescence  to  this 
demand,  would  in  the  shortest  time  be  called  out  of  this  world 
by  sudden  death. //f 

These  reports  were  repeated,  from  time  to  time,  in  various 
ways,  and  throughout  the  whole  of  Rome  it  was  whispered 
about  that  the  Pope  would  not  be  in  a  position  to  open 
the  next  year  of  jubilee.  There  was  once  even  written  over- 
night, on  the  gates  of  the  Vatican,  the  capital  letters 
P.  S.  S.  v.,  and  when,  on  the  following  day,  there  was  a 
question  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  secret,  the  interpretation  of 
it  was  given  thus:  "  Freest  o  sara  sede  vacante,'  "Soon  will 
the  Holy  See  be  vacant."  But  this  was  still  not  enough,  for,  as 
the  letters  had  been  obliterated  in  all  haste,  there  appeared  a 
second  time,  in  spite  of  sentinels,  the  same,  though,  it  is  true, 
with  a  slight  alteration,  as  I.  S.  S.  S.  V.,  that  is  :  "  In  Settembre 
sara  sede  vacante,'^  The  death  of  the  Pope  was  thus  now  foretold  at 
a  fixed  time,  and  it  could  be  no  longer  doubted  that  a  malicious 
intention  lay  at  the  bottom  of  this.  Consequently,  the  strictest 
investigation  was  instituted,  and  it  was  discovered  that  a  fanatical 


female  inhabitant  of  the  neighbouring  cloister  of  nuns,  of  the 
name  of  Bemerdina  Beruzzi,  was  more  or  less  implicated  in  the 
matter.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  conviction  obtained  that  this 
scheme  was  not  a  creation  of  her  own  brain,  but  that  she  had 
only  served  as  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  a  hidden  party, 
namely,  that  of  the  fallen  Jesuits.  Several  of  them  who  had 
made  themselves  especially  suspected  were  thereupon  arrested; 
the  reports  and  prophesies  of  the  near  death  of  the  Pope  were, 
however,  not  discontinued  on  this  account,  they  rather,  indeed, 
the  more  increased,  and  permeated  throughout  the  whole  of 
Italy,  Germany,  and  all  the  Christian  States  of  the  world.  Thus, 
at  length,  there  was  with  many,  of  necessity,  a  conviction  that  an 
event  of  great  importance  was  to  take  place  in  the  approaching 
September,  and  even  the  most  enlightened  men  could  not  prevent 
themselves  from  being  haunted  from  time  to  time  by  this  belief. 
Jjr  Yet  still  there  was  really  no  ground  for  this  idea,  as  Clement  XIV. 
was  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  most  perfect  health  at  the  time  he 
signed  the  Bull  Dominus  ac  Redemptor  noster.  Besides,  could 
it  be  supposed  that  his  powerful  frame,  as  well  as  his  lively  and 
joyous  spirits,  at  all  indicated,  in  the  least  degree,  that  he  might 
be  suddenly  overtaken  with  a  mortal  illness  ?  Further,  in  spite 
of  being  possessed  of  the  best  of  appetites,  he  lived  most 
moderately,  and  his  whole  appearance  was  still  so  youthful  that 
he  might  have  passed  for  a  man  of  some  fifty  years  of  age,  instead 
of  one  of  sixty-nine. 

It  happened  that  in  the  Passion  Week  of  1774,  after  having 
partaken  of  a  frugal  but  heartily-enjoyed  dinner,  he  became 
aware  of  an  internal  commotion,  accompanied  by  a  feeling  of 
great  cold.  From  this  moment  he  lost  his  distinct  and  clear 
voice,  and  was  overtaken  by  a  description  of  catarrh  coupled  with 
great  hoarseness.  His  mouth  and  throat  became  inflamed,  and 
he  experienced  a  feeling  of  great  burning  in  the  neck.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  affected  with  nausea  and  uneasiness,  and  in 
order  to  be  able  to  breathe  he  found  it  necessary  to  keep  his 
mouth  wide  open.  Thereupon  followed  vomiting  from  time  to 
time,  with  stabbing  pains  in  the  abdomen.  His  stomach  also 
became  swollen,  and  his  hair  fell  out,  the  nails  of  his  fingers, 
even,  no  longer  cleaved  to  the  flesh,  and  began  to  drop  off;  and 
at  the  same  time  he  experienced  such  a  weakness  in  his  feet  that 
he  was  constantly  compelled  to  sit  down  after  the  shortest  walk. 


i>  t 


If 


I 


204 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


In  a  word,  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  his  whole  interior  was  becoming 
dissolved,  and,  in  consequence,  such  an  absolute  prostration  set 
in  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  he  looked  more  like  a 
shadow  than  a  man. 

What  kind  of  exceptional  illness  was  this,  then,  that  had  so 
suddenly  overtaken  a  previously  healthy  man  ?  He  did  not  for 
au  instant  conceal  from  himself  what  was  the  matter  with 
him,  but  at  once  freely  expressed  his  conviction  to  his  body- 
surgeon,  Dr.  Matteo,  that  he  had  been  poisoned,  and  the  latter 
entirely  concurred  with  him  in  this  opinion,  unfortunately  the 
antidotes  which  were  employed  for  the  poor  patient  had  not  the 
desired  effect,  as  it  seemed  apparent  that  it  was  not  a  question  of 
mineral  but  of  vegetable  poison,  which  had  direclly  penetrated 
into  the  vascular  system,  and  thus  the  wasting  of  the  whole 
urgnnism  progressed  unimpeded,  (^n  the  10th  September  a 
fainting  fit  occurred,  and  on  coming  round  he  felt  himself  so 
weak  that  he  believed  he  could  not  survive  another  dav.  Still, 
his  strong  constitution  conquered  on  this  occasion.  A  week 
later,  however,  it  seemed  that  his  abdomen  had  become  com- 
pletely inflamed,  as  if  on  fire,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  seized 
with  a  most  violent  fever.  The  pains  also  increased  so  fright- 
fully that  it  was  impossible  to  see  him  without  feeling  the 
greatest  pity.  At  length,  on  the  22nd  of  September  1774,  death 
put  an  end  to  his  horrible  condition,  and  his  much-tried  spirit 
took  its  departure  at  13  o'clock  according  to  Italian  time,  cor- 
responding to  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  German  time. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  Rome  the  unanimous  opinion  was 
that  the  Pope  had  died  from  poison,  and,  indeed,  from  the  so- 
called  "  aquetta,"  which  is  prepared  in  Apulia  and  Calabria,  as 
this  does  not  at  once  prove  fatal,  but,  according  to  the  dose,  it 
nay  be  predicted  beforehand  at  what  time  the  person  poisoned 
must  die.  Even,  indeed,  did  anyone  have  a  doubt  whether 
poison  had  been  the  cause  of  death,  that  doubt  must  have  been  at 
once  resolved  by  the  appearance  of  the  corpse,  when,  on  the  day 
following  the  death,  the  23rd  September,  the  process  of  em- 
balming the  body  was  commenced.  The  face  then  presented  a 
leaden  colour,  while  the  lips  and  nails  had  become  quite  black. 
Ash-coloured  stripes  showed  themselves,  too,  under  the  skin,  on 
the  arms,  sides,  thighs,  and  feet,  and  on  other  parts  of  the  body 
blue  spots  appeared,  as  if  from  coagulation  of  the  blood.     The 


ABOLITION   OF   THE    OKDER. 


205 


body  was  opened  in  order  to  remove  the  intestines,  which  was 
effected  with  considerable  difficulty,  while  the  whole  presented 
the  appearance  as  if  eaten  up  with  something  resembling  cancer. 
They  were  immediately  placed  in  an  especially  well-closed  vessel 
as  the  odour  was  most  offensive,  while  the  examination  was  pro- 
ceeded with.  Not  an  hour,  however,  had  elapsed  before  the 
vessel  burst  with  a  loud  explosion,  and  the  gases  issuing  from 
the  intestines  produced  so  frightful  a  stench  that  it  was  impos- 
sible any  longer  to  remain  in  the  chamber,  and  the  embalming 
process  had  to  be  discontinued  for  that  day. 

On  the  following  day,  the  24th,  when  they  came  again,  ir  was 
found  that  decomposition  had  made  rapid  progress,  such  as  never 
occurs  in  ordinary  cases,  but  alone  in  those  of  poisoning,  the 
face  and  hands  having  become  quite  black,  while  on  the  skin 
appeared  thick  blisters  filled  with  a  noisome  lymph,  and  when 
these  were  (;ut  or  pressed  an  odour  was  emitted  entirely  similar 
to  that  coming  from  the  intestines,  and  it  was,  indeed,  necessary 
to  avoid  coming  near  the  body  as  much  as  possible.  But  this 
was  still  not  the  least  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the  embalmment, 
as  the  skin  had  become  detached  from  almost  the  whole  body  of 
the  deceased,  as  in  the  case  of  a  putrid  carcase.  Indeed  the 
nails  came  off,  and  the  hair  remained  on  tne  pillows  on  which 
the  head  rested  Under  such  circumstances  embalmment  was,  of 
course,  quite  out  of  the  question,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
hasten  to  place  the  body  quickly  into  a  coffin  before  the  limbs 
became  entirely  separated ;  and  the  Roman  people  had,  for  this 
time,  to  forego  the  spectacle  of  the  exhibition  of  a  Papal  corpse 
in  full  Pontifical  robes. 

It  may,  then,  be  admitted  as  certain  that  Clement  XIV.  had 
died  from  poison  ;  but  the  question  was,  who  had  poisoned 
him  ?  The  people  of  Rome  quickly  gave  an  answer,  and  ex- 
claimed as  from  one  throat,  *'  This  the  Jesuits  have  done."  A 
precisely  similar  opinion  was  held  by  a  greater  part  of  the  rest 
of  the  world,  and,  while  it  was  generally  allowed  that  the  sons  of 
Loyola  had  a  remarkable  interest  in  seeing  their  deadly  enemy 
removed  from  this  world,  such  an  opinion  must  have  come 
tolerably  near  the  truth.  They — the  members,  that  is,  of  the 
extinct  Order  of  Jesus — had  perpetrated  an  act  of  revenge  ;  and 
that  it  was  not  contrary  to  their  morals  that  such  an  act  might 
be  accomplished  by  poison  or  dagger  we  have  already  sufficiently 


206 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


learned  in  detail  in  a  former  Book.  Besides,  tliey  veuliired  to 
hope,  from  the  large  party  disposed  towards  them  in  the  College 
of  Cardinals,  that  a  head  might  be  given  to  the  Church,  by 
the  next  Conclave,  entertaining  entirely  different  feelings 
towards  the  Society  of  Jesus  than  those  of  Clement  Ganganelli ; 
and,  that  such  a  hope  might  be  realised  as  soon  as  possible,  was  not 
the  murder  of  a  man  but  a  trifle  in  the  eyes  of  the  Loyolites  ? 
Let  this  be  as  it  may — let  the  poisoning  of  Pope  Clement  XIV. 
have  been  the  work  of  the  Jesuits  or  not — it  is,  in  any  case, 
certain  that  they  testified  infinite  delight  over  the  removal  of 
their  deadly  enemy,  and  they  slandered  his  memory  in  such  a 
way  as  if  he  had  been  an  outcast  from  mankind  They  called 
him  a  cheat  and  a  weak-minded  creature  at  the  same  time,  and 
published  a  number  of  pamphlets  about  him,  wherein  they 
pictured  his  frightful  tyranny  in  the  blackest  colours,  while, 
respecting  the  Abolition  Brief  (that  is,  the  Bull  Dominus  ac 
Redemptor  nosier),  they  declared  it  to  be  swarming  with 
absurdities,  lies,  and  contradictions,  and  of  no  more  value  than 
to  be  put  into  the  fire  and  burnt  to  ashes. 

They  thus  went  on  for  several  years,  without  in  the  least 
respect  relaxing  in  their  fury  and  malignant  joy,  hoping 
that  the  more  they  stormed  and  inveighed  against  him  the 
sooner  they  would  succeed  in  converting  the  whole  of  Christen- 
dom to  their  views.  When  they  saw,  however,  that  this  method 
ofproceeding  had  exactly  the  opposite  effect,  and  that  not  a  few, 
owing  to  the  foolishly  vehement  insults  of  the  Jesuits,  openly 
pointed  them  out  as  the  murderers  of  Ganganelli,  they  all  at 
once  changed  front  and  adopted  quite  different  tactics,  in  order 
to  nullify  the  abolition  which  had  been  decreed.  They  suddenly 
spoke  of  the  deceased  Clement  with  deep  regre*,  and,  amidst 
audible  sighs,  produced  a  document,  affirmed  to  be  autographic, 
containing  a  complete  abrogation  of  the  Bull  Dominus  ac 
Redemptor  noster, 

"  Scarcely,"  so  did  they  advance  in  detailed  explanation, 
"  had  the  Pope  attached  his  signature  to  the  pernicious  Brief 
than  he  was  overtaken  by  extraordinary  qualms  of  conscience, 
as  to  the  mischief  that  the  abolition  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  had  caused  throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom  ; 
whereupon  he  thought  to  re-establish  it,  as  far  as  possible, 
and   thus    came    to    the    determination,    through    an    equally 


ABOLITION   OF   THE   ORDER. 


207 


solemn  as  voluntary  revocation  respecting  the  abolished  Society, 
to  bear  testimony  to  their  righteousness,  in  order  that  they 
might  the  more  certainly  be  re-established  in  their  former 
position  by  his  successor.  He  had  thus  produced  this  renun- 
ciation, signed  by  his  own  hand,  and  given  it  over  to  the  Grand 
Penitentiary  and  Cardinal,  Boschi,  with  an  order  that  he  should 
place  it  before  the  next  Pope  ;  quite  quietly,  however,  be  it 
remarked,  in  order  that  the  Rulers. of  France,  Spain,  Portugal 
and  Naples  might  not  again  take  alarm.  Unfortunately,  the 
now  deceased  Boschi,  had  neglected  to  comply  with  this  order, 
but  a  copy  of  the  revocation  had,  at  the  same  time,  been  taken 
by  all  the  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church.  Fear,  nevertheless, 
prevented  the  document  being  brought  to  the  light  of  day,  and 
it  was  not  till  eighteen  years  after  the  death  of  Clement  XIV., 
that  this  wns  ventured  upon,  because  entirely  different  rulers 
then  occupied  the  Bourbon  thrones." 

Thus  spoke  the  Jesuits,  and  they  were  shameless  enough 
actually  to  openly  flourish  the  revocation  before  the  world. 
I  say  "  shameless  enough,'*  as  one  has  only  to  run  through  this 
document,  which  breathes  the  spirit  of  a  Hildebrand,  to  be 
certain  that  it  never  could  have  been  executed  by  Clement  XIV., 
but  that  "  it  was  a  subsequent  production  of  the  Jesuits  them- 
selves, which  had  only  been  manufactured  in  order  to  bring 
about  their  re-establishment  therewith."  It  would  be  a  mis- 
fortune to  lose  a  single  word  of  this,  as  even  the  friends  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  must  now  admit  that  the  invention  of  Clement's 
Revocation  was  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  downright  invention 
incapable  of  defence. 


t\\ 


"~n 


:»— — ^T! 


208 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE    RE-ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    ORDER. 


209 


CHAPTER  n. 

THE  RE-ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  JESUIT  ORDER  ;  OR,  THE 
NULLIFICATION  OF  THE  BULL  **  DOMINUS  AC  RE- 
DEMPTOR   NOSTER." 

On  the  16th  of  August  in  the  year  1773,  the  Bull  was  published 
by  which  Clement  XIV.  declared  the  Order  of  Jesus  to  be 
abolished,  suppressed,  and  done  away  with,  precisely  as  in  his 
time  Clement  V.  abolished  the  Order  of  the  Knights  Templars, 
Pius  V.  the  Order  of  the  Humilitants,  Urban  VIII  the  Congre- 
gation of  Convent  Brethren,  and  Innocent  X.  the  Order  of  the 
Holy  Basilius ;  and,  from  the  day  above  named,  the  Society  of 
Jesus  had  no  longer  any  legal  existence — at  least,  no  existence 
according  to  ecclesiastical  law. 

Be  it  also  well  understood  that  those  Governments  who  had 
expressly  demanded  the  abolition  of  the  said  Society  permitted 
the  publication  as  well  as  the  carrying  into  effect  of  the  Bull, 
and,  consequently,  it  was  at  once  ofiBcially  published  in  Portugal, 
Spain,  France,  Naples,  and  Parma.  Exactly  the  same  took 
place  in  Venice  and  Tuscany,  and  generally  throughout  all  Italy, 
and  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  likewise  followed  the  good  example 
without  any  special  opposition.  m)nly  in  Germany  were  there 
many  different  opinions;  and, particularly,  the  celebrated  Empress 
Maria  Theresa,  might  be  singled  out  as  the  one  who,  on  account 
of  her  extraordinary  bigotry,  resisted  with  hands  and  feet,  that 
any  injury  should  befal  the  pious  Fathers  in  her  country.  In  vain 
did  her  broad-thinking  son,  afterwards  the  Emperor  Joseph  II., 


urge  her  not  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  the  other  European 
monarchs;  in  vain,  also,  did  her  Prime  Minister,  Kaunitz, 
entreat  her — the  same  it  was  who  proved  to  her  that  she  had 
been  vilely  betrayed  by  her  Father  Confessor,  Father  Parhamer, 
as  regards  State  secrets  entrusted  to  him  in  Confession.  She 
would  not  yield  until  Pope  Clement  XIV.,  in  a  special  letter 
addressed  to  her,  as  a  true-hearted  daughter  of  the  Church, 
explained  the  necessity  for  abolishing  the  said  Order,  and  carry- 
ing into  effect  the  Abolition  Bull. yjr 

Only  then  was  the  Bull  promulgated,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus 
ceased  to  exist  in  Austria  also ;  but,  the  closing  of  the  Jesuit 
Colleges,  and  the  confiscation  of  their  goods  was  proceeded  with 
in  such    a  mild  manner  that  it  could  be  easily  seen  that  the 
Ruler  was  still  actuated  by  their  influence.     Exactly  in  the  same 
spirit  were  the  sons  of  Loyola  dealt  with  in  Bavaria,  and  here, 
as  in  Austria,  time  was  allowed  them  to  secure  their  ready- 
money  and  capital,  especially  their  movable  effects,  together  with 
their  archives  and  papers.      Facts  proved  in   this  way  that  the 
reports  in  circulation  as  to  the  riches  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
had  not  been  exaggerated  in  the   least  degree,  but  had  rather 
fallen  short  of  the  truth,  as  when  at  length  the  sons  of  Loyola 
were   proceeded    against    in    Bavaria,    it   came   out    that    the 
immovable     property    alone     of    the    College    of     Ingolstadt 
amounted  to  upwards  of  three  millions  of  gulden,  and  that  of 
Munich  even  to  much  more.     Different  other  things  were  also 
found  which  strongly  compromised  the  Order  of  Jesus,  as,  for 
example,    a   crucifix,    which,    when    it  was  kissed,   the  person 
kissing  it  was  killed  by  a  dagger  springing  out,  as  well  as  an 
executioner's  sword  with  the  remarkable  inscription.  Hoc  ferrum 
centum  et  decern  reis  (regihusi)  capita  demessuit.    But  the  most 
cruel  shock  was  experienced  by  the  discovery,  in  an  underground 
room  in  the  Munich  College,  where  there  was  a  vault  entirely 
concealed,  of  eleven  human  skeletons  hung  in  chains,  which  were 
all  dressed  in  Jesuit  clothing,  and  had  apparently  fallen  victims  to 
the  supreme  justice  of  the  Order  of  Jesus.     Naturally  enough, 
the  Electoral  Government  Commissary,  who  had  made  the  dis- 
covery, wished  to  institute  au  investigation;  but  endeavours  were 
made  in  high  places  to  hush  the  matter  up,  and  the  Commissary 
had  to  be  satisfied  with  the  declaration  of  the  Rector,  that  these 
were  eleven  brethren  who  had  lost  their  reason,  and  who,  on 

Ü.  14 


i 


210 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


account  of  their  insanity,  it  was  necessary  to  confine  in  chains. 
It  is  easy  to  see,  from  this  trifling  example,  how  infinitely  dear 
the  Order  of  Jesus  had  become  to  the  Crown  of  Bavaria,  as  it 
had  even  covered  such  notorious  things  with  a  veil  of  blind  love 
in  order  not  to  allow  the  Society  to  sink  in   public  estimation. 
Not  less  zealous  friends  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  were  some  of  the 
South  German  Prince  Priests,  while  the  Bishops  of  Eichstadt, 
Basel,  and  Augsburg,  even  gave  indications  of  wishing  to  set  at 
defiance  the  Papal  Abolition  Bull.     Matters  did  not,  however, 
proceed  so  far,  as  the  rest  cf  the  Church  Princes  of  Germany 
strongly  objected,  lest  through  a  predilection  for  the  Jesuits  a 
breach  should  occur  with  the  Papacy  ;  thus  the  Society  of  Jesus 
was  abolished  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Catholic  countries  and 
small  States  of  Germany.     I  said,  **  in  the  whole  of  the  Catholic 
countries  of  Germany,"  but  not  correctly,  as  there  was  an  excep- 
tion in  the  Catholic  Province  of  Silesia,  which  King  Frederick 
the  Great  of  Prussia  had  shortly  before    incorporated  in  his 
kingdom.     According  to  the  Peace  of  Breslau,  the  status  quo 
in  everything  relating  to  religion  was  guaranteed  by  this  King 
as  regards  Silesia,  and  he,  consequently,  believed  that  he  was 
also  necessitated  to  maintain  the  status  quo  as  afiecting   the 
Institution  of  the  Jesuits.     He  apparently,  however,  was  not  in 
the  least  disposed  to  take  the  Order  of  Jesus  under  his  protec- 
tion ;  but  he    held  by  the   sons  of  Loyola  thus  far    in  order 
that  educational  matters,  which  had  for  a  long  time  been  com- 
pletely conducted  there  by  these  Fathers,  should  not  suffer  loss. 
This  appears  from  a  letter  \.\nch  he  wrote  to  Voltaire  on  the 
subject ;   and  in  order  to  give  proof  of  this,  I  may  be  allowed  to 
quote  here  some  passages  from  the  document  mentioned,  dated 
18th  November  1777: — 

**  We  have  none,'*  writes  the  great  King,  "  who  are  capable  of 
conducting  the  classes  ;  we  had  neither  Fathers  of  the  Oratorium, 
nor  Piarists,  and  the  remainder  of  the  monks  are  sunk  in  the 
deepest  ignorance.  I  must,  therefore,  hold  by  the  Jesuits, 
otherwise  the  schools  will  fall,  and,  consequently,  I  choose  the 
first  evil.  Besides,  if  the  Order  had  to  be  abolished,  the 
University  (Breslau)  could  no  longer  be  kept  up,  and  I  should 
then  be  placed  under  the  necessity  of  allowing  my  subjects  in 
Silesia  to  study  in  Prague,  that  is,  in  an  Austrian  university, 
where  the  principles  of  Government  are  quite  difi'erent." 


THE   BE-ESTABLISHMENT    OF   THE   OEDER.  211 

Thus,  as  teachers  of  youth,  and  only  as  such,  did  Frederick 
retain  the  Jesuits;  not,  however,  as   members   of   the  Society 
of  Jesus,  which  in  his  eyes  had  ceased  to  have  any  existence. 
On  this  account,  even,  the  latter  were  compelled  to  lay  aside 
their  name  of  Jesuits,  as  well  as  their  peculiar  attire,  and  adopt 
secular  costume,  as  well  as  the  appellation  of  **  Priests  of  the 
Royal  School  Institute."     They  were  also  strictly  forbidden  to 
engage  in   any  other  pursuits  than  that  of  the  instruction  of 
youth,    and    the  "  School  Commission,'*    which  is  the  highest 
authority  in  all  matters  relating  to  education,  was  charged  to 
take  care  that  this  interdict  was  not  infringed.     Frederick  the 
Great  also  prohibited  the  sons  of  Loyola  from  receiving  novices 
or  founding  novitiates,   as  he  did  not  wish  them  to  be  further 
encouraged;    and    thus,    from   the  very  beginning,    they   were 
placed,  as  may  be  said,  at  the  side  of  the  grave.     Under  such 
altered  circumstances,  then,  the  Jesuits  continued  to  remain  in 
Silesia  ;  but  how  different  was  this  from  their  former  state  ?     It 
might,  in  truth,  be  called  a  mere  nominal  existence ;  and  even 
this  did  not  continue  very  long,  as,  in  the  year  1781,  after  the 
death  of  Frederick  the  Great,  his  successor,  Frederick  William 
II.  abolished  the  "  School  Institute,"  and  relegated  its  priests 
into  private  life,  providing  them  with   small  pensions.     In  this 
manner  was  an  end  made  also  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  in  Silesia 
in  reference  to  the  Catholic  provinces  of  Prussia,  and  it  might 
be  said,  indeed,  to  be  completely  dissolved  throughout  the  world, 
had  it  not  been  for  one  kingdom  only,  namely,  Russia.    It  is  true, 
indeed,  that  Peter  the  Great  had,  by  an  especial  imperial  law, 
already  excluded   the  Jesuits  from  his   dominions  during    all 
time,  and  this  law  was  strictly  acted  up  to  until  the  year  1772; 
but,  in  the  year  named,  by  the  partition  of  Poland,  Russia  had 
acquired  an  increase  of  territory,  as,  for  instance,  the  provinces 
of  Polocz,  Vitebsk,   Orsa,  Dunaberg,  Mochilow,  and  Mscislaw, 
in  which  the  sons  of  Loyola  possessed  a  number  of  colleges  and 
other  houses,  and  it  became  a  question  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done  with  these.     Most  of  the  Empress  Catherine  11  *s  advisers 
demanded  that  they  should  be  expelled,  and  their  goods  confis- 
cated ;   and  to  this  the  people   also  were  agreeable      The  Em- 
press lierself,    however,  with   several  of  her  confidants,  among 
whom     was,    especially,    the    minister   Count   Gregor   Czemy- 
szew,  was  of  opinion  that  if  the  law  of  Peter  the  Great  were 

14  * 


(j 


212 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


applied  to  that  country,  it  would  inflict  too  great  a  blow  upon 
the  newly-acquired  Polish  subjects,  who,  as  it  was  well  known, 
adhered  with  strong  predilection  to  the  Jesuits ;  and,  con- 
sequently, the  Czarina  resolved  to  preserve  the  Society 
of  Jesus  in  Russian  Poland  as  heretofore.  \s  regards  the 
remission  of  the  Abolition  Brief  of  1773,  the  Empress,  as 
head  of  the  Greek  Christian  Church,  declared  that  the  Papal 
Decree  had  no  effect  in  her  country,  and,  on  that  account,  the 
publication  of  the  Bull  Dominus  ac  Redemptor  noster  was 
strictly  prohibited. 

Thus  had  the  Jesuits  found,  at  least,  a  corner  of  the  earth 
where  neither  their  existence,  their  sphere  of  operation,  nor 
their  property,  could  be  touched,  and  as  this  corner  happened  to 
be  of  some  thousands  of  square  miles  in  extent — it  comprised 
within  it  a  great  part  of  Livonia,  a  part  of  Old  Poland,  and  the 
whole  of  White  Russia,  that  had  continued  so  long  under  Polish 
rule — it  may  be  imagined  how  extensively  they  here  attempted 
to  spread  and  establish  themselves.  The  Bourbon  Courts,  never- 
theless, who  desired  the  extinction  of  Jesuitism  from  the  world, 
entirely  disapproved  of  all  this,  and  on  that  account  urged 
Pope  Pius  VI.,  the  successor  of  Clement  XV.,  to  remonstrate 
with  the  Empress  through  his  Nuncius  in  Warsaw.  He  did  so, 
although  with  much  reluctance,  as  he  greatly  favoured  the 
Jesuits ;  he  did  it,  however,  when  he  saw  that  it  would  occasion 
no  harm  to  his  favourites,  but,  on  the  contrary,  would  greatly 
benefit  them. 

The  Empress  did  not  at  all  like  that  foreign  potentates 
should  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  of  her  Government,  and, 
consequently,  very  curtly  rejected  his  expostulations.  Indeed, 
incited  by  contradiction,  to  which  probably  the  influence  of  her 
favourite,  Potemkin,  whom  the  liberality  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
had  contrived  to  gain  over,  also  contributed,  the  Empress  went 
still  further,  and  gave  the  Jesuits  permission,  in  a  decree  dated 
25th  July  1782,  to  elect  a  General  Vicar,  as  their  Society  could 
not  well  be  conducted  without  a  supreme  head,  and,  when  once 
again  allowed,  he  might  be  elected  in  Rome  and  entrusted  with 
the  full  power  of  a  General  of  the  Society.  The  sons  of  Loyola, 
of  course,  made  at  once  good  Ose  of  this  permission,  and,  in 
October,  in  their  profess- house  in  Polocz,  their  unanimous  choice 
fell  upon  Father  Czernicvicz,  he  being  the  Superior  of  the  said 


THE   RE-ESTABLISHMENT   OP   THE   ORDER. 


213 


profess-house,  and   having  already  quietly,  as  such,  held  the 
reins  of  government. 

The  Bull  of  Clement,  Dominus  ac  Redemptor  noster,  of  which 
mention   has    already  been  so  much  made,  had,  therefore,  no 
effect  whatever  in  causing  the  Society  of  Jesus  to  vanish  out 
of  the  whole  world  ;  but  the  same  flourished  as  much  as  ever  in 
Russia,  and  General  Vicar  Czernicvicz  conducted  himself  pre- 
cisely as  if  he  had  been  the  legitimate  and  lawful  successor  of 
the  deceased  Ricci.     He  founded  novitiates,  in  one  of  which  the 
young  John  Philip  von  Roothaan,  born  in  Amsterdam  in  the  year 
1783,  entered  on  the  18th  June  1 804 ;  this  man  was  destined  here- 
after to  become  General  on  the  re-establishment  of  the  Order. 
He  also  established  colleges,  nominated  procurators,  rectors,  and 
assistants.     He  summoned  also  the  professed  brethren  to  hold 
Congregations,  and  proclaimed  their  resolutions  to  be  unimpeach- 
able; in  short,  he  acted  exactly  as  if  the  Pope  had  never  abolished 
the  Order  of  Jesus,  or  as  if  he  himself  had  the  right  to  propagate 
and  carry  out  the  operations  of  the  Order  in  spite  of  the  Bull  of 
Abolition.    This  conduct,  however,  seemed  uncommonly  strange, 
and  people,  much  astonished,  began  to  ask   themselves  whether 
the  fourth  vow,  that,  namely,  of  implicit  obedience  to  the  Chair  of 
Peter, had  become  no  longer  imperative  lor  the  Jesuits  ?    People 
asked  themselves  whether  the  pious  Fathers  were  at  liberty,  at  their 
pleasure,  to  hold  it  one  day  and  set  it  aside  on  the  morrow,  and, 
on  closer  observation,  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  did  actually 
take  this  liberty.     As  Father  Czernicvicz  did,  in  Russia,  so  did 
also  all  members  of  the  abolished  Society  of  Jesus  in  general 
elsewhere,    and    almost    every   ex-Jesuit — there    were,    indeed, 
exceptions,  of  course,  but  very  few — still  continued  to  remain  a 
Jesuit.     He  did  not,  it  is  true,   do  this  openly  before  all  the 
world,  as  he  was  wise  enough  to  observe  the  laws  of  the  country 
in  which  he  lived,  and  did  not  attempt  swimming  against  the 
stream.     But  in  secret  he  still  continued  to  hold  communication 
with  his  brethren,  and  this  he  did  in  countries  where  the  Order 
had  been  abolished,  without  bringing  his  fellow-members  over 
the  frontier ;  thus,  in  Austria,   Bavaria,  in  the  small  German 
States,  in  Poland,  and  even  in  France,   this  was  easy  enough. 
Here,   in  these  countries,  the  Jesuits  might   continue   to  live 
unopposed  as  long  as  they  discontinued  the  attire  of  the  Order 
and  its  ominous  name ;  and  for  the  most  part  they  passed  for 


214 


HIS'tORY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


THE   RE-ESTABLTSflMENT   OF   THE    ORDER. 


216 


secular  clergy,  or  as  teachers  and  professors.  The  latter  was 
especially  the  case  in  Germany,  and  it  might  be  truly  said 
that  here  they  only  changed  their  dress.  It  was  more  diffi- 
cult for  them,  however,  to  penetrate  again  into  countries  from 
which  they  had  been  formally  expelled,  as,  for  example,  into 
Portugal,  Spain,  and  Naples ;  and  also  even  in  France  they  were 
not  always  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  any  prominent  position, 
as  there  a  good  look-out  was  maintained.  In  spite  of  this,  how- 
ever, they  found,  in  course  of  time,  what  they  wanted,  when 
here  and  there  they  disguised  themselves  in  secular  clothing, 
under  which  garb  no  one  could  suspect  them  of  being  pious 
Fathers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  men  of  the  world,  addicted  to  its 
pleasures. 

What  they  particularly  desired,  moreover,  was  to  obtain 
the  place  of  adviser  to  some  man  of  consequence,  or  to  secure 
even  the  position  of  Court  preacher,  in  which  they  not  in- 
frequently succeeded,  an  instance  of  this  being  the  two  ex- 
Jesuits  Lenfant  and  Herbert,  who  succeeded  each  other  as 
Father  Confessor  to  Louis  XVI.  of  France.  Thus,  in  short,  did 
the  Jesuits  progress  as  much  as  before,  only  in  a  different  way, 
since,  whereas  formerly  they  carried  on  their  calling  openly,  now 
they  were  obliged  to  work  away  in  secret,  under  disguise. 
They  also  maintained  among  themselves  firm  connection,  quite, 
indeed,  according  to  the  instructions  given  them  by  their 
General  Ricci.  At  the  time  when  the  Jesuit  Order  was  suppressed 
by  force  in  France,  Ricci  secretly  forwarded  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  Superiors,  in  which,  among  other  matters,  it  was  stated  as 
follows : — *'  When  you  are  compelled  by  force  to  yield  in  laying 
aside  the  clothing  which  our  holy  Father  Ignatius  required  to  be 
worn,  you  can  still  inwardly,  in  your  hearts,  remain  stead- 
fastly united  to  his  institution,  and  await  a  more  propitious 
time  when  you  can  again  adopt  it  openly,  only  take  care 
to  draw  the  bonds  uniting  you  to  one  another  more  closely 
together,  and  recollect  that  no  human  power  can  release  you 
from  your  vows." 

According  to  this  instruction  on  the  part  of  their  General, 
Ricci,  did  the  ex-Jesuits  proceed,  and  their  Society  thus  con- 
tioued  to  exist  in  all  the  countries  in  which  they  were  formerly 
established,  only  the  connection  had  to  be  mainttiined  by  means 
of  secret   correspondence,   and,  when  this  was   impossible,    by 


journeys  undertaken  by  the  overseers  among  their  retainers,  which 
in  some  respects  caused  a  degree  of  stagnation  in  the  efficacy  of 
the  Order. 

Was  it,  then,  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  that  gradually  the  sons 
of  Loyola  longed  to  commence  again  their  work  openly  ?  Was 
it  matter  of  surprise  that  there  should  be  extreme  joy  among 
them,  when  the  news  came  that  they  were  permitted  to  elect  a 
Vicar- General  in  Russia,  who  should  concentrate  in  himself  the 
full  powers  of  a  General  ?  Again  there  was  a  central  point 
around  which  they  might  collect :  again  had  the  Order  a 
supreme  head  from  whom  it  might  derive  its  orders,  a  ruler  who 
could  assign  to  each  member  his  sphere  of  operation.  An 
enormous  advance  had  thus  been  effected  :  with  such  a  fortunate 
beginning,  certainly,  it  could  be  no  longer  doubtful  that  the 
great  end  which  the  ex-Jesuits  desired  to  attain  from  the  com- 
mencement would  eventually  be  reached — the  aim  and  object, 
namely,  of  witnessing  the  Society  of  Jesus,  murdered  some 
fifteen  years  ago,  again  raised  from  the  dead.  The  sons  of 
Loyola  then,  at  once,  began  again  to  develop  extraordinary 
activity ;  and  what  good  fortune  was  it  that  the  Society  had 
succeeded  nine  years  previously  in  saving  a  great  part  of  their 
money  and  capital,  by  having  entrusted  them  to  the  keeping  of 
faithful  friends.  Much  might  be  effected  in  usefully  employing 
this  hoard ;  patrons  and  patronesses  might  be  obtained  by  it, 
and  adversaries  might  be  silenced  who  would  otherwise  work 
much  mischief.  But  the  Jesuits  did  not  conceal  from  themselves 
that,  of  course,  money  alone  would  not  attain  the  object  desired, 
as  although  many,  not  all,  were  open  to  its  influence,  and  con- 
sequently, other  levers  must  be  put  in  motion  of  quite  a  different 
description.  They  accordingly  set  to  work,  and  especially 
amongst  the  Cardinals  who  were  favourably  disposed  towards 
the  Order,  to  induce  them  to  move  Pope  Pius  VI.,  the  successor 
of  Clement  XIV.,  to  take  some  steps  in  favour  of  Jesuitism, 
and  they  requested  him  to  approve,  at  least,  of  the  proceed- 
ings in  Russia,  and  to  recognise  the  election  of  Father 
Czernicvicz  as  Vicar-General,  were  he  not  disposed  to  go 
at  once  so  far  as  to  officially  abrogate  the  Bull,  Dominus  ac 
Redemptor  noster. 

As  to  the  latter  matter,  Pius  VI.,  although  notoriously  not 
unfavourably  disposed  towards  the  sons  of  Loyola,  was  under  no 


K\ 


\ 


\\ 


'm^mß 


mm 


mam 


wm^ 


216 


msiroBy  of  the  Jesuits. 


THE   RE-ESTABLISHMENT   OP   THE   ORDEB. 


217 


circumstances  to  be  moved,*  and,  indeed,  simply  for  this  reason, 
that  he  was  fearful  of  embroiling  himself  with  the  Bourbon 
Courts  who  had  suppressed  the  Jesuits;  perhaps,  also,  in  a 
small  degree,  because  he  had  made  a  present  to  his  nephews  of 
the  possessions  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  in  Rome  and  in 
the  States  of  the  Church,  and  they  were,  of  course,  unwilling  to 
give  them  up  again.  But  if  Pius  VI.  showed  himself  to  be  un- 
yielding, they  were  not  on  that  account  to  be  discouraged»  as 
the  man  was  in  any  case  mortal,  as  all  creatures  are,  and,  besides, 
much  had  still  to  be  prepared  before  the  last  stroke  could  be 
effected.  Especially  the  ear  and  hearts  of  the  reigning  princes 
had  to  be  gained  lest  they  should  turn  out  to  be  hostile  when 
the  next  Pope  should  issue  the  Bull  of  Re-establishment,  and, 
besides,  it  would  be  necessary  to  form  a  party  among  the  public, 
and,  above  all,  among  men  of  letters,  in  order  that  during  the 
fight,  which  must  necessarily  take  place  on  the  question  of 
restitution,  they  might  not  be  completely  left  without  support. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  did  not  proceed  to 
gain  their  object  by  any  means  with  levity  and  recklessness, 
but  secured  their  position  with  the  utmost  circumspection,  and 
built  up  their  palace  of  re-establishment  only  after  laying  as 
its  surest  foundation  a  massive  bulwark  of  stone.  It  would 
naturally  carry  me  too  far  away  should  I  proceed  to  enumerate 
all  the  individual  stones  which  the  Jesuits  pushed  forward 
in  order  to  contribute  to  the  construction  of  their  palace,  and 
even  less  would  it  be  needful  for  me  to  make  mention  of  all  the 
different  master-builders  and  their  apprentices  engaged  in  the 
work.  I  must  rather  content  myself  by  indicating  general  out- 
lines, and  so  affirm  that  the  Jesuits  derived  their  chief  support 
from  their  opposition  to  the  progressive  enlightenment  which 
was  then  taking  place,  and  especially  from  the  French  revolution 
which  had  at  that  time  broken  out. 

France  had  for  centuries  sighed  under  the  frightful  despotism 
of  its  Louis's,  a  despotism  which  could  only  have  been  rendered 
possible  in   that   the  Loy elites,  and  Fathers  of  their   way  of 

*  The  news  spread  abroad  by  the  ex-Jesmts,  in  the  year  1782,  to  the 
effect  that  the  ex-Jesuit  Benislawski,  who  had  been  sent  to  Borne  by 
Catherine  II.  on  business  connected  with  the  Church,  had  obtained  from 
Pius  VI.  his  approbation  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  White  Russia,  is  com- 
pletely false,  and  the  Pope  himself  disavowed  this  in  an  autograph  Brief  of 
the  nth  April  1783. 


thinking,  kept  the  people  in  a  state  of  the  grossest  intel- 
lectual slavery ;  but,  at  length,  when  the  measure  was  full, 
reason  aroused  itself  and  broke  its  fetters.  It  did  this  in  order 
to  discharge  an  act  of  righteous  punishment  on  those  by  whom 
it  had  hitherto  been  trampled  under  foot ;  and  who  will  blame  it 
if,  in  this  act  of  punishment,  it  sometimes  went  too  far,  when  it 
carried  out,  instead  of  an  act  of  righteous  vengeance,  the  blood- 
thirsty revenge  of  a  destroying  angel  ?  Yet,  as  the  destroying 
angel  spread  its  wings,  ah !  how  did  the  remaining  princes  of  the 
world  quake,  especially  those  small  despots  in  Germany  and 
Italy,  who  were  known  for  their  bad  administration,  so  similar 
to  that  of  the  Louis's  in  France !  Did  not  all  those, 
too,  quake,  who  had  rendered  a  helping  hand  to  the  des- 
potism of  the  princes,  who  had  supported  them  in  all  their  evil 
deeds  by  advice  and  action !  Had  they  not,  indeed,  been  fre- 
quently goaded  on  by  the  latter  thereto,  and  derived  the  chief 
advantage  therefrom  ?  They  looked  upon  themselves  as  lost ; 
the  whole  of  them,  dreaming  or  waking,  believed  they  felt  the 
sword  of  vengeance  at  their  throats.  But,  lo  and  behold !  a 
deliverer  now  appeared,  and  this  was  no  other  than  the  Order 
of  Jesus,  abolished  some  fifteen  years  ago.  The  Jesuits,  un- 
daunted and  unabashed,  advanced  the  proposition  that  all  this 
mischief  which  had  so  disturbed  the  world  had  been  caused  by 
nothing  so  much  as  by  enlightenment  and  unbelief.  "Not  owing 
to  the  shameful  administration  of  the  Kings  of  France,  nor  the 
despair  which,  through  the  despotism  of  the  Louis's,  had  brought 
the  French  nation  to  the  verge  of  destruction,  was,  according 
to  their  representation,  the  revolution  brought  about,  but  from 
Jansenism,  from  heresy,  from  the  worship  of  reason ;  and  even, 
therefore,*'  continued  they  in  their  argument,  "  it  was  not  a 
question  of  righteous  complaints,  which  the  people  ventured  to 
put  forward,  but  rather  the  bold  arrogance  of  depraved  people, 
which  required  to  be  suppressed  with  all  power.** 

In  other  words,  the  ex- Jesuits  came  forward  with  a  mass  of 
pamphlets  and  controversial  writings,  which  they  launched  from 
Augsburg,  where  they  held  appointments  as  teachers,  and  busied 
themselves  there,  year  after  year,  with  a  printing  press  of  their 
own,  in  part  negatively,  as  opponents  of  the  French  Kevolution, 
in  part  positively,  as  respectful  defenders  of  absolute  monarchies ; 
and  would  it  not,  then,  of  course,  be  found  that  such  proceedings 


1 
1 


218 


HISTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


THE   RE-ESTABLISHMENT   Ol*   THE    ORDER. 


219 


h 


were  uncommonly  pleasing  to  the  ruling  princes  who  had  been  so 
much  blamed,  especially  to  the  German  and  Italian  potentates  ? 
Of  course,  these  pamphleteers  did  not  omit  to  add  pathe- 
tically, '*We,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  alone  are  in  a  position 
to  save  alike  the  throne  as  well  as  the  civil  community  from 
the  threatening  ruin,  precisely  as  we  did  the  Church  at  the  time 
of  the  Reformation,  when  we  purged  it  from  all  aggravated 
heresy,  as  we  have  proved  from  the  time  of  our  foundation  that 
no  one  could  prevail  against  us  in  contention  with  the  pen  or 
in  verbal  discussion "  ;  also,  lastly,  continued  they  modestly, 
"  could  any  in  power  on  the  earth  come  to  another  concluson 
than  that,  if  our  Order  had  not  been  suppressed,  the  intoxica- 
tion of  the  French  Revolution  would  never  have  been  able  to 
break  out,  and  even  on  that  account  it  would  be  for  the  interest 
of  monarchs  and  princes  that  the  Society  should  be  again  re- 
established as  quickly  as  possible."  * 

Thus  wrote  the  ex- Jesuits  Feller,  Von  Eckartshausen  (Bava- 
rian Hofrath),  Sailer,  D'Estaimbourg,  Martin,  Fabres,  and  the 
like,  and  that,  with  similar  expressions,  they  made  an  impres- 
sion upon  a  certain  portion  of  the  public,  especially  upon  the 
rulers  and  their  immediate  followers,  there  can  be  no  question 
whatever.  The  ex-Fathers,  from  their  innate  sagacity,  did  not 
also  deceive  themselves,  thinking  that  everything  could  be 
effected  solely  by  the  writing  of  pamphlets,  but  they  knew 
that  personal  communication  would  have  a  far  more  intense 
effect,  and,  on  that  account,  spared  no  exertions  to  obtain 
an  entrance  among  the  higher  circles,  either  in  a  secular  or 
ecclesiastical  capacity.  They  founded,  indeed,  with  this  object 
new  religious  communities,  as,  for  example,  "  the  Alliance  of 
the  Holy  Heart,"  *'  the  Society  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Faith," 
"  the  Vincentiens,"  and  such  like,  and,  under  similar  innocent 
kind  of  names,  they  not  infrequently  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing admission  into  places  where,  on  account  of  the  public 
opinion  respecting  Jesuits,  they  would  in  no  case  otherwise  be 
allowed  access.     In  whatever  locality,  however,  they  took  up  a 

•  The  titles  alone  of  these  Jesuitic  pamphlets  were  of  themselves  suffi- 
ciently characteristic.  Thus,  for  example,  Eckartshausen  wrote  ♦•  Concern- 
mg  the  danger  which  threatens  complete  ruin  to  the  Thrones,  the  States 
and  Christendom,  through  the  false  system  of  enlightenment  of  the  day, 
and  the  bold  arrogance  of  so-called  Philosophers ;"  and  the  brochures 
issued  from  the  pamphlet  manufactory  at  Dillingen  had  precisely  similar 
titles.  ' 


position,  wherever  they  managed  to  insinuate  themselves  into 
the  Court  circle  ,of  some  great  one  of  the  world,  then  did 
they  contrive,  after  a  short  time,  to  gain  a  hearing  for  them- 
selves through  their  Philippics  against  enlightenment  and 
revolution  amongst  all  those  whose  rule  had,  heretofore,  been 
threatened  by  the  same. 

"  Enlightenment,"  said  they,  **  preaches  nothing  else  than 
disturbances  and  insurrection,  while  the  latter  in  turn  proceeds 
to  overturn  Church  and  State.  A  cry  is  raised  for  the  liberty 
of  the  press,  and  why  so  ?  In  order  to  lower  the  majesty  of  the 
princes  by  means  of  unbridled  language,  and  to  undermine  all 
the  former  order  of  things  by  anarchical  principles.  Freedom  is 
spoken  of,  but  what  is  this  freedom  but  rebellion  ?  The  word 
reason  is  made  use  of,  but  when  rightly  viewed  by  the  light  of 
day  it  is  unbelief,  heresy,  and  the  overthrow  of  all  religion." 

This  was  the  tone  in  which  the  Jesuits  spoke,  and  was  it  not 
natural  enough  that  such  sentiments  should  meet  with  approval 
in  certain  quarters  ?  So  natural,  indeed,  that  one  here  and 
there  forgot  for  what  reason,  some  years  before,  the  reigning 
Courts  of  Madrid,  Lisbon,  Paris,  and  Naples  had  dictatorially 
demanded  the  abolition  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  and  people  began 
to  hold  up  these  zealous  Fathers  as  the  sole  supporters  of 
royalty  !  "  Truly,  indeed,"  was  it  whispered  about  confidently, 
*'  the  Bourbon  Courts,  as  they  had  previously  compelled  Pope 
Clement  XIV.  to  issue  the  famous  Bull,  had  committed  a  great 
blunder,  and  it  is  time  to  remedy  this,  and  to  replace  the  Jesuits 
as  such." 

The  Society  even  contrived  to  bring  over  to  this  conviction 
the  successor  of  Catherine  on  the  throne  of  Eussia  (from  1798), 
the  capricious  Emperor  Paul  I.,  as  extremely  passionate  in  his 
dislikes  as  in  his  affections,  and  induced  him,  in  the  year  1800, 
to  apply  at  once  to  the  Koman  Curie  with  an  urgent  petition  to 
restore  formally,  by  special  Papal  Bull,  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had  already  been  effected,  in  1 782, 
by  an  Imperial  decree,  although  not  legitimately  sanctioned 
by  the  Pope.  In  Rome  it  was  no  longer  Pius  VI.  who  sat  on 
the  Papal  throne,  but — from  1800 — Pius  VJI.,  who  as  Count 
Gregory  Barnabas  Chiaramonti  had  shown  himself  particularly 
favourable  to  the  sons  of  Loyola.  Consequently,  after  only 
short  reflection,  he  at  once  acceded  to  the  desire  of  the  Emperor 


\ 


220 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Paul,  and,  on  the  7th  March  1801,  issued  the  Brief  De  Catholica 
Fidei,  by  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  again  re-established  in 
Russia.  For  Russia  only,  be  it  well  understood,  however,  but 
as  formerly,  with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  the  Society 
of  Jesus  had  before  possessed,  especially  as  regards  the  privilege 
of  the  conlessional  and  of  preaching,  as  well  as  the  instructiou  of 
youth  and  of  educational  chairs. 

Father  Gabriel  Gruber,  the  rector,  Wf^s  now  instantly  elected 
by  the  joyful  Loyolites  as  their  General,  and,  as  a  number  of 
the  brethren  at  once  established  themselves  there,  coming  from 
Germany,  France,  and  Italy,  the  Order  could  then  extend  its 
operations,  and  spread  over  all  that  part  of  Russia  which  had 
formerly  belonged  to  Poland.  Thus  colleges  were  established  in 
Riga,  Astrachan,  Jaffa,  Odessa,  and  St.  Petersburg,  a  grand 
mission  was  constituted  in  the  Government  of  Saratow,  and 
there  was  no  want  of  novitiates,  and  trial-houses  for  the  training 
of  young  neophytes.  In  short,  the  Order  of  Jesus  was  newly 
revived,  and  with  such  zeal  and  strength  as  could  hardly 
have  been  imagined.  ^Moreover,  of  course,  the  Jesuits  would 
not  have  been  such  had  they  been  satisfied  with  being  merely 
re-established  in  Russia  alone.  No,  they  only  looked  upon  this 
as  the  beginning  of  a  complete  resurrection,  and  a  means  of 
working  thence  as  a  rendezvous  for  the  whole  of  Europe. 
Inasmuch  as  they  had  made  the  Emperor  Paul  so  firmly  con- 
vinced that  he  would  find  in  their  Society  a  staunch  bulwark 
against  unbelief  and  renewed  revolutionary  attempts,  they  hoped 
to  awaken  the  same  belief  in  other  monarchs  also ;  and,  lo  and 
behold !  they  succeeded  in  a  short  time  with  one  at  least,  namely 
in  the  case  of  the  bigoted  Ferdinand  IV.,  the  King  of  Naples 
and  Sicily.  This  monarch,  who  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his 
spouse,  Maria  Carolina,  a  daughter  of  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria, 
as  well  as  in  that  of  her  ally,  Cardinal  Ruffo,  in  fact,  addressed 
to  the  Pope,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1804,  a  petition  similar  to 
that  which  the  Emperor  Paul  had  submitted  three  years  before, 
and  he  did  so  marvellously  in  almost  the  same  words. 

"  Christian  piety  and  morals,"  wrote  he  to  Pius  VII.,  *'  are 
everywhere  endangered  and  persecuted  in  these  lamentable  times, 
and  therefore  the  return  of  the  Jesuits  to  the  kingdom  of  the  two 
Sicilies  may  give  the  pledge  ol  better  days,  and  restore  science 
as  well  as  the  fear  of  God  to  the  youth  and  the  schools." 


THE   RE-ESTABLISHMENT    OP   THE   ORDER. 


221 


What  rejoicing  was  now  caused  in  Rome  when  this  petition 
was  delivered  to  the  Holy  See !  One  might  have  thought  that 
most  extraordinary  prosperity  had  come  to  Christianity,  the 
importance  of  which  could  not  be  measured.  But  wherein  did 
this  good  fortune  consist  ?  One  learned  only  too  soon,  for  the 
Court  of  Rome  solemnised,  on  July  3 ist,  the  Festival  of  the 
Holy  Ignatius  in  three  churches  at  the  same  time,  namely  in 
the  Jesuits'  Church,  in  the  Temple  of  Ignatius,  and  in  the 
Church  of  the  Quirinal,  and  in  all  of  these  with  such  extra- 
ordinary pomp  that  one  could  have  no  doubt  about  it  that 
something  of  immense  importance  had  occurred  favourable  to 
the  sons  of  Loyola.  In  fact,  something  of  moment  had  taken 
place;  that  is,  the  Bull,  which  now  extended  their  restitu- 
tion over  the  kingdom  of  the  two  Sicilies,  had  been  already 
subscribed  by  the  Pope  on  the  30th  July  1804.  despatched  by  a 
courier  to  Naples,  and  would  there  be  solemnly  proclaimed  on 
the  2nd  August  with  the  sound  of  kettle-drum  and  trumpet.  At 
the  same  time  the  Government  restored  to  them  the  palaces  and 
goods  formerly  confiscated  as  far  as  this  could  be  done,  and  now 
they  were  soon  to  flourish  as  fresh  and  beautiful  as  ever  in 
Neapolitan  and  Sicilian  lands. 

The  Order  had  now  won  their  game,  and  there  could  no  longer 
be  the  least  doubt  that  Pius  VII.  was  fully  resolved  to  re-esta- 
blish it  again  over  the  whole  of  Christendom  on  the  first 
suitable  occasion.  This,  indeed,  happened  only  after  a  period  of 
fully  ten  vears,  namely  at  the  time  when,  after  the  enthronement 
of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  it  was  attempted  to  re-establish 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe  the  same  state  of  things  as 
existed  previous  to  the  Revolution  of  1789.  In  consequence 
of  this  attempt,  which  in  some  measure  failed — as  it  has  already 
been  seen  that  the  German  Empire  held  aloof — the  Pope 
obtained  again  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  he  endeavoured  to 
collect  afresh  his  full  powers  and  to  regain  once  more  his  almost 
extinguished  authority  over  Christendom,  by  speedily,  on  the 
7th  August  1814,  causing  universally  the  revival  of  the  Order 
of  Jesus  with  all  its  former  privileges,  just  as  before  its  abolition 
by  Clement  XIV.  Thus  runs  the  Bull  relating  thereto,  which, 
from  the  words  with  which  it  commences,  goes  by  the  name 
Sollicitudo  omnium  ecclesiarum :  — 

"After  the  urgent  and  repeated  petitions  of  the  Cardinals, 


222 


mSTOBY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  men  of  distinction,*  further,  in  con- 
sideration of  ilie  salutary  fruits  which  have  been  produced  in 
Russia,  Naples,  and  Sicily,  and,  lastly,  out  of  respect  to  the 
almost  unanimous  wish  of  the  whole  of  Christendom,  the  Society 
of  Jesus  shall,  by  virtue  of  our  full  apostolic  power,  be  renewed 
in  all  the  countries  of  the  Christian  Church,  confirmed  in  its 
former  organisation,  rules,  legal  powers,  liberties,  offices  of 
teaching,  preaching,  and  confession,  colleges,  houses,  provinces, 
subordinate  to  the  immediate  patronage,  protection,  and  obedience 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  freed  and  released  from  all  the  consequences 
of  a  resolution  of  abolition  devised  in  the  form  of  a  Brief  by 
Clement  XIV.  Whoever,  therefore,  dares  to  impede  or  hinder 
in  any  way  this  enactment,  with  regard  to  the  vigorous  steersman 
in  the  little  ship  of  the  Holy  Peter,  the  anger  of  Almighty  God, 
and  that  of  his  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  shall  entirely  and  in- 
fallibly annihilate  him." 

Thus  Pope  Pius  VI I.  commanded,  and  this  edict  is  remarkable 
in  three  respects.  In  the  first  place  the  Pope  revokes  the  Bull 
of  his  "infallible**  predecessor,  Clement  XIV.,  without  further 
ado,  and  without  advancing  any  grounds  whatever  for  such  a 
proceeding  save  the  strength  of  his  own  infallibility,  so  that  thus 
infallibility  enters  into  contention  with  infallibility.  Secondly, 
without  even  asking  the  Governments  concerned  whether  they 
were  agreeable  to  this  re  establishment,  and  whether  they  approved 
of  the  same,  he  restored,  with  all  its  legal  powers  and  in  its 
pristine  condition,  the  Jesuit  Order  which,  at  the  earnest  im- 
portunity of  four  or,  indeed,  five  good  Catholic  Governments, 
had  been  for  ever  abolished  because  its  statutes,  organisation, 
and  customs  were  perfectly  inconsistent  with  the  laws  and 
government  of  any  well-ordered  state.  Thirdly  and  lastly,  he 
threatened,  with  excommunication  and  interdict,  all  States  and 
monarchs  who  would  not  receive  again  the  Order  of  Jesus,  himself 
a  Pope  of  the  19th  century,  precisely  as  if  a  Hildebrand  or 
Gregory  Vlf.  of  the  Ilth  century  had  come  to  life  again — ^_just 
as  if  the  clouds  of  spiritual  darkness  which  obscured  the 
Middle  Ages  had  also   again  hung  suspended  over  the  period  of 

•  The  Pope  kept  carefully  to  himself  the  names  of  these  distinguished 
men,  and  it  was  in  vain  to  search  for  them,  and  still  less  is  known  about  the 
Cardinals  and  other  Princes  of  the  Church  of  whom  Pius  VII.  here  speaks  ; 
and  had  an  inquiry  been  instituted,  not  a  few  of  them,  indeed,  would  have 
withheld  their  advice  for  the  restitution  of  the  Jesuits. 


THE   RE -ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE   OEDEB. 


223 


enlightenment  which  had  been  brought  about  through  the  French 
Revolution. 

Thus  did  Pius  VII.  on  the  7th  August  18 J4,  and  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  with  its  many  adherents,  rejoice  loudly,  as  they 
believed  that  the  stroke  of  the  Papal  pen  had  again  insured  for 
them  a  golden  age. 


^>^ 


224 


HISTORY   OF    THE    JESUITS. 


CHAPTER    in. 

THE   JESUITS   IN    THE   FIRST   HALF   OF    THE    NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

One  would  have  imagined  that  the  European  Powers,  and  more 
especially  the  Bourbon  Courts,  would  have  resisted,  as  one  man, 
the  Bull  of  Re-establishment  of  7th  August  1814,  as  it  must 
have  been  within  their  recollection  what  the  circumstances  were 
which  had  rendered  the  forcible  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  neces- 
sary forty  or  fifty  years  previously  ;  but,  in  fact,  the  very  oppo- 
site occurred,  and  not  a  few  of  the  reigning  kings  and  princes 
hailed  the  regeneration  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  a  second 
Easter  morning — as  the  day,  in  fact,  when  our  Saviour  rose  again 
from  the  dead. 

After  the  fall  of  Napoleon  there  came  a  period  of  the  most 
fearful  reaction  all  over  Europe,  and  every  sovereign  vied  one 
with  another  in  the  struggle  to  obliterate  the  last  traces  of  the 
shocking  Kevolution  of  1789,  the  lust  vestiges  of  tho  Empire 
which  followed  it,  and  of  the  commotions  which  it  caused. 
Liberal  ideas  were  feared  like  the  spirit  of  evil,  as  through  them 
the  rights  of  the  throne,  of  the  nobility,  and  of  the  ecclesiastical 
world  had  become  shaken ;  they  were  dreaded,  they  were  hated, 
it  was  wished  to  suppress  them,  and  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  might  be,  indeed,  killed  and  buried  for  ever.  Why,  then, 
should  not  rejoicing  be  universal  at  the  re- appearance  of  the 
blessed  sons  of  Loyola,  who  proclaimed  themselves  to  be  the 
true  pillars  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  obedience,  who  had  proved 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.        225 


in  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Kussia  that  they  were  a  talisman  against 
revolutionary  fever,  and  that  on  their  bold  advance  all  politico- 
philosophical  reforming  plagues  were  broken  to  pieces  and 
shattered,  like  the  army  of  the  Persians  by  the  Spartan  phalanx 
at  the  celebrated  battle  of  Thermopylse.  "Yes,  indeed,"  so 
thought  not  an  inconsiderable  part  of  the  ruling  lords,  "  there 
can  be  no  better  means  of  securing  our  own  stability  than  that 
we  should  trust  our  defence  to  the  sons  of  Loyola  " ;  and  seeing 
that  courtiers,  with  the  nobility,  at  once  echoed  the  senti- 
ments of  the  ruling  powers,  thus  did  they  ojffer  their  most 
devoted  homage  to  Jesuitism  as  the  great  stand-by  and  point  of 
support  for  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth. 

Certainly,  some  doubts  must  have  arisen  among  the  European 
Powers  as  to  the  accuracy  of  this  view  of  the  case,  as  only  a  very 
few  years  afterwards  they  were  destined  to  witness  the  peculiar 
spectacle  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  who  at  the  commencement 
of  his  government  showed  himself  to  be  as  much  enamoured  as 
his  father  Paul,  banishing  these  Fathers  from  St.  Petersburg  and 
Moscow,  on  account  of  their  dangerous  intrigues,  by  a  ukase  of 
20th  December  1816  ;  while  somewhat  later  (13th  March  1820) 
a  further  ukase  of  the  Emperor  expelled  the  Society  of  Jesus  for 
ever  out  of  the  whole  Russian  monarchy,  as  well  as  out  of 
Russian  Poland,  on  account  of  their  proselytising  proceedings, 
no  less  than  their  avarice,  disobedience,  and  gross  infraction  of 
the  rights  of  hospitality. 

"The  solemn  obligation  of  confession,'*  thus  it  was  stated, 
among  other  things,  in  this  Imperial  ukase,  "  was  undertaken  by 
them  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  in  order  that  the  understanding 
of  the  latter  should  be  enlightened  by  science,  and  their  heart  by 
religion.  They,  however,  abused  the  confidence  which  was  placed 
in  them,  and  misled  their  inexperienced  pupils.  Themselves  enjoy- 
ing a  beneficial  toleration,  they  implanted  a  hard  intolerance  in 
natures  infatuated  by  them.  They  took  pains  to  overturn  the 
bulwark  of  States,  afibrded  by  an  attachment  on  the  part  of  the 
people  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  thus  to  undermine  family 
happiness,  while  giving  rise  to  an  injurious  difference  of 
opinion.  Thus  all  the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  were  directed  merely 
to  secure  advantages  for  themselves,  and  the  extension  of  their 
power,  and  their  conscience  found  in  every  refractory  action  a 
convenient  justification  in  their  statutes." 

U.  15 


.^— i 


226 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


The  sons  of  Loyola  were  thus  described  in  the  well-considered 
ukase  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and,  assuredly,  no  more  truthful 
or  dispassionate  account  could  be  given  of  them.  And  this 
view  respecting  the  true  nature  of  Jesuitism  remained  hence- 
forth fixed  in  Russia,  and  the  sons  of  Loyola  never  succeeded 
in  effecting  a  revocation,  or  even  mitigation,  of  the  decree  men- 
tioned, as  the  Cabioet  of  St.  Petersburg  had  good  statesmen, 
who  took  a  clear  insight  into  everything,  and  never  allowed 
themselves  to  be  turned  aside,  either  by  the  art  of  flattery  or  dis- 
simulation, from  maturely-considered  calm  resolutions.  The 
behaviour  of  the  Russian  Government  was  so  uncommonly  open 
and  clear  in  motive,  that,  on  that  account,  it  gained  over  the 
whole  civilised  world  to  its  side ;  yet  the  European  Governments 
had  given  themselves  over  heart  and  soul  already  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  and  they  had  committed  themselves  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  merely  examined  the  ukase  of  13th  March  1820  when 
it  appeared.  Above  all,  Italy  paid  its  homage  to  the  re-esta- 
blished Order,  and,  as  may  be  understood,  Pius  VII.,  the  great 
restoring  Pope,  who  had  to  precede  the  whole  world  with  a  good 
example,  at  once  re-consigned  to  their  charge  the  palaces  and 
property  formerly  held  by  them  in  Rome  under  Clement  XIV., 
as  much,  that  is,  as  had  not  yet  got  into  private  hands. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  magnificent  profess-house,  **A1  Jesu," 
the  cradle  of  the  whole  Order,  which,  through  the  piety  of  the 
Apostolic  See,  had  as  much  as  possible  been  preserved  in  its 
former  condition  ;  then  the  "  Collegium  Romanum,"  and,  some- 
what later,  the  "  Collegium  Germanicum,"  together  with  the 
different  churches  and  former  possessions,  not  to  omit,  also, 
a  magnificent  building  as  a  novitiate. 

In  consequence  of  this,  and  because,  also,  the  following  Popes, 
Leo  XII.  (1823-29),  Pius  VIIL  (1829-30),  Gregory  XVI. 
(1830-46),    and    the    still  reigning    Pope    Pius   IX.*,  most 

*  Pius  IX.,  immediately  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  commenced,  as  is 
known,  with  a  strong  Liberal  tendency ;  but  the  sons  of  Loyola  soon  con- 
trived to  cure  him  thoroughly  of  this  madness ;  and  since  that  time,  as 
Cardinal  d' Andrea  has  publicly  for  some  time  expressly  testified,  the  Holy 
Father  finds  himself  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  said  Fathers.  Pius  IX. 
commenced,  in  the  year  1851,  to  make  visits  to  their  profess-house,  as  well 
as  to  their  colleges,  and  had  frequently  even  made  use  of  the  expression 
that,  in  these  modern  bad  times,  they  were  the  only  supporters  of  the  true 
faith.  It  is  also  notorious  that  from  1851  no  importaot  action  of  govern- 
ment was  determined  on  before  the  Pope  had  taken  counsel  with  his 
dear  Father  Beckz.  the  present  General   of  the  Order,  and  during   the 


_ 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTUBY.        227 

highly  favoured  the  sons  of  Loyola,  their  numhers  increased,  as 
well  in  Rome  as  in  all  the  States  of  the  Church,  to  quite 
an  extraordinary  extent,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  even  in  the 
year  1829  it  was  necessary,  as  far  as  concerned  Rome,  to 
assign  them  a  place  outside  the  walls  as  a  lodging.  At  the 
present  day,  however,  their  condition  is,  indeed,  more  flourish- 
ing than  ever,  and  their  present  General*  may  well  boast  with 
pride  that  none  of  his  predecessors  exercised  such  a  powerful 
influence  over  the  supreme  head  of  Christendom  as  himself. 
Besides,  not  alone  in  Rome  and  the  States  of  the  Church  did 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  after  its  re -establishment,  take  such  a 
towering  flight,  but  also  in  the  other  Italian  provinces,  as, 
for  instance,  in  Genoa,  Modena,  Parma,  Ferrara,  and  Verona, 
where  they  were  petitioned  to  found  novitiates  and  educational 
establishments  of  great  extent. 

Still  more  brilliantly  did  they  flourish  in  Naples,  as  there  their 
great  protector.  King  Ferdinand,  conferred  on  them  the  exclusive 
right  of  conducting  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  nobility, 
in  order,  perchance,  that  they  might  not  become  acquainted  with 
the  frightful  ideas  of  modern  times ;  and  the  good  sons  of  Loyola 
at  once  founded  a  Lyceum  for  the  nobility,  which  naturally,  as 
it  was  a  kind  of  common  mill,  obtained  an  extraordinary  number 
of  customers.  Besides  this,'  they  possessed  four  other  such 
Lyceums  in  Neapolitan  territory,  and  in  the  island  of  Sicily  as 
many  as  fifteen  colleges,  corresponding  exactly  to  the  number 
of  their  seminaries,  novitiates,  and  profess-houses.  In  short,  in 
the  whole  of  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  Sardinia  and  Piedmont, 
where,  although  they  were  tolerated,  it  is  true,  yet  they  were  not 
formally  installed,  they  already  acted  the  same  part  after  a  few 
years  as  they  had  played  previous  to  their  suppression,  and  at 
times  ooe  was  almost  tempted  to  believe  that  the  period  of  their 

following  years  their  influence  attained  the  unfortunate  height  regarding 
which  we  have  to  speak  in  the  next  chapter. 

*  As  regards  the  later  Generals  of  the  Jesuits,  there  followed,  after  Father 
Gabriel  Gruber,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken,  in  the  year  1814,  a  Pole,  Father 
Thadäus  Bryozowsky ;  after  him,  in  the  year  1820,  an  Italian,  Father  Ludwig 
Fortis ;  then,  in  the  year  1829,  Father  John  Philip  van  Roothaan,  a  native 
of  Amsterdam,  a  second  Claudius  Aquaviva  as  to  intellect  and  activity ;  and 
finally,  in  the  year  1853,  the  present  General,  John  Peter  Beckz,  a 
Belgian,  who  is  now  78  years  of  age  [this  was  written  in  1873] .  He  saw 
light  on  the  8th  February  1795,  in  a  village  near  Mechlin,  joined  the  Society 
of  Jesus  on  the  29th  October  1819,  became  at  once  Father  Confessor  of  the 
newly-created  ducal  pair  of  Köthen ;  after  this,  he  obtained  the  position  of 
Kector  of  the  College  at  Louvaine,  was  then  promoted  to  be  Provincial  of 
Austria,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1853  was  selected  as  General  of  the  Order. 

15  * 


■  (I 

i 

j 


I 

■*, 

J 


228 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


history  between  1773  and  1814  had  passed  over  them  without 
leaving  a  trace. 

The  sons  of  Loyola  experienced  even  greater  favour  in  Spain 
than  in  Italy,  as  a  ruler  like  Ferdinand  VII.,  a  perjured  tyrant, 
with  few  equals,  must  necessarily  have  been  a  devout  friend  of 
the  Jesuits.  Soon  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  when  Ferdinand 
was  brought  back  victorious  to  Madrid,  in  the  year  1814,  he 
issued  an  edict  which  not  only  restored  the  Order  of  Monks  in 
general,  together  with  the  Inquisition  and  torture,  but  especially 
proclaimed  throughout  the  land  that  the  Society  of  Jesus  had 
been  restored  by  the  Pope  ;  and  after  this  edict  another  followed, 
on  the  29th  May  1815,  by  which  that  Society  was  again  placed 
in  possession  of  all  their  rights  and  property  of  which  they 
had  been  deprived  since  1767.  This  was  more  than  had  been 
done  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  but 
in  return  for  this  King  Ferdinand  and  his  Camarilla  expected 
great  things;  nothing  less  than  that  they  should  destroy, 
root  and  branch,  the  Liberal  ideas  imported  from  France,  that 
they  should  call  halt  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  make 
out  of  Spain  the  most  absolutely  governed  kingdom  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  In  fact  the  Jesuits  promised  to  fulfil 
completely  these  expectations,  and  there  passed  over  the  fair 
land  a  period  of  night  which  could  not  be  darker ;  but  the  much- 
tormented  subjects  became  weary  of  the  continual  punishments, 
imprisonments,  banishments,  and  executions,  and  a  general 
rising  took  place  in  the  year  1 820,  the  consequence  of  which 
was  that  a  Liberal  Constitution  had  to  be  inaugurated.  It  was 
now  all  at  an  end  with  the  Jesuit  administration,  and  the  sons 
of  Loyola  had  to  evacuate  the  kingdom  entirely. 

But,  lo  and  behold!  the  Liberal  Constitution  which  Spain 
gave  to  itself  did  not  at  all  afford  satisfaction  to  the  •  remaining 
European  Powers,  who  perceived  therein  imperilment  of  the 
absolute  principles  in  their  own  monarchies,  and,  consequently, 
France  sent  an  army  across  the  Pyrenees,  in  order  to  re-establish 
the  old  order  of  things.  It  succeeded,  and,  with  the  old 
order  the  Jesuits  also  returned,  who  nestled  themselves  in  the 
country  more  firmly  than  ever. 

After  the  lapse  of  ten  years,  that  is,  on  the  29th  September 
1833,  Ferdinand  VII.  died,  and  in  regard  to  the  succession  to  the 
throne  a  civil  war  arose,  which  tore  the  poor  country  to  pieces  for 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       229 


fully  seven  years.  One  of  the  candidates  to  the  throne  was  Don 
Carlos,  the  brother  of  the  deceased  King  Ferdinand  ;  the  other  was 
called  Donna  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  who,  from 
aflFection  to  the  latter,  had  abrogated  the  so-called  Salic  law  of 
the  House  of  Bourbon,  which  excluded  daughters  from  suc- 
cession to  the  throne  as  long  as  there  were  any  male  princes 
alive.  And  now,  because  with  Don  Carlos  the  whole  of  the 
priestly  absolute  party  united,  Donna  Isabella,  or  rather  her 
mother,  the  Queen  Dowager  Maria  Christina,  saw  herself  com- 
pelled to  open  the  army  to  Liberalism,  and,  consequently,  in  the 
year  1835,  Spain  was  favoured  with  a  Liberal  Constitution  which 
shut  the  door  again,  for  the  third  time,  to  the  Jesuits.  Thus 
their  fate  changed  about,  and,  in  the  year  1840,  when  the 
Carlists  had  been  completely  defeated,  it  seemed  that  the  sons  of 
of  Loyola  had  lost  entirely  and  for  ever  all  ground  in  Spain. 
Their  activity  did  not,  on  that  account,  entirely  cease,  espe- 
cially as  they  still  retained  their  educational  houses  ;  not  under 
their  own  name,  however,  but  at  one  time  under  one  strange 
appellation,  and  at  another  under  something  else. 

In  former  times,  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  found  an  exceed- 
ingly fruitful  pasturage  in  Germany,  Austria,  and  Bavaria,  and 
there,  as  we  have  already  seen,  their  abolition  was  very 
unwillingly  consented  to,  so  it  was  naturally  to  be  expected 
that  their  re-establishment  would  be  greeted  in  those  countries 
with  rejoicing.  But  this  was  not  altogther  the  case,  as  since  the 
death  of  Maria  Theresa  a  change  had  taken  place,  and  the  spirit 
of  modern  times  had  seized,  here  and  there,  even  on  regions  where 
such  was  not  to  have  been  anticipated.  Thus  a  remarkable  case, 
among  others,  happened  in  the  year  1793,  when  the  Treve 
Minister,  Duminique,  in  the  name  of  his  lord  and  ruler,  sent  to 
the  Archduke  Maximilian  Francis,  the  youngest  son  of  Maria 
Theresa,  who  was  in  possession  of  the  Electorate  of  Cologne 
and  the  Bishopric  of  Münster,  as  well  as  to  other  German  Bishops 
and  Prelates,  asking  them  to  intercede  on  behalf  of  the  re-esta- 
blishment of  the  Jesuit  Order,  the  same  being  the  most  effectual 
bulwark  against  the  revolutionary  spirit  which  was  steadily 
making  increasing  progress  in  Germany,  as  well  as  against 
irreligion,  which  was  for  ever  raising  its  head  still  higher; 
it  happened,  however,  that  the  said  Archduke  Maximilian 
Francis  not  only  at  once  declined  to  co-operate,  but  grounded 


230 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


his  motives  for  this  refusal  on  what  must  have  tasted  to  the  sons 
of  Loyola  more  bitter  than  wormwood  and  gall. 

"They"  (that  is,  the  sons  of  Loyola),  it  is  stated  in  the  docu- 
ment dated  29th  November  1793/*  have  so  constantly  mixed  them- 
selves up  in  Court  and  State  intrigues,  that  they  must,  injustice, 
be  reproached  with  striving  after  universal  dominion.  They  cost 
Kings  their  lives,  not  on  the  scaffold,  but  by  assassination; 
and,  equally  hurtful  as  the  Society  of  Illuminati,  they  were  the 
foremost  among  the  crowd,  at  all  events,  who  applauded  the 
murder  scenes  in  Paris.  They  robbed  the  States  of  their  most 
capable  youths  whom  they  enticed  into  their  institutions,  and 
procured  for  themselves,  by  their  monopoly  in  the  direction  of 
study,  in  Catholic  countries,  an  excessive  and  immoderate 
influence  over  all  opinions.  They  held  in  their  hands  all  the 
springs  for  working  upon  mankind;  money,  protection,  con- 
fessionals, and  other  means  were  plentifully  at  their  command. 
They  might  thus  work  for  good  if  they  wished  to  do  so,  but 
they  laboured  at  the  beck  and  call  of  their  superiors  alone,  for 
their  own  peculiar  advantage  and  aggrandizement,  without 
any  regard  whatever  for  the  well-being  of  mankind ;  and  it  is 
impossible,  therefore,  to  indulge  in  a  conviction  that  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  can  be  productive  of 
any  benefit  whatever." 

Thus  wrote  the  Grand-Duke  Maximilian,  and  great  numbers 
of  persons  of  high  position  were  of  a  similar  way  of  thinking,  as 
well  among  the  clergy  as  among  the  laity,  and  unquestionably  also 
the  educated  of  the  middle  classes.  The  Austrian  Government 
declined,  therefore,  without  further  consideration,  to  announce 
in  their  countries  the  Bull  Sollicitudo  omnium  ecclesiarum,  as 
demanded  by  the  Pope,  as,  in  those  days  (the  years  1814  and 
18 1Ö),  tolerably  good  reasons  were  needed  for  not  opposing  the 
wishes  of  their  subjects;  and  as  the  ruler  of  Bavaria,  King 
Maximilian  Joseph,  was  guided  by  precisely  the  same  reasons, 
he  also  interdicted  the  legal  reception  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
although  personally,  no  less  than  the  Emperor^Francis  I,  of 
Austria,  he  was  not  at  all  unfriendly  disposed  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola.  The  two  Governments,  on  the  other  hand,  had  nothing 
to  urge  against  an  expedient  to  admit  the  Redemprionists, 
instead  of  the  Jesuits,  not  aware,  perchance,  that  both — 
Jesuit  and  Bedemptionist — meant,   so   to  speak,  precisely  the 


THE   JESUITS  m   THE   NINETEENTH  CENTURY.       231 

same  thing;  ignorant,  forsooth,  that  the  Redemptionists  or 
Liguorians,  as  they  were  also  named,  after  their  founder,  every- 
where paved  the  way  when  the  Jesuits  were  not  tolerated  "  as 
such,'*  and  took  their  places  until  the  latter  were  able  to  make 
their  entrance  with  open  vizor  as  sons  of  Loyola.*  The 
Redemptionists  were  thus  admitted  into  Austria,  and  in  Vienna, 
in  the  year  1820,  managed  to  get  the  Upper  Passaverhof  with 
the  Church  of  Maria  Stiegen  allotted  to  them.  Thence  they 
spread  themselves  all  over  the  provinces  of  the  Imperial  States, 
and  even  far  beyond  these,  into  Bavaria,  where  they  founded  their 
first  settlement  in  the  shape  of  the  celebrated  pilgrimage  of 
Al totting.  After  they  had  made  suitable  progress  and  obtained 
a  firm  footing,  they  considered  it  better  to  throw  off  the  mask, 
and  revealed  their  educational  institutions  in  Lemberg,  Inn- 
spruck,  and  other  towns,  in  their  true  colours,  that  is,  as  Jesuit 
colleges.  The  Government  paid  no  heed  to  this ;  to  speak  more 
plainly,  they  tolerated  the  public  appearance  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  and  the  latter  consequently  took  always  more  and  more 
liberties.  They  also  spread  themselves  over  Rheinish  Prussia, 
and  founded,  for  instance,  in  Coblentz,  a  well -attended  college, 
without  the  Government  forbidding  their  proceedings.  In  short, 
the  Society  of  Jesus  was  now  in  the  best  train  for  conquering, 
one  by  one,  each  of  the  positions  they  had  lost  since  1773.  Then 


*  Alfonso  Maria  de  Liguori,  a  very  zealous  member  of  the  Propaganda  of 
the  Faith  in  Naples,  founded  at  Villa  Scala,  in  the  year  1732,  with  the 
approbation  of  Pope  Clement  XII.,  a  brotherhood  in  the  hermitage  of  St. 
Maria,  the  members  of  which  devoted  themselves  to  the  instruction  of  the 
young,  the  propagation  of  the  true  Catholic  faith,  and  especially  the 
service  of  the  Pope,  in  whom  they  reverenced  the  embodied  will  of  God. 
Their  aim  was  thus  the  same  as  that  of  the  Jesuits,  and  even  their  name 
indicated  this,  as  they  called  themselves  "  Brethren  of  the  Holy  Eedeemer  " 
(/Santo  Redentore).  They  lived,  not  as  united  secular  ecclesiastics,  but  in 
cloister-like  communion,  and  therein  consisted  properly  the  sole  difference 
between  themselves  and  the  Jesuits.  They  were  regarded  from  the  com- 
mencement as  merely  an  offshoot  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  or,  it  might 
rather  be  said,  as  younger  brothers,  who  belonged  to  the  family,  indeed,  and 
were  obliged  to  do  everything  that  might  be  required  of  them,  without 
having  any  rights  themselves,  and  without  any  prospect  of  receiving  a 
share  of  the  inheritance.  Under  such  circumstances  the  new  Order  re- 
mained for  a  long  time  without  any  importance  whatever,  and  foimd 
but  very  few  adherents,  even  at  the  time  that  the  Jesuit  Order  had 
been  already  suppressed.  As,  however.  Pope  Pius  re-established  the  latter, 
and  several  States  hesitated  to  introduce  it,  it  occurred  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola  whether  they  might  not  be  able  to  carry  out  their  plans  of  operation 
under  the  mask  of  the  hitherto  little-esteemed  younger  brothers,  and  this 
circumstance  seemed  to  them  so  suitable  that  they  at  once  brought  it  into 
operation.  The  Liguorians  or  Redemptionists  also  agreed  to  the  plan  with 
joy,  as  they  gained  thereby  uncommonly  in  importance. 


232 


mSTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


came  the  fatal  year  1848,  and  this  quickly  put  an  end  to  their 
presence.     Not,  however,  for  long,  as  we  must   all  have  well 
in  rememhrance  that,  in  the  year  1849,  a  peculiar  change  or 
revolution  took  place,  which  usually  follows  upon  times  of  great 
excitement,  and,  in  place  of  the  Liheral  Ministers  of  March,  in 
consequence   of  the    relaxation    and   lassitude  of  the  people, 
men  of  reaction  and  retreat  came  into  possession  of  the  helm. 
That  was  water  to  the  mills  of  the  sons  of  Loyola !     They  were 
now  again  enabled  to  put  themselves  forward  before  the  people, 
and  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  foremost  combatants  in  the 
revolution.     Now  were  they  again  enabled  to  exclaim  to  the 
Princes,  "  We  alone  are  the  chief  pillars  of  the  monarchy,'and,  if 
you  will  only  permit  us,  you  need  not  trouble  your  heads  more 
about   the   suppression   of  the  revolution."    And  what  was  the 
result  of  these   frightful  years   of  reaction?     No  other  than 
that   the   Order   of   Jesus  was   again   publicly   recognised  in 
Austria,  permission  being  accorded  to  it  to  found  educational 
institutions  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Imperial  States,  and,  as 
may  well   be   imagined,  the   most  unlimited  use   was  made  of 
this  permission  *      Over  the  remainder  of  Catholic  Germany, 
nevertheless,  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  not  able  even  then  to  carry 
into  effect  their  strictly  oflBcial  recognition,  and  they  were  obliged 
to   work   indirectly   under  the   appellation   of  Redemptionists. 
But  was  their  efl&ciency  on  that  account  any  the  less  ?     One 
need  only  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  German  College  (Collegium 
Germanicum)  in  Kome  was  entirely  supplied  and  recruited  from 
Bavaria,  Prussia,  Baden,  and  the  Rhine  Provinces ;  and  all  these 
recruits,  after  completing  their  studies,  were  sent  back  again  to 
Germany.     But  whither  did  those  excellently-schooled  pupils  of 
the  Jesuit  Order  wander  ?     Why,  one  part  to  the  universities, 
and  another  to  seats  of  the  different  bishops.     iVt  the  latter  they 
obtained,  through  Romish  recommendations,  the  most  influential 
appointments,  and  their  eflBcacy  immediately  became  immense, 
as  they  governed  all  the  seminaries  and  scholastic  institutions 

*  The  Order  had  to  thank,  for  its  unrestrained  admission  into  all 
the  provinces  of  the  Austrian  States,  principally  the  female  portion  of 
the  Imperial  family,  notably  the  Arch-Duchess  Sophia,  who  for  a  long 
time  had  exercised  an  extraordinary  influence  on  the  Government.  It 
founded,  however,  its  first  and  most  remarkable  settlements  in  Galicia, 
among  the  Poles,  and  thence  there  arose  the  seminaries  and  colleges  at 
Linz,  Leitmeritz,  Innsprück,  Tarnopol,  Thymau,  Vienna,  Agram,  Feldkirch, 
Brescia,  Verona,  and  many  other  places. 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTUEY.       233 

which  were  amenable  to  the  bishop.  At  the  universities,  how- 
ever, they  entered  as  professors,  and  in  their  lectures  taught 
the  future  spiritual  guides  a  theology  which  was,  of  course, 
fashioned  on  pure  ultramontane  principles.  Thus,  in  short, 
when  they  were  unable  to  advance  with  an  entirely  open  visor  as 
Jesuits,  their  operations  were  still  of  such  a  nature  as  furthered 
the  ends  of  the  Order  of  Jesus ;  and,  after  long  years  of  activity 
they  brought  the  matter  so  far,  that  in  time  almost  the  whole 
clergy  of  Germany  being  brought  up  by  them,  swore  allegiance 
to  their  flag.  In  much  the  same  way  as  in  Bavaria  and  in  the 
Rhine  Provinces  was  the  fate  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  after  its 
re-establishment,  determined  in  France,  although  the  Order  had 
the  firmest  conviction  that  Louis  XVIII.,  the  restorer  of  the 
Bourbon  dynasty  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  could  do  nothing 
more  beneficial  than  retract  the  Edict  of  Louis  XV.  issued  in 
November  1764.  This  Monarch  had,  however,  sufficient  sagacity 
to  perceive  that,  were  he  to  take  such  a  step,  he  would  be  going 
quite  contrary  to  public  opinion.  Consequently,  the  sons  of 
Loyola  remained  shut  out  of  France,  at  least  in  name,  and  even 
the  exertions  of  "  Monsieur,"  brother  of  the  King,  who  afterwards 
ascended  the  throne  as  Charles  X.,  had  not  the  eff'ect  of  making 
Louis  XVIII.  more  compliant.  Certainly,  these  continued 
refusals  cost  him  much  anxiety,  especially  since  the  Pavilion 
Marsan  in  Paris,  where  the  ultra-Royalists  in  combination  with 
the  ex-Jesuits  had  taken  up  their  quarters,  had  the  audacity  to 
proclaim  him  publicly  as  a  pupil  of  the  infamous  Voltaire ;  but 
his  Minister  brought  daily  to  his  recollection  that  the  re- 
establishment  of  an  Order  so  greatly  hated  by  the  great  majority 
of  the  French  people  would  doubtless  have  the  efifect  of  creating 
the  same  disturbances  as  those  which  had  already  overturned  the 
throne  of  the  Lilies  once  before;  and  as  the  crafty  Monarch 
had  the  wish,  at  any  price,  to  be  buried  in  the  royal  vault  at 
St.  Denis,  one  can  well  imagine  that  he  remained  inflexible  on 
this  point  to  the  end  of  his  Government  in  the  year  1824. 
He  was  not,  however,  completely  inimical  to  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
and  gave  them  consequently  the  same  kind  of  existence  which 
they  had  obtained  for  themselves  at  first  in  Austria  after  the 
year  1814,  that  is,  he  allowed  them  to  begin  again  their  old 
accustomed  sphere  of  operations  under  another  name,  and  in  a 
different,  although  very  similar,  costume.    They,  therefore,  called 


I 


P'ip' 


II 


234 


mSTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


themselves,  as  regards  France,  "Peres  de  la  Foi,"  that  is, 
"Fathers  of  the  True  Faith'*;  and,  lo  and  hehold!  in  a  few 
years  they  again  attained  to  great  power  and  riches.  This 
certainly  did  not  taket  place  without  contentions  and  adver- 
sities of  all  kinds,  as  the  re-establishment  of  the  black  cohort 
met  with  much  resistance  from  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
which  protested  against  them  with  all  the  legal  means  in  its 
power ;  but  to  all  these  complaints,  protestations,  and  monitions, 
the  Ministers  of  Louis  XVIII.  replied,  in  an  evasive  manner, 
"  There  are  no  Jesuits  in  France  "  ;  and  the  Monarch  also  used 
the  same  dubious  language.  It,  however,  troubled  the  Jesuits 
greatly  that  they  were  unable  to  come  forward  openly  and 
boldly  as  that  which  they  professed  to  be ;  and,  besides,  their 
efficacy  was  in  this  way  also  much  impaired,  as  their  connection 
with  the  rest  of  the  Jesuits,  and  especially  with  their  General 
in  Rome,  had  to  be  kept  secret,  and  denied  before  the  world. 
On  this  account  they  did  not  fail — after  the  accession  of 
Charles  X.,  their  great  patron  and  friend,  to  the  throne — to  lift 
the  visor  somewhat,  or  rather,  indeed,  to  an  extent  that  no  one 
could  have  any  further  doubt  about  the  matter  as  to  who  were 
attired  in  the  garments  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Faith  ;  more 
especially  they  presented  themselves  quite  unabashed  at  the  epis- 
copal sees,  for  the  most  part  as  head  teachers  of  the  seminaries 
where  the  rising  clergy  were  brought  up ;  as  also  as  overseers 
of  the  education  of  the  young  in  general.  Indeed,  they 
organised  their  many  colleges  and  seminaries  (as,  for  instance, 
the  Mission-house  of  the  Order  in  Paris,  and  the  Colleges  of  St. 
Acheul,  Montrouge,  and  elsewhere)  in  an  intimate  union,  the 
head  of  which  they  declared  to  be  the  Jesuit  General  in  Rome, 
and  their  Principal,  or  Praepositus,  did  not  hesitate  openly  and 
boldly  to  subscribe  his  name,  on  the  admittance  of  pupils  to  the 
novitiate,  as  "  Provincial  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  Province 
of  Gaul." 

This  took  place  in  the  year  1826,  and  on  being  questioned  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  Ministers  were  obliged  to  admit  that 
the  Society  of  Jesus  did  actually  exist  on  French  soil,  and  that 
their  presence  was  with  the  permission  of  the  Government.  There- 
upon there  arose  among  the  majority  of  well-informed  people  a 
Btorm  of  disapproval ;  and  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  kingdom 
at  once  seized  this  opportunity  to  declare  that,  according  to  the 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE    NINETEENTH   CENTUEY.       235 

established  laws  of  France,  neither  under  one  name  nor  another 
was  the  Society  of  Jesus  allowed  to  have  any  existence,  and 
also  that  their  contemplated  re-establishment  was  entirely  con- 
trary to  the  constitutional  charter  sworn  to  by  the  King  and 
his  Ministers.  The  result  of  this  was  that  in  the  year  1828 
the  Jesuit  colleges  and  schools  at  St.  Acheul,  near  Amiens,  at 
St.  Anne,  in  Bretagne,  at  Dole,  in  Jura,  at  Montmorillon,  in 
the  department  of  Vienne,  at  Bordeaux,  at  Aix,  at  Fortcalquier, 
at  Montrouge,  and  at  Billon,  which  were  attended  by  more  than 
3,000  pupils,  were  obliged  to  be  suppressed,  and  the  Govern» 
ment,  who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Jesuits  with  all  their  power, 
only  succeeded  in  saving,  with  much  difficulty,  the  seminaries 
of  the  Peres  de  la  Foi,  together  with  those  of  Montrouge,  St. 
Acheul  before  the  gates  of  Paris,  and  some  dozen  others.  The 
sons  of  Loyola  now,  however,  urged  their  obsequious  pupil 
King  Charles  X.  to  withhold  his  approval  to  these  violent 
measures  on  the  part  of  the  judicature  and  of  the  deputies, 
to  annul  the  charter  of  the  Constitution,  in  order  that  the  old 
absolute  monarchy,  with  the  supremacy  of  the  Order  of  Jesus, 
as  under  Louis  XIV.,  might  be  re-established ;  and  the  weak 
Monarch  actually  allowed  himself  to  venture  upon  such  a 
foolish  undertaking. 

In  August  1829  Prince  Polignac,  the  strict  ally  of  the 
Jesuits,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Government,  and  consequently 
a  period  of  reaction  began,  more  vile,  oppressive,  and  blood- 
thirsty than  can  be  well  imagined.  Thereupon  the  sons  of 
Loyola  were  highly  jubilant,  and  presumed  that  now  the  game 
was  theirs.  But  on  the  27th  and  28th  of  July  1830  the  popu- 
lation of  Paris  rose,  and  this  revolution  occasioned  the  Bourbon 
Government  to  fall  to  pieces  like  a  house  built  of  cards. 
Charles  X.  was,  like  a  culprit,  compelled  to  take  flight  to 
England ;  and  from  the  day  of  his  departure  there  was  an  end 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  as  the  Provisional  Government  of  the 
July  Revolution  banished  them  for  ever  from  French  soil. 

For  a  long  time  nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  and  one  might  have  been  tempted  to  believe  that  they 
had  retired  from  the  field  for  ever.  In  truth,  however,  it  had 
not  yet  come  so  far  as  this,  but  they  continued  to  keep  watch  on 
the  immediate  frontiers  of  France,  for  instance,  at  Freiburg  in 
Switzerland,  in  order  that  when  the  time  arrived  they  might  be 


) 


236 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


quickly  on  the  spot  again  to  reconquer  the  lost  ground.  And 
this  period  did  arrive  on  the  fall  of  liOuis  Philippe  and  the  acces- 
sion to  the  throne  of  Napoleon  III.,  as  the  latter  required  to 
make  use  of  the  priesthood  in  order  to  secure  his  newly-baked, 
or,  perhaps  it  may  be  said,  his  newly- warmed  Imperial  throne, 
and  with  the  growing  power  of  the  Catholic  priesthood  the 
influence  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  equally  held  its  ground. 

None  the  less  it  was  not  a  question  this  time  of  a  formal  and 
public  reintroduction  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  all  that  its 
members  could  desire  was  toleration;  but  this  was  of  such  a 
plain  nature  that  the  Loyolites  soon  found  it  no  longer  necessary 
to  make  their  appearance  under  a  strange  name  or  such  other 
pretext,  but  their  colleges  and  seminaries  opened  again  with  the 
visor  fully  removed.     They  thus  spread  themselves  afresh  over 
the  whole  of  France,  and  in  a  period  of  ten  years  there  was  no 
longer  any  department  in  which  they  had  not  the  chief  control  of 
all  education,  at  any  rate,  so  far  as  founding  educational  houses. 
Nor  were  they  during  all  this  time  attacked  by  anyone,  because 
without  doubt  no  one  dared  to  run  counter  to  the  absolute  will 
of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  and  thus  the  ancient  proverb  well 
applied  to  them,  "Where  there  is  no  complainant  there  is  no 
judge."     Yet,  no,  I  must  not  keep  silence  respecting  a  move- 
ment which  took  place  against  them   towards  the   end   of  the 
year  1 856,  when  a  petition  was  numerously  signed  by  the  first 
notables  of  the  land,   and  especially  by  the  professors  of  the 
University,  requesting  that  in  reference  to  the  Jesuits,   resort 
should  again  be  had  to  legal  regulations.     This  was  translated 
into  German,  and  was  nothing  else   than  a  demand  that   the 
Government  should  no  longer  tolerate  the  legally   proscribed 
Order  of  Jesuits,  but  at  once  suppress  and  prohibit  it.     And 
for  what  reason  did  the  petitioners  demand  this  ?     Their  lan- 
guage was  suflaciently  distinct,   as  they  expressed  themselves, 
amongst  other  things,  in  the  following   words  : — "  The  Jesuits 
prosecute  the  spoliation  of  heritages,  regarding  the  result  with 
little  compassion   for  families,  so    that  we   have  in   France  at 
the  present   time  the  spectacle  of  a  Society  which  is  hurtful  to 
the  State  as  well  as  to  individuals,  which  is  inimical  to   our 
institutions,  and  at  the  same  time  dangerous  from  its  teaching — 
a  Society  which,  condemned  by   our  laws,  extends   itself  and 
increases  in  numbers  under  the  toleration  of  the  administration  " 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       237 

But  what  was  the  result  of  this  petition  ?  The  Government 
gaily  replied  that  they  knew  how  to  take  account  of  the  laws 
concerning  legacy-hunting,  and  consequently  the  whole  affair 
was  buried  in  oblivion.  In  other  words,  the  Jesuits  were 
allowed,  as  before,  the  most  ample  sport,  and  consequently  their 
riches  and  influence  increased  year  by  year. 

The  Court  of  Portugal  conducted  itself  in  altogether  a  difierent 
manner  from  the  other  Catholic  Courts  mentioned,  respecting 
the  Bull  Sollicitudo  omnium  ecclesiarum,  as  it  did  not 
hesitate  to  allow  the  same  to  be  read  aloud  in  Portugal  and 
Brazil,  and,  indeed,  proclaimed  to  all  the  other  European 
Cabinets  a  formal  protest  against  the  Society.  The  ruler, 
John  VI.,  declared:  "The  order  of  the  3rd  September  1759, 
which  exiled  the  Jesuits  from  the  country,  had  his  approval, 
and  this  could  not  be  otherwise  than  for  ever,  else  the  same 
evil  days  for  himself  and  his  family,  as  also  for  his  subjects, 
would  again  come  to  pass,  which  had  once  before  brought  the 
kingdom  to  the  brink  of  destruction.*' 

The  Pope  used  his  utmost  endeavour  to  induce  the  Monarch 
to  take  a  different  view,  and  with  this  object  a  special  Nuncius 
was  despatched  to  Lisbon  and  Kio  de  Janeiro;  but  the  influence 
of  England,  and  especially  that  of  Marshal  Beresford,  was  too 
powerful  to  admit  of  this  step  being  productive  of  result,  and 
thus  the  sons  of  Loyola  remained  excluded  from  the  kingdom 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  government  of  John  VI.,  that  is, 
up  to  1825.  They  found  no  greater  favour  with  his  grand- 
daughter and  successor.  Donna  Maria  da  Gloria,  the  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  Don  Pedro  of  Brazil ;  and  when  even  her  uncle, 
the  frantic  Don  Miguel,  having  succeeded  for  a  short  time  in 
depriving  her  of  the  throne,  through  a  decree  of  30th  August, 
1832,  re-established  the  Society  of  Jesus,  although  without 
any  claim  on  their  former  possessions,  privileges,  and  immu- 
nities, this  restoration  did  not  last  longer  than  eleven  months ; 
for  in  July  1833,  the  usurpation  of  Don  Miguel  was  overthrown, 
and  the  Jesuits  had  again  to  vanish  speedily  out  of  Portugal, 
or  they  would  have  been  in  danger,  precisely  as  in  the  time 
of  Pombal,  of  being  shipped  off  to  Italy.  Since  that  period 
Portugal  has  been  classed  among  Constitutional  States,  and  in 
consequence,  there  has  never  again  been  any  question  of  a  fresh 
introduction  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.     They  continued  and  will 


Ij 


f 


238 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


continue  to  be  banished  out  of  that  country,  as  it  appears,  for  the 
future,  as  the  present  Government  never  tolerates  the  settlement 
of  any  whom  they  have  reason  to  suspect  of  concealing  Jesuitism 
under  their  mask. 

The  little  kingdom  of  Belgium  formed  a  complete  contrast  to 
that  of  Portugal,  as  there  Jesuitism  flourished  with  the  full 
sanction  of  the  Government,  in  a  fashion  and  to  such  an  extent 
as  was  never  exceeded  elsewhere  in  the  world,  not  even  including 
the  glorious  States  of  the  Church.  According  to  the  Belgian 
Constitution,  the  education  of  the  people,  no  less  than  the 
form  of  religious  worship,  is  completely  free,  the  State  having 
divested  itself  of  all  right  to  mix  itself  up  with  any  religious  or 
ecclesiastical  matters,  so  that  thus  all  Orders  have  a  completely 
open  field.  Of  this  unlimited  freedom  the  sons  of  Loyola 
made  use  so  zealously,  however,  that  the  remaining  Orders,  all 
put  together,  do  not  attain  to  a  fourth  part  of  what  they  them- 
selves can  boast.  The  best  proof  of  this  is,  that  so  far  back  as 
the  4th  November  1834  they  were  in  a  position  to  open  their 
own  university  in  the  town  of  Mechlin ;  and  as,  of  course,  no 
other  professor  is  authorised  to  teach  but  those  alone  who 
have  been  scholars  of  their  Order,  it  can  easily  be  imagined  with 
what  spirit  the  academical  youths  of  that  city  must  have  been 
animated.  From  these  latter,  and  I  beg  this  may  be  well  con- 
sidered, sprang  a  great  number  of  men  who  afterwards  came 
in  riper  years  to  work  as  servants  of  the  State,  and  even  therein 
lies  the  ground  of  the  Jesuits  having  so  many  friends  among  the 
great  people  of  the  land.  Matters  did  not,  however,  end  with 
the  university  of  Mechlin,  but  the  Jesuits  founded  colleges  also 
in  Alost,  Antwerp  (where  they  also  established  a  commercial 
school,  in  order  to  get  the  sons  of  merchants  also  into  their 
power),  Bruges,  Brussels,  Courtnay,  Ghent,  Liege,  Louvaine, 
Mons,  Namur,  Tournay,  Verviers,  and  elsewhere,  by  which  they 
appropriated  to  themselves,  for  the  most  part,  the  instruction 
of  the  youth  of  the  land.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  they 
could  not  prevent  the  friends  of  enlightenment  among  the 
Catholics  making  use  of  political  and  religious  liberty  with  the 
view  of  founding  in  Brussels  a  free  university  by  which  that  of 
Mechlin  might  be  counteracted,  and  just  the  same  happened  in 
the  case  of  the  remaining  educational  institutions  of  the  country. 
Thus  in  Belgium  the  remarkable  spectacle  might  be  seen  that 


■I 
i 


THE    JESUITS   IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.        239 

the  Society  of  Jesus,  having  full  liberty  from  the  Government 
to  extend  themselves  and  develop  their  power,  was  still  met  with 
voluntary  opposition  by  the  more  enlightened  part  of  the  inha- 
bitants, while  here  and  there  national  feeling  was  sufficiently 
strong  to  keep  pace  at  least  with  the  sons  of  Loyola,  and  in 
part  to  make  them  retire  within  the  limits  of  moderation. 

As  now  in  Belgium,  so  also  in  the  Catholic  cantons  of 
Switzerland,  Jesuitism  prevailed,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1818,  only  three  years  after  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Order  by  the  Pope,  a  splendid  Jesuit  College  arose  in  Freiburg. 
But  what  am  I  saying  ?  for  the  Order  never,  indeed,  ceased  to 
exist  in  Switzerland,  even  after  the  abolition  decree  of  Clement 
XIV.,  as  may  be  learned  from  the  Jesuit  writer  J.  Esseiva 
himself!  Thus  we  read  in  his  writings  regarding  the  revenues 
^  of  the  Jesuit  College  of  St.  Michael  in  Freiburg : — 

"At  that  period,  that  is,  in  the  year  1773,  the  Jesuits  remained 
in  spite  of  the  abolition  of  their  Order ;  they  had,  indeed,  become 
secularised,  but  had  lost  nothing  except  the  name,  being  in  pos- 
session of  all  their  pulpits  and  of  all  their  educational  establish- 
ments. They  continued  still  to  form  a  corporation  of  learning  ; 
they  obtained,  by  their  genius,  well-filled  classes ;  they  endea- 
voured to  propagate  the  work  of  the  Society  with  zeal." 

A  precisely  similar  report  is  made  by  the  ultra-Catholic  Fr. 
J.  Buss,  who  writes  as  follows : — 

"The  Jesuits,  on  November  2nd,  1773,  laid  aside  the  costume 
of  their  Order,  but  they  contrived  to  live  on  according  to  their 
constitutions  much  as  before,  and  did  not  discontinue  giving 
public  instruction.  As  the  old  Fathers  died  off  they  acquired  for 
themselves  several  young  men  endowed  with  zeal,  and  founded  a 
College  at  Sion,  in  the  canton  of  the  Vallais,  where  the  Govern- 
ment allowed  them  to  carry  on  their  proceedings  with  freedom.*' 

As  the  sons  of  Loyola,  although  certainly  under  other  names, 
such  as  "Fathers  of  the  Faith"  (Peres  de  la  Foi),  worked  on 
in  Freiburg,  and  in  the  canton  of  the  Vallais,  quite  undisturbed, 
it  could  not  be  wondered  at  that  Father  Joseph  Sineo  de  la 
Tour,  when  he  arrived  in  Switzerland  in  1814  with  a  commission 
from  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  to  found  Jesuit  colleges,  was 
received  with  open  arms  in  the  cantons  mentioned.  The  excel- 
lent instructor  of  youth.  Professor  Girard  (a  Franciscan),  was 
certainly  entirely  opposed  to  the  official  re-establishment  of  the 


11 


J 


^^ 


J 


* 

f 


240 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Jesuits  in  Freiburg,  and  he  was  supported  by  a  large  part  of  the 
inhabitants ;  but  the  Bishop,  the  higher  clergy,  the  patricians, 
with  the  Government  stadtholder,  Müller,  at  their  head,  had  long 
been  won  over  to  the  Order,  and  insisted  on  having  their  own 
way.  Thus,  in  short,  the  Jesuits  were  called  to  Freiburg  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  1818,  and  at  once,  on  the  21st  November  of  the 
same  year,  opened  their  beautiful  College  with  200  pupils.  The 
sons  of  Loyola  now  possessed  a  firm  nursery  in  Switzerland, 
and  from  this  they  spread  themselves  out  in  all  directions. 
Almost  everywhere  they  contrived  to  procure  an  entrance  for 
their  fellow-believers,  and  the  result  of  this  influence  was  the 
founding  of  further  colleges  in  Staffis,  Sion,  Brieg,  Schwytz, 
and  Lucerne,  as  well  as  of  different  smaller  educational  institu- 
tions at  some  other  places. 

The  sons  of  Loyola  had  now  won  their  game,  especially  as 
they  further  succeeded  in  talking  over  the  bigoted  nobility  of  the 
neighbouring  Bavaria,  as,  in  part,  also  of  France,  to  entrust  the 
education  of  their  sons  to  the  Society,  of  course  at  the  expense  of 
domestic  habits,  and  educational  institutions,  and  their  consider- 
ation in  this  respect  rose  so  high  that  they  obtained  the  upper 
hand  in  the  Catholic  cantonal  governments,  especially  in  Schwytz, 
Freiburg,  Vallais,  and  Lucerne,  reformed  all  the  laws  according 
to  their  pleasure,  and  filled  up  all  offices  with  their  adherents. 
Thus  affairs  went  on  during  several  decades,  and  doubtless  would 
have  so  continued  still  longer  if  it  had  not  been  from  their 
unlimited  love  of  power,  whereby  they  trod  under  foot  all  other 
right-thinking  people,  whereby  they  eventually  called  down 
upon  their  heads  the  most  frightful  animosity  throughout  the 
rest  of  Switzerland.  The  Tagsatzung,*  that  is,  the  supreme 
Government  of  the  united  Cantons,  by  a  large  majority  de- 
manded their  removal.  The  answer,  however,  of  the  Jesuits 
was  that,  on  the  1 1th  December  1845,  they  persuaded  the 
Catholic  cantons,  viz.  Schwytz,  Lucerne,  Unterwaiden,  Frei- 
burg, Zug,  and  Vallais  to  form  a  union  which,  in  complete 
opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the  Swiss  Confederation,  as  well  as 
the  Act  of  Confederacy  itself,  should  offer  opposition  to  "  all 
unsuitable  orders  of  the  Tagsatzung,"  and,  when  necessary,  even 

•  The  Canton  of  Zurich  had  already  demanded  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits  in  the  year  1845  ;  but  in  the  next  year,  on  the  20th  July  1846,  this 
proposal  obtained  the  necessary  number  of  votes  to  make  it  effective. 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       241 

to  take  up  arms.  The  sons  of  Loyola  thought  by  such  deter- 
mined mode  of  proceeding  to  intimidate  the  Tagsatzung,  which 
had  distinguished  itself  as  yet  by  no  great  energy,  or  at  least  to 
impress  them ;  but  this  time  they  completely  miscalculated. 
When  the  seven  confederated  cantons,  after  repeated  demands, 
did  not  seem  inclined  to  render  obedience  to  their  union,  or  to  dis- 
miss the  sons  of  Loyola,  but  treated  with  scorn  the  commission  of 
Tagsatzung  sent  to  them  at  the  beginning  of  1847,  the  latter  re- 
solved upon  taming  the  refractory  offenders  by  force,  and  at  once 
called  under  arms  100,000  men,  whom  they  placed  under  the 
supreme  command  of  the  brave  General  Dufour.  Nothing  was 
then  left  for  the  seven  Jesuitically- disposed  cantons  than  either 
humbly  to  sue  for  peace,  or  manfully  to  defend  themselves.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  they  brought  together  an  army  of  36,000  men, 
and  supported  these  by  47,000  yeomanry ;  but  there  was  no 
enthusiasm  among  the  troops,  and  as  Dufour  advanced  into  the 
canton  of  Freiburg  they  all  fled  before  him  in  fear  of  death. 
The  same  thing  took  place  when  the  bulk  of  the  Tagsatzung's 
army  moved  against  Lucerne,  and  during  the  whole/^of  the  war 
the  Union  troops  only  once  resisted  manfully.  This  was  on  the 
23rd  November  1847,  near  Gislicon,  on  the  borders  of  Zug, 
near  Lucerne.  But  on  this  occasion  they  ultimately  fled,  after 
a  short  resistance ;  and  thus  ended  the  campaign,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  which  the  unionists  had  boasted  so  arrogantly  as  to 
the  ignominious  defeat  of  their  opponents. 

Of  course,  the  sons  of  Loyola  at  once  perceived  that  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  remain  in  the  country,  they  therefore 
made  their  escape  into  the  neighbouring  Tyrol  and  Austria, 
where  they  sought  protection.  They  fled,  indeed,  so  rapidly 
that  they  even  left  behind  them  what  was  dearest  to  their  hearts, 
namely,  their  property  and  wealth,  as  they  feared  being  made 
responsible  for  all  the  mischief  of  the  Union  war,  they 
alone  having  instigated  it.  They  prized  life  with  liberty  more 
highly  than  all  other  earthly  possessions.  Besides,  they  did  not 
long  remain  alone  in  their  flight,  as  those  at  once  followed 
them  who  had  placed  themselves  with  the  Society  at  the  head  of 
the  plot,  among  whom,  besides  the  laity  who  were  Jesuitically 
disposed,  were  also  the  Redemptionists,  the  Marianists,  the 
school  brethren,  and  the  school  sisters,  with  the  Dames  de 
la   Sacre    Coeur.      Thus    the  Swiss  atmosphere    was    cleared 

n.  16 


; 


242 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


at  once   from    the    whole   of  the   pestilential  Jesuit   exhala- 
tions. 

In  order,  however,  that  the  same  scenes  of  religious  excite- 
ment   which,    as   we    have    seen,  resulted    in   this   civil    war, 
should  not  possibly  be  repeated,  the  Tagsatzung  banished  the 
Society  of  Jesus  for  all  time  out  of  the  whole  of  Switzerland, 
Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant ;  and  this  law  was  also  forthwith 
adopted,  in  the  year  1848,  by  the  newly-founded  Union  Consti- 
tution, and  has  remained,  up  to  the  present  time,  in  full  opera- 
tion as   the   law  of  the  land,  although    frequent    attempts    at 
evasion  have  been  made  in  the  centre  of  Catholic  Switzerland, 
and  with  partial  success,  but  not  to  any  great  extent.     If  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  then,  had  lost  in  Switzerland  a  rich  pasture, 
which    they   afterwards   in  vain   sought  to    regain  for  them- 
selves, they   nevertheless    contrived    to    indemnify    themselves 
through  other  far- distant   acquisitions,  where,   from  their  first 
abolition  by  Clement  XIV.,  they  had  been  perseveringly  unable 
to  find  an  entrance.     Thus  the  Government  of  Great  Britain, 
after  Parliament  had   carried  through  the  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion, could  not  but  allow  also  the  admission  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  into  the  country ;  and  the  latter  made  use  of  this  so  far 
that  it  founded  splendid  educational  institutions  at  Stonyhurst, 
near  Preston,  in  the  county  of  Lancashire,  as  well  as  at  Hodder- 
house,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London.     The  Order  was  not 
the   less  zealous  in  prosecuting  its  extension  in   Ireland,  and 
in   modern    times  a   number   of  small    schools    have    sprung 
up  there,    all  of  which   are   conducted   by  Loyolites.      These 
latter,  however,  have  not   hitherto   made    any  very   prominent 
progress,  as,  whence  could  the  poor  Irish  obtain  the  money  in 
order  to  give  such  support  to  the  Jesuit  Fathers  as  they  had 
hoped,    expected,    and    demanded?      The    Society    of  Jesus, 
however,   met   with    a   very   different  destiny  in  America — in 
the    same    land    where,    especially   in    Paraguay,    things    had 
worked  so  fatally  for  their  existence ;  and  they  created  here  for 
themselves  a  sphere  of  operation  of  which  they  had  previously 
never  even  allowed  themselves  to  dream.     Wonderful  to  say, 
moreover,  this  sphere  of  operation  did  not  lie  in  Catholic  South 
America,  in  which,  in  the  middle  of  the  previous  century,  they 
had  been  so  powerful ;  neither  was  it  in  Brazil,  nor  in  Mexico, 
nor  in  Peru,  nor  in  Chili,  nor  in  any  other  South  American  free 


THE    JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      243 

State  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  Spain,  Portugal,  or 
France;  but,  forsooth,  in  North  America,  or,  more  properly 
speaking,  in  the  united  States,  notwithstanding  that  these  had 
been  founded  by  the  Puritans,  who  play  an  important  part  there 
at  the  present  day.  Since  the  free  legislation  of  the  North 
American  Union  not  only  admits  of  every  creed,  but  also 
tolerates  every  religious  Society,  and  allows  their  establishment 
in  any  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  did  not  delay,  after  their  re-establishment  by  the  Pope, 
in  taking  a  look  over  this  part  of  the  world  to  a  small  extent, 
to  ascertain  whether  they  might  not,  perhaps,  here  and  there,  do 
something  for  their  Order ;  and  lo,  and  behold !  they  found  that 
a  large  field  was  open  for  their  operations,  as  soon  as  they  were 
able  to  reconcile  themselves  to  the  Eepublican  tone  of  North 
America. 

Father  Koothaan,  the  General  of  the  Order  in  Kome  at 
that  time,  very  quietly  sent  a  mission  to  the  Union,  and  it 
first  of  all  took  up  its  quarters  in  the  almost  thoroughly  Catholic 
Maryland,*  whither,  indeed,  the  Fathers  had  been  earnestly  sum- 
moned by  some  rich  planters.  An  educational  institution  was 
speedily  founded  there,  and  was  much  sought  after  by  the  sons  of 
wealthy  parents,  and  thereupon  followed  a  second,  third,  fourth, 
and  fifth.  The  means  were  also  sufficiently  forthcoming,  so  richly, 
indeed,  that  in  the  course  of  a  decade  the  Order  saw  itself  in  a 
position  to  make  a  beginning  also  in  other  States  in  which  the 
population  was  Catholic,  founding  establishments,  and  in  the 
end  even  venturing,  at  Georgetown,  the  second  city  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Union,  to  erect  a  college, 
which,  as  regards  its  endowment  and  magnitude,  might  boldly 
rival  any  other  "  college  "  in  the  United  States. 

In  short,  the  sons  of  Loyola  gradually  succeeded  in  making 
themselves  quite  a  considerable  power  in  North  America,  and 
the  number  of  Catholics  there  gradually  increased,  through  the 


•  In  1632  King  Charles  I.  of  England  presented  all  the  land  on  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  between  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia,  to  his  favourite 
Lord  Baltimore,  and  he,  a  zealous  Catholic,  named  it,  in  honour  of  the  deceased 
Queen  Mary,  Maryland ;  as,  however.  King  Charles  was  murdered  by  the 
Puritans,  and  all  Catholics  in  England  were  persecuted  with  fire  and  sword, 
the  latter  could  not  be  sufficiently  thankful  that  a  Maryland  existed  across 
the  sea,  as  the  same  became  to  all  of  them  an  asylum,  and,  as  it  were, 
a  second  fatherland.  Henoe  comes  it  that  this  State  has  conspicuously  a 
Catholic  population. 

16  * 


244 


HIöTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


constant  emigration  from  Ireland,  as  well  as  from  the  Rhine 
countries  of  Germany,  to  more  than  eight  millions ;  and  thus 
one  may  with  certainty  affirm  that  their  influence  will  always 
be  more  and  more  in  the  ascendant.  Thus,  over  all  western 
Christendom,  with  the  exception  of  but  a  few  countries,  the  sons 
of  Loyola  firmly  established  themselves,  and,  indeed,  all  over 
the  New  World  their  wheat  flourished  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable 
them  to  anticipate  a  truly  splendid  harvest.  Consequently, 
their  power  was  by  no  means  broken  by  the  Abolition  Bull  of 
Pope  Ganganelli,  as,  otherwise,  they  could  not  have  risen  again 
in  the  way  they  actually  have  done  since  1814.  They  might 
have  lost  somewhat  as  to  riches — perhaps  even  a  very  great 
deal,  as  they  were  deprived  of  their  great  possessions,  and  had 
to  relinquish  their  extended  traffic  with  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  which  annually  brought  them  in  millions. 

As  regards  members,  on  the  other  hand,  they  appear  rather 
to  have  increased  than  diminished,  and,  in  the  number  of 
assistancies  and  provinces,  to  have  remained  about  stationary. 
The  assistancies  were  reckoned  as  four :  first,  the  Assistancy  of 
Italy,  with  the  provinces  of  Eome,  Naples,  Sicily,  Turin,  and 
Venice,  which  together,  according  to  a  proclamation  of  General 
Beckz,  under  date  11th  July,  1850,  numbered  8,350  members 
of  the  Order;  secondly,  the  Assistancy  of  Spain,  with  three 
provinces,  which  could  not,  however,  be  openly  so  named,  seeing 
that  the  Order,  being  for  the  time  prohibited,  could  only  exist 
there  incognito ;  thirdly,  the  Assistancy  of  France,  with  the 
provinces  of  Paris,  Lyons,  eind  Toulouse,  which  together 
amounted  to  7,420  members  of  the  Order ;  fourthly,  and  lastly, 
the  Assistancy  of  Germany,  which  was  by  far  the  largest,  with 
the  provinces  of  Austria,  Germany  (that  is,  Prussia  and  the 
smaller  German  States),  Galicia,  Belgium,  England,  and 
Ireland,  with  Maryland  in  America,  which  together  amounted 
to  a  total  of  not  less  than  22,159  Jesuits. 

The  whole  together,  then,  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  were,  in  the 
year  1850,  not  fewer  than  37,929,  and  with  such  an  army,  some- 
thing considerable  might  certainly  be  effected ;  more  especially 
as  it  consisted  of  only  tried  veterans,  not  even  taking  into 
account  recruits,  that  is,  novices  and  the  train  of  lay  brethren. 
And  now  omitting  further  consideration  of  the  extension  of  the 
Jesuit  Order,  we  will  turn   to  the  question  of  the  ways   and 


THE   JESUITS  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   ÖENTURY.      245 


means  by  which  this  re-ascendancy  of  the  sons  of  Loyola  had 
been  brought  about. 

The  answer  is,  however,  easy,  as  the  means  which  the  dis- 
ciples of  Ignatius  employed  are,  and  always  will  be,  the  same : 
in  the  first  place,  they  travel  about  preaching ;  then  follow 
the  confessional  and  further  congregations  and  sodalities;  lastly, 
educational  institutions  aud  public  opinion.  Indeed,  the  entire 
ways  and  means  of  the  modern  Jesuits  were,  and  are,  nothing 
different  from  their  activity  under  Ignatius,  warmed  to  life 
again,  and  one  might  almost  fancy  he  had  himself,  with  his 
associates,  risen  again  from  the  grave.  Let  us  take,  for  instance, 
the  erratic  preaching  or  the  missions  of  the  modern  Jesuits ; 
are  they  not,  as  everyone  has  stated  to  me  who  has  hap- 
pened to  have  lived  near  a  Jesuit  mission,  a  simple  copy  of 
what  Bobadilla,  Favre,  and  Canisius  had  already  done.  Every 
three,  four,  or  half-a-dozen  of  them,  would  be  selected  to  go  round 
the  world  preaching.  Only  those  were  chosen  with  this  object 
who  were  considered  as  specially  endowed  with  the  gift  of 
speaking,  and  then  only  such  as  were  in  a  position  to  avail  them- 
selves of  this  gift  through  their  physical  advantages.  They 
ought  to  be,  if  possible,  tall  manly  figures,  with  fiery  eyes  and 
pale  cheeks,  men  upon  whose  countenances  self-denial  had  im- 
printed itself,  and  whose  whole  appearance,  supported  by  the 
long  black  cloak  and  prayer-book,  ornamentally  bound,  pro- 
claimed them  to  be  "  saints  on  earth."  In  a  word,  only  such 
members  of  the  Order  were  destined  to  be  mission  preachers  as 
were  similar  to  a  .Father  Eoden,  a  Botgeisser,  a  Haslacher,  an 
Anderledy,  a  Fruzzini,  or  a  Waldburg-Zeil — six  who  went  about 
all  over  Southern  Germany  during  fifteen  years  or  more,  so  that 
one  might  be  certain  that  their  preaching  would  not  be  ineffec- 
tual. How  could  this,  indeed,  be  otherwise  ?  They  were  only 
attracted  to  those  towns  and  places  where  they  knew  that  a  part, 
at  least,  of  the  inhabitants  were  worshippers  of  bigotry,  if  even 
the  remaining  portion  had  been,  perhaps,  infected  with  the 
baneful  spirit  of  enlightenment,  or^  indeed,  been  overtaken  by 
heresy  and  Protestantism. 

These  towns  were  to  them,  indeed,  the  most  agreeable,  as 
the  bigoted  portion  could  then  be  so  much  the  more  easily 
inflamed  to  take  the  resolution  of  guarding  themselves  from  the 
unholy  touch  of  unbelieving  people  who  had  been  contaminated 


246 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


by  Satan;  and  besides,  it  might  be,  perhaps,  brought  about  that 
some  lost  daughter,  or  even  son,  might,  by  their  eloquence,  be 
induced  to  return  into  the  bosom  of  the  only  saving  Church. 
Seeing,  however,  that  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  was  captivated 
by  the  Fathers  for  a  week  or  more  beforehand,  in  the  place 
where  they  had  the  intention  of  placing  their  mission  cross,  and 
as,  also,  they  had  not  omitted  to  proclaim  their  coming  before- 
hand, it  was,  then,  an  easy  matter  for  them  to  reckon  upon  a 
large  audience,  and  to  double,  or  eveu  treble  it  hour  by  hour. 
Ah  !  they  preached,  indeed,  with  the  greatest  fire,  and  were 
wonderfully  skilled  in  infusing  into  their  discourses  the  most 
effective  descriptions  and  the  most  exciting  comparisons.  They 
had  thoroughly  well  studied  the  art  of  working  upon  the  minds 
of  men,  and  entering  upon  the  most  delicate  matters  wonderfully 
unconcerned.  They  understood,  indeed,  so  marvellously  well 
how  to  describe  the  splendour  and  holiness  of  the  heavenly 
regions,  to  which  admission  is  accorded  by  Jesuit  petitions,  and 
through  their  influence.  Ha !  and  then,  moreover,  Purgatory 
and  Hell !  They  truly  possessed  the  gift  of  description  and 
of  depicting  in  the  highest  degree,  so  that  their  hearers 
might  well  imagine  how  the  infernal  sea  of  flames  was  agitated 
up  and  down  with  the  souls  of  those  lost  for  ever,  that  is, 
of  heretics  and  unbelievers.  Indeed,  in  the  excitement  of 
a  heated  imagination  one  might  be  able  to  swear  to 
hearing  the  cries  of  misery  and  the  curses  of  the  tor- 
mented, and  to  smell  the  smoke  and  fumes  of  the  lake  of 
sulphur!  What  heart,  especially  if  beating  in  a  female 
breast,  would  not  be  touched  ?  in  whom  would  not  remorse 
be  awakened?  who  would  not  be  forcibly  impelled  to  make 
known  his  sins  to  the  holy  Fathers,  and  to  purchase  abso- 
lution from  them  ?  Certainly,  no  one  was  able  to  withstand 
such  a  holy  agitator,  who  was  in  such  an  excellent  posi- 
tion to  harangue  the  people;  and  was  it  not  true  good 
fortune  that  one  might  be  able  to  have  his  sins  remitted 
so  easily  by  offerings,  prayers,  pilgrimages,  and  other  outward 
means  I 

The  greatest  good  fortune  for  the  sons  of  Loyola  was,  how- 
ever, when  such-like  missions  were  held  in  states  and  princi- 
palities where  the  members  were  not,  as  Jesuits,  allowed 
to  take  up  their  abode,   and  where  they  had  no  legal   home. 


THE   JESUITS   IN    THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       247 


0  Lord !  the  dear  innocent  missionaries  are  far  from  wishing 
to  establish  colleges  or  seminaries,  and  much  less  of  making 
a  domestic  settlement;  they  merely  come  as  "  travellers "  and 
"  passers-by."  Only  as  private  individuals  and  guests  of  Bishops, 
whose  personal  freedom  may  not  be  so  interfered  with  as  that 
any  questions  should  be  put  to  them  regarding  their  fellow- 
believers.  Besides,  it  was  not  preaching  alone  which  brought 
about  these  marvellous  effects,  but  still  more  the  Hocus-pocus,  if 

1  may  be  allowed  to  make  use  of  such  an  expression,  with  which 
the  pious  Fathers  were  wont  to  adorn  their  missions.  They  made 
their  appearance,  indeed,  as  little  better  than  play-actors,  well 
knowing  that  the  mass  of  the  people  were  carried  away  by 
nothing  so  much  as  splendour  on  the  one  side  and  buffoonery 
on  the  other !  In  this  respect  I  could  bring  forward  a  number 
of  proofs  of  this  usual  missionary  Hocus-pocus ;  for  instance, 
one  of  the  very  worthy  Fathers  would  mount  the  pulpit  as  the 
advocate  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  apostolical  religion,  thun- 
dering down  with  the  full  force  of  his  lungs  upon  another  who, 
in  the  guise  of  the  living  Satan,  defended  the  cause  of  irreligion 
and  heresy;  but  such-like  things  are  too  well  known  that  it 
should  be  necessary  for  me  to  dilate  further  on  them. 

Who  does  not  call  to  mind,  at  these  missions,  the  usual  pomp 
displayed,  the  Mount  Calvary,  the  "public  deprecations,"  the 
*'  way  to  the  cross,"  and  many  other  similar  things  ?  Who  does 
not  remember  about  the  heaps  of  Mary's  images,  statues  of 
Christ,  Agnus  Dei,  relics  and  crucifixes,  which  are  sold  to  the 
faithful  after  having  been  endowed,  by  the  magic  wand  of  the 
Jesuits,  with  the  power  of  working  wonders?  The  power, 
indeed,  of  operating  against  witches  and  ghosts,  as  well  as 
counteracting  diseases,  burns,  and  every  thing  of  the  kind? 
All  this  was  brought  into  use  at  these  Jesuit  missions,  whatever, 
indeed,  might  have  an  effect  on  the  superstitious  minds  of  the 
hearers,  and  no  artifice  remained  untried  in  order  to  make  the 
people  enthusiastic  "for  the  things  of  religion,"  as  the  sons  of 
Loyola  expressed  themselves;  that  is,  in  plainer  language,  to 
drive  away  from  the  uneducated  and  ignorant  masses  all  sound 
religious  ideas,  and  instil  into  them,  instead,  the  grossest  super- 
stition, as  well  as,  also,  the  deepest  veneration  for  the  Society  of 

Jesus. 

Mundus  vult  decipi,  ergo  decipiatur — "  The  world  wishes  to 


248 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


be  deceived,  it  will  therefore  be  deceived  " — is  an  old  proverb, 
and  the  sons  of  Loyola  conducted  their  missions  according  to 
this  notion.  The  superstitious  peasants,  however,  allowed 
themselves  to  he  persuaded  by  the  latter  to  buy  Ignatius*  powder 
against  the  danger  of  fire,  Ignatius'  water  against  devils  and 
ghosts,  and  Ignatius*  pennies  against  pestilence  and  contagious 
diseases ;  but  these,  indeed,  were  even  better  than  those  poor 
women  who  allowed  themselves  to  be  goaded^to  distraction  by  the 
insane  descriptions  of  the  torments  of  hell,  and  were  sometimes 
driven  to  take  refuge  in  mad-houses. 

The  second  approved  means  of  acquiring  power  and  influence 
has  ever  been,  amongst  the  sons  of  Loyola,  the  confessional, 
and  this  mode  they  employ,  even  now,  with  the  best  results.     It 
is  not,  however,  the  consciences  of  the  common  people  that  lie 
at  their  heart,  as  it  is  not   easy  to  work  upon  the  ordinary 
populace  by  means  of  missions ;  it  is  rather  the  consciences  of 
the  people  of  rank,  the  powerful  and  influential,    whilst,   too, 
through  them  alone,  can  anything  be  got.     Consequently,  in  all 
Catholic  countries  the  positions  of  Father  Confessors  at  Courts 
were  almost  invariably  found  to  be  held  by  Jesuits,  either  open 
or  disguised,  and  where  this  was  not  the  case  no  means  were 
left  untried  in  order  to  overthrow  those  ecclesiastics  who  acted 
as  spiritual  advisers.     Now  this  was  in  many  cases  by  no  means 
easy  of  accomplishment,  as  one  may,  perhaps,  welljmagine  that 
the  previous  Father  Confessors  were  not  infeequently  men  of 
sense,  and  knew  how  to  defend  themselves ;  but  when  all  means 
were  ineff'ectual,  when  neither  calumniation,   bribery,  nor  dis- 
simulation led  to  the  end  to  be  attained,  the  Jesuits  took  to  their 
last  resource,  the  influence  of  woman, — and  this  remedy  never 
remained  without  effect.     Who  is  the  mother  who  has  not  a  son, 
and  who  the  spouse  who  has  not  a  husband,  who  has  not  wit- 
nessed lovers  having  everything  in  their  power,  as  where  is  the 
man  who  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  governed  by  a  beloved 
daughter  of  Eve  ?     It  was  precisely  on  these  grounds  that  the 
sons  of  Loyola  made  it  always  their  great  aim  to  gain  over  the 
women,  and  as  they  now,  in  their  seminaries,  expressly  brought 
up  suitable  youths  with  this  object,  they  always  found   among 
their  ranks  some,  at  least,  whose  mellifluous  speech  and  physical 
beauty  it  was  not  easy  for  the  female  mind  to  withstand. 

In  these  crooked  ways,  then,  the  pious  Fathers  always  attained 


THE    JESUITS   IN    THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      249 


what  they  desired  ;  and  how,  then,  was  it  to  he  wondered  at 
that  the  situations  of  Court  Father  Confessors  were  almost 
"always  to  be  found  in  the  hands  of  the  sons  of  Ignatius  ? 
No,  verily,  on  this  point  need  no  one  wonder,  and  still  less  as  to 
the  use  to  which  they  put  the  confessional.  Their  main  object, 
indeed,  was  to  regain  for  their  Society  the  dominion  which  it 
possessed  previous  to  its  abolition,  and,  in  order  to  accomplish 
this,  the  belief  must  be  established  among  the  great  of  this  earth 
that  the  Jesuits  alone  were  the  possessors  of  true  religion,  while 
by  their  aid  only  could  a  monarchical  Government  be  upheld. 

They  continually  whispered  into  the  ears  of  the  princes  that, 
"  with  the  abolition  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  the  power  of  the  Koman 
See  sank  lower  and  lower;  with  this  See  the  power  of  kings, 
also,  diminished  in  a  precisely  similar  proportion.  Thereupon 
broad  thinking,  enlightenment,  and  science,  or,  as  it  may  otherwise 
be  called,  irreligion,  burst  all  the  bands  of  obedience  to  the  laws, 
and  the  general  spirit  of  liberty  which  now  spreads  itself  from 
one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other  is  nothing  else  than  the 
degradation  of  the  true  faith.  This  must,  then,  be  firmly  planted 
again,  and  in  order  to  accomplish  this  the  sons  of  Loyola 
alone  are  fitted." 

Such  is  the  confessional  teaching  of  the  Jesuits,  and  what 
they  meant  by  the  "  true  faith  ^*  is  to  be  seen  in  their  missions, 
with  their  rosaries,  their  scapularies,  their  penitential  shirts, 
their  fasts,  their  processions,  and  all  the  other  baubles  of  their 
worship. 

A  third  means  for  the  attainment  of  power  and  riches  by  the 
sons  of  Loyola  was  the  congregations  and  sodalities  which  they 
established  in  all  Catholic  countries,  and,  in  truth,  the  same  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken  so  much.  Mankind  remains  always 
the  same,  and  as  a  fanatical  use  of  religion  must  immediately 
exercise  an  extraordinary  influence  upon  worshippers  and  bigots, 
therefore  the  sons  of  Ignatius  instituted — and  so  it  is  even  at  the 
present  time — holy  brotherhoods,  the  members  of  which  confess 
almost  daily,  as  well  as  communicate,  fast,  and  devote  themselves 
to  other  holy  exercises.  They  instituted  them  because  all  these 
fanatical  devotional  exercises  proceeded  under  their  own  personal 
supervision,  and  because  thus  the  brothers,  united  together  in 
the  sodalities,  were  not  only  quite  dependent  upon  them,  but  also 
formed  a  body-guard  for  the  Order  which  was  not  at  all  to  be 


250 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.        251 


\ 


despised.  Moreover,  it  would  be  erroneous,  were  it  to  be  believed 
that  these  sodalities  were  confined  entirely  to  the  male  sex,  and 
that,  in  the  Society  of  Jesus,  mere  "  brotherhoods"  had  been 
founded,  taking  this  word  in  its  literal  meaning.  It  was,  indeed, 
quite  the  opposite,  and  there  are  actually,  among  the  many  con- 
gregations dependent  on  the  Society  of  Jesus,  far  more  females 
than  males.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  those  countries  in 
which  the  Society,  being  still  nominally  prohibited,  dare  not 
make  its  appearance  openly ;  and  the  wonderfully  sagacious 
Fathers,  who  never  undervalued  the  influence  of  the  fair  sex, 
well  knew  how  to  set  to  work. 

One  meets,  then,  in  all  Catholic  Christian   countries,   large 
communities  of   *'  sisters  of   mercy,"  who,    to   all   appearance, 
know  no  other  object  in  life  but  to  be  useful  to  mankind  as 
nurses  to  the  sick.     In  this  manner  they  manage  everywhere  to 
get  the  hospitals  into  their  own  hands.     If,  however,  one  looks 
into  their  proceedings  more  minutely,  it  may  at  once  be  seen 
that  the  cure  of  the  souls  of  the  sick,  and  their  conversion  to 
the  true  faith,  according   to  Jesuitical  instructions,  lie  more  at 
their  heart  than  a  regard  for  the  body  and  the  healing  of  phy- 
sical  ailments.     Indeed,  as   it  has  been  long  ago  proved,  by 
magisterial   investigations,   the   nursing   of    the  sick,   and   the 
innocent   title   which    they   bear,    are    only   made   use    of  by 
them   as   an   ensign,   that  they  may  be    able   more   surely  to 
work   less   disturbed   for   their  friends  the   Jesuits.      Further, 
there   are   "Ladies   of   the  Holy    Heart  of  Mary  and  of  the 
Infant   Jesus "   who   have   found    especially   a    great   develop- 
ment in  the  Koman  States,  and  whose  position  is  to  the  female 
youth  what  the  sons  of  Loyola  are    to  the  male.      In   other 
words,  they  devote  themselves  entirely  and  solely  to  the  educa 
tiou  of  young  maidens,  and  their  system  of  education  corresponds 
exactly  with  that  of  the  Jesuits ;  on  this  account,  these  ladies 
have  also  got  the  name  of  "  Jesuitesses."      Lastly,  there  are 
communities   which    are   still    more   widely    disseminated,    the 
"  Sisters  of  the  True  Faith/'  called  also,  ia  France,  *'  Meres  de 
la  Foi  " ;  and  I  need  not  waste  words  in  affirming  that  these,  too, 
are  nothing  more  than  instruments  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  for 
clearing  the  way  for  its  reception  and  propagation.     This  name, 
"  More  de  la  Foi,*'  evidently  signifies  the  same  as  "  P6re  de  la 
Foi,"  of  which  I  have  already  made  mention. 


L 


Thus,  in  short,  the  Society  of  .fesus  directs  its  chief  attention, 
wherever  it  has  penetrated  since  its  re-establishment,  to  the 
formation  of  congregations  and  sodalities,  as  well  of  the  male 
as  of  the  female  sex,  and  the  holy  Fathers  contrived  to  take  good 
care  that  the  people  should  flock  for  admittance  into  these  and 
similar  "holy  societies."  O  Lord!  there  occurred  so  much 
excitement  and  agitation  about  this  that  it  was,  indeed,  hardly 
possible  to  withstand  it.  One  has  only  to  consider  the  monthly 
general  communion  with  thorough  plenary  indulgence  !  One 
has  only  to  think  of  the  devotion  of  nine  Sundays  in  honour  of 
the  Holy  Ignatius,  of  the  nine  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Xavier, 
of  the  six  Sundays  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Aloysius,  and  of  the 
league  in  honour  of  the  Holy  Heart  of  Jesus !  Keflect  on  the 
many  pilgrimages,  off*erings,  and  processional  prayers,  especially, 
however,  on  the  holy  exercises  with  the  churches  draped  in  black, 
and  the  titillating  scourges, .  and  such  like.  Was  there,  then, 
any  wonder  that,  as  has  been  stated,  people  of  all  conditions 
flocked  to  be  received  into  the  sodalities  ?  The  Jesuits,  however, 
exercised  all  over  the  world,  through  these  societies,  a  power 
not  to  be  undervalued,  as  they  remained,  without  exception, 
under  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  Jesuit  General  in 
Rome,  who  carefully  looked  after  them  through  wandering  mem- 
bers of  the  Society,  causing  lists  and  reports  of  them  to  be  sent 
to  him,  with  whose  wishes  they  were  obliged  unhesitatingly  to 
comply. 

Yet  still  more  than  by  these  missions,  confessionals,  and  soda- 
lities, the  sons  of  Loyola,  in  modern  times,  contrived  to  pro- 
cure for  themselves  consideration  and  acceptance  through  their 
educational  institutions,  and  thus  the  old  story  was  repeated  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken  in  the  Second  Book  of  this  work. 
They  commenced  quite  imperceptibly  wherever  they  came,  and 
perhaps  some  few  pupils  formed  in  the  whole  year  the  sole 
foundation ;  but  after  two  or  three  years  had  passed  the  thing 
had  developed  itself  quite  marvellously,  and  instead  of  a  few 
poor  scholars  they  possessed  hundreds,  if  not  more.  Among 
these,  however,  the  most  part  belonged  to  the  higher  classes,  and 
it  happened,  of  course,  that  instead  of  a  small  unpretending 
house,  in  which  instruction  had  begun  to  be  given,  there  was  in 
its  place  a  grand  palace  which  almost  resembled  a  university. 
Astonishment  was,   perhaps,   manifested   at  this  extraordinary 


I 
I 


252 


mSTOBT   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


I 


change,  and  it  was  looked  on  as  a  miracle;  without  reason, 
however,  as  it  was  only  a  natural  consequence.  The  sons  of  Loyola 
demonstrated  to  the  higher  classes,  and  especially  to  the  nobility 
of  the  land,  that  the  spirit  of  modern  times  was  highly  depraved ; 
they  told  them  that  the  so-called  enlightenment  of  the  day  was 
alone  to  blame  for  the  revolutionary  movements  of  the  last 
seventy  or  eighty  years;  they  proved  to  them  that  all  the 
pernicious  changes  which  had  weighed  so  heavily  upon  the 
nobility,  in  the  political  organisation  of  States,  would  have 
been  impossible  if  the  old  faith  had  still  governed  the  minds 
of  men  to  its  full  extent;  lastly,  they  cautioned  people  most 
earnestly,  and  by  the  most  horrible  suggestions,  against  allow- 
ing the  youth  of  the  nobility  to  be  educated  together  with 
the  common  herd  at  the  ordinary  gymnasiums  and  universities, 
and  they  represented  the  danger  lest  they  might  also  imbibe 
the  poison  of  new-fangled  worldly  opinions.  Such  and  similar 
sentiments  were  continually  given  out  by  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
who,  at  the  same  time,  maintained  such  a  truly  settled  expression 
of  countenance  that  no  one  could  have  any  doubt  about  the 
truth  of  their  words. 

What  was  left,  then,  for  the  noble  parents,  who  would  gladly  have 
seen  the  condition  of  the  world  re-established  as  it  was  previous 
to  the  French  Revolution  ?  What  was  open  for  them  to  do,  but 
to  confide  their  sons  to  the  Jesuits,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
educated  in  the  true  faith,  and  in  proper  views  as  regards  worldly 
aflPairs?  What  remained  for  them,  besides,  but  to  assist  the 
poor  Fathers  of  the  Order  energetically  with  gold  and  goods, 
because  there  was  really  no  other  way  left  for  the  correct  nurture 
of  their  sons,  as  they  would  otherwise  be  obliged  to  allow  them 
to  grow  up  in  the  degraded  society  of  the  common  people,  in 
which  they  must  necessarily  become  acquainted  with  the  sub- 
versive ideas  as  to  throne  and  altar  pervading  the  present  century? 
This,  then,  accounts  for  the  palatial  appearance  of  the  new 
Jesuit  colleges,  and  hence  came  the  overcrowding  of  the  latter 
with  the  youth  alone  of  the  nobility  *     But,  in  truth,  the  noble 

♦  The  South  German  reader  who  wishes  to  convince  himself  of  the  truth 
of  what  is  here  related  through  personal  observation,  has  not  far  to  travel, 
for  he  finds  everything  confirmed  most  completely  should  he  betake  himself 
to  Gorheim,  in  Sigmaringen,  or  to  Feldkirch,  in  Southern  Austria.  It 
swarms  there  with  young  Barons,  Counts,  and  even  Princes,  whose  home  is 
to  be  found  for  the  most  part  in  tolerably  distant  countries,  such  as  West- 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTÜEY.       253 

parents  did  not  consider  that  the  Jesuits'  method  of  teaching  in 
their  colleges  continued  to  be  the  same  as  it  had  been  for 
centuries  previous  to  the]  suppression "^f  the  Order,  a  method 
which  had  been  acknowledged  as  entirely  vicious,  defective,  and 
generally  injurious. 

The  high-born  barons,  counts,  and  princes  did  not  take  into 
consideration  that,  centuries  ago,  no  truly  scientific  education 
was  to  be  got  from  the  Jesuits,  but  merely  a  semblance  of  the 
same;   indeed,   a  poor   external   varnish   concealed  an  inward 
unsubstantial  foundation.     They  did  not  reflect  that  the  extra- 
ordinary  progress    witnessed  in  this  century,  both  as  regards 
education,  the  art  of  teaching,  and    the  sciences   themselves, 
particularly  natural  science,  was  completely  ignored  in  the  Jesuit 
schools,  and  that  the  pupils  of  the  latter  were  necessarily,  as 
concerns  their  knowledge  and  attainments,  very  far  behind  their 
companions  educated  elsewhere.     A  Liberal  deputy  of  the  great 
Council  of  Freiburg  spoke  thus,  when  the  question  regarding  the 
education  given  to  the  academical  youth  by  the  Society  of  Jesus 
was  before   them :— "  Would   you  give   over  this   most   sacred 
trust,  the  education  of  youth,  to  such  men  ?      Fanatical  half 
monks,  who   do   not,  in  the   least,  possess    the  knowledge   of 
ordinary  preceptors,    and   who  are  very  far  removed  from  the 
summit  of  modern  science;  a  loose  heap  of  Italians,  French,  and 
Germans  collected  together,  full  of  pride  and  self-esteem,  who, 
without  true  culture  and  information,  inveigh  with  hate  against 
freedom    and   enlightenment;    men   who   fundamentally  falsify 
history  and  the  science  of  nature,  in  order  not  to  mention  the 
ideas  of  modern  times ;  who  only  propagate  stupidity  and  super- 
stition ;  and,  as  they  belong  to  no  particular  country  of  their 
own,  drive  out  of  the  miuds  of  their  pupils  the  most  noble  of  all 
feelings,  that  of  patriotism."     Thus  spoke  one  of  the  free  Swiss 
citizens ;  and  that  he  was  perfectly  right  in  what  he  said,  anyone 
may  be  convinced  by  the  subsequent  experiences  in  Freiburg. 

Lastly,  I  must  still  make  mention  of  a  fifth  means,  by  which 
the  sons  of  Loyola  contrived  to  raise  themselves  in  estimation 
and  consolidate  their  power ;  and  that  is,  their  influence  on  public 
opinion.     They  knew  only  too  well  how  much  depends  upon 

phalia,  Hungary,  Poland,  and  elsewhere.  In  Northern  Germany,  however, 
the  principal  colleges  are  to  be  sought  for  on  the  Bhine,  especially  in  the 
dioceses  of  Cologne,  Treves,  Paderborn,  and  Münster. 


If 


254 


HISTOBT   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


J 


this,  and,  therefore,  they  immediately   launched   against  their 
opponents  such  a  hail  of  pamphlets  and  lampoons  that  these 
latter  could  hardly  wait  upright  under  the  weight.      As  now, 
however,  in   our  times,  in   the  place  of  contentious  writings, 
brochures,  and  pamphlets,  newspapers  are  to  be  met  with,  the 
Loyolites  did  not  delay  a  moment  in  making  themselves  at  home 
m  this  department ;   and  there  was  soon  no  country,  indeed,  no 
province,  in  which  the  Society  of  Jesus  did  not  possess  its  own 
peculiar  organ,  that  is  to  say,  a  public  print  which,  conducted  in 
a  Jesuitical  spirit,  defended  Jesuit  principles,  teaching,  and  inte- 
rests.    In  this  respect  I  have  only  to  call  to  mind  the  so-called 
Deutsche  Volksblatt  in    Stuttgart,  the  FriedriclUshafener  See- 
hlatt,   the   Baden    Beobachter,    the    Munich    Volksboten,    the 
Mainzer  Journal,  the  Tyrol  Stimmen,  the  Dillinger  Aehrenlese, 
the  Bonntagsblatt  of  Uhl,  the  Alban  Stolz" sehen  Blätter,  and 
many  more  of  a  similar  description.     These  nine   appeared  in 
Southern  Germany  alone,  and  from  this  the  reader  can  form  some 
idea  as  to  what  a  mass  of  newspapers  were  at  the  command  of 
the  Jesuits  all  over  Christendom.     It  is  true  that  these  prints 
were  not  always  conducted  with  skill,  but,  on  the  other  hand 
they  abounded  with  abuse  and  falsehoods,  that  is,  with  calumnious 
and  coarse  attacks  on  those  of  a  different  opinion  from  themselves. 
The  Loyolites  were  doubtless  aware  of  the  old  Latin  proposition 
Semper  aliquid  haret,  and  on  that  account  they  seldom  hesitated 
to  project  the  most  foolish  calumnies  against  those  who  thought 
differently  from  them.     They   thus  calculated  in  their  minds  • 
"  The  pubhc  will,  it  is  true,  be  of  opinion  that  we  have  been 
libelling,  but  still,  nevertheless,  there  will  certainly  be  on  the 
part  of  many  a  belief  that  there  may  be  at  least  some  truth  in 
what  we  advance,  and,  therefore,  our  untruths  will  always  be 
productive  of  some  advantage.'^ 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  Jesuits  continued  to  act  on  the 
same  principles  which  they  formeriy  allowed  themselves  to  adopt 
as  regards  their  many  dealings  with  the  remaining  Orders  and 
ecclesiastics;  and  even  their  most  respectable  and  greatest  organ, 
the  Civilta  Cattolica,  could  not  clear  itself  from  such  a 
reproach. 

These  are  the  means  by  which  the  Society  of  Jesus,  after  its 
re-establishment  by  the  Pope,  contrived  to  attain  its  powerful 
position,  and  I  must  repeat  that  such  were  exactly  the  ways 


THE   JESUITS  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.        255 

and  methods  of  which  Loyola  and  his  first  scholars  made  use. 
The  Jesuits  remain  entirely  the  same  as  of  old,  precisely  as  their 
great  patrons  the  Popes,  and  whoever  can  have  any  doubt  on  the 
subject,  let  him  please  to  put  himself  right  about  it;  let  him 
learn  how  they  were  wont  to  maintain  the  vows  of  poverty  and 
chastity ;  let  him  instruct  himself  as  to  how  the  doctrine  of 
approved  murder  and  assassination  was  practised  by  them,  and 
then  certainly  will  all  his  doubts  be  set  at  rest.  In  relation  to 
the  vow  of  poverty,  the  greater  part  of  thinking  people  are  of 
one  mind  only  on  the  subject,  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  have  never 
carried  on  the  pest  of  legacy-hunting  to  such  an  extent  as  hap- 
pened after  their  re-establishment,  and  this  is  proclaimed  already 
by  that  petition  to  the  French  Senate  to  which  I  have  before 
briefly  alluded.  Besides,  can  the  many  complaints  which  are 
continually  coming  before  the  courts  of  justice,  brought  by 
injured  relatives,  have  their  origin  merely  in  fabricated  charges? 
However,  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  enter  into  too  minute  details 
thereupon,  but  merely  content  myself  with  explaining  the  par- 
ticulars of  a  single  case  which  occurred  only  a  few  years  ago, 
because  the  reader  can  draw  a  conclusion  from  this  single  instance 
respecting  all  the  others,  especially  in  regard  to  the  way  of 
proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Loyolites. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirtieth  year  of  our  century,  a 
bachelor  of  the  name  of  William  de  Boey,  already  rather 
advanced  in  life,  settled  in  Antwerp,  in  order  to  live  there  as 
a  private  individual.  He  had  previously  been  a  merchant,  and 
had  through  fortunate  speculations  acquired  for  himself  a 
colossal  fortune  of  nearly  six  million  of  francs.  The  interest 
of  this  property  he  did  not  require  to  use  for  himself,  as  he 
lived  a  comparatively  very  simple  life;  instead,  however,  of 
adding  it  to  the  capital,  he  annually  expended  large  sums  in 
benevolent  objects,  and  no  one  was  ever  turned  away  from  his 
door, who  was  in  any  need  of  assistance.  Besides  which,  he 
aided  energetically  his  poor  relatives^  of  whom  he  had  a  number, 
and  thus  the  name  of  William  de  Boey  was  highly  esteemed  by 
everyone  all  through  Antwerp.  Even  envy  had  nothing  to 
bring  forward  against  the  good  old  gentleman,  his  rather  con- 
tracted mind  and  almost  extravagant  bigotry  alone  excepted. 
Thus  things  went  on  for  several  years,  till  towards  the  end  of 
thirty  years  some  members  oi  the  Society  of  Jesus  gained  admit- 


256 


HISTOBY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


tance  into  the  rich  man  s  house,  under  the  pretext  of  soliciting 
a  contribution  for  a  poor  man  in  distress ;  from  this  time  for- 
ward, however,  a  complete  change  took  place  in  the  manner  and 
way  in  which  William  de  Boey  exercised  his  benevolence.  As 
he  had  formerly  given  a  friendly  ear  to  the  voice  of  any  deserving 
person,  be  he  priest  or  layman,  he  only  listened  now  on  the  advice 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  instead  of,  as  formerly,  making  the  whole 
needy  population  of  Antwerp  happy,  he  now  gave  only  to  those 
who  were  recommended  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,  that  is,  to  them- 
selves. He  bought  for  them  a  large  house  in  the  city  in  order 
to  found  a  college,  besides  which  he  assigned  considerable 
revenues  to  them  to  meet  the  rest  of  their  expenses. 

Now,   notwithstanding  the  large   donations   which   the  good 
Fathers  Boone,  Vanhalsenoy,  Hessels,  Lhoir,  and  Franqueville, 
who  proved  themselves  so  very  active  in  the  matter,  contrived 
to  obtain  from  the  rich  old  man,  they  must  needs  cast  their 
eyes  on  the  capital  of  the  property,  that  is,  on  the  six  millions, 
and  in  order  to  get  possession  of  it  De  Boey  must  be  brought 
to  execute  a  will  in  their  favour.     This  was,  in  truth,  a  very 
difficult  undertaking,  as  the  old  gentleman,  as  already  said,  had 
very  many  relations,  and  of  these  he  loved  several  almost  as 
much  as  if  they  had  been  his  own  children.     Thus,  especially, 
Maria  de  Buck,  one  of  his  nieces,  and  two  nephews,  by  name 
W.  Grabeels  and  Benedict  de  Buck,  the  latter  of  whom,  indeed, 
resided  with  and  was    brought   up  by   him,   while   the   other 
two  daily  came  in  and  out  of  his   house.     Still,    the   worthy 
Fathers,  of  whom  the  General  of  the  Order  had  conducted  the 
business  of  the  heritage  with  De  Boey,  belonged  to  the  most 
experienced,  sharp-sighted,  and  intelligent  of   the  Order,   and, 
consequently,  they  would  not  long  remain  undecided  as  to  the 
step  contemplated   by   them.     They  perceived   that  the  rela- 
tions of  the  old  man  must  be  estranged,  that  they  must  be  made 
to  be  suspected  by  him,  and  that  by  degrees  he  must  be  brought 
to  the  belief  that  the  cousins  and  nieces  came  about  him,  and  paid 
him  so  many  visits,  merely  to  see  if  they  would  ere  long  enter 
on  the  inheritance,  that  is,  whether  the  rich  uncle  would  soon  be 
taken  out  of  their  way  by  death.     This  means  worked  well,  and 
William  de  Boey  caused  himself  to  be. denied  to  all  his  nephews 
and  nieces,  with  the  exception  alone  of  the  three  above-mentioned, 
Maria  de  Buck,  W.  Grabeels,  and  Benedict  de  Buck.     And  even 


THE    JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       257 

this  did  not  last  long,  as  Maria  de  Buck  was  not  allowed  any 
more  to  enter  the  room  of  the  uncle,  his  spiritual  advisers  having 
succeeded  in  persuading  him  that  she  was  leading  an  immoral 
kind  of  life,  and  that  her  tender  sympathies  were  of  no  value. 
The  sons  of  Loyola  proceeded  with  equal  skill  against  W.  Gra- 
beels, as  they  at  once  sent  him  over  to  America,  as  soon  as  they 
had  brought  him  to  enter  their  Order  as  a  novice,  and  caused 
him  to  be  shut  up  in  a  trial  house  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 
There  remained,  then,  only  the  young  Benedict  de  Buck  to 
get  rid  of,  and,  indeed,  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  the  latter 
enjoyed  the  special  favour  of  the  uncle,  and  there  was  the 
greatest  danger  that  his  liking  for  him  would  only  increase  year 
by  year,  owing  to  the  sprightly  and  amiable  behaviour  of  the  boy. 
But  there  was  no  need  for  anxiety  about  the  matter,  as  Father 
Lhoir  had  taken  it  in  hand,  and  as  he  was  in  the  first  rank  as 
to  his  Jesuitical  capacity,  it  would  be  criminal  to  doubt  that  he 
would  bring  it  to  a  fortunate  termination.  Before  everything 
the  Father  strove,  with  this  object,  to  obtain  the  most  unlimited 
confidence  from  his  confessant  William  de  Boey ;  and  this  was 
easy  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  knowledge  of  human 
nature  which  the  spiritual  adviser  possessed,  coupled  with  the 
gentle  tractability  of  the  merchant's  disposition.  He  first  ofiered 
his  assistance  to  the  old  gentleman  in  regard  to  the  education  of 
his  favourite  Benedict,  and  he  did  this  with  such  an  expression 
of  sincerity  and  kindness,  that  the  old  gentleman,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  consented  with  pleasure.  Now,  then,  in  order  to 
render  the  young  man  zealous  in  the  study  of  languages  and 
sciences,  and,  at  the  same  time,  in  order  to  be  able  to  keep  him 
away  from  the  evil  influence  of  the  bad  fellows  of  Antwerp, 
Benedict  was  scarcely  ever  allowed  out  of  the  house,  so  that  he 
was  obliged  completely  to  dispense  with  the  natural  pleasures  of 
boyhood.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Father  took  care  to  excite  to 
the  extreme  the  lively  imagination  of  the  young  man,  and  by  the 
use  of  dissuasion  from  worldly  lusts,  which  he  described  in 
the  most  glowing  colours,  to  create  in  him  an  earnest  longing 
after  these  very  sins.  The  consequence  of  this  could  be  no 
other  than  that  the  nearer  the  boy  approached  to  the  age  of 
manhood,  the  more  unbearable  became  the  constraint  in  which 
he  was  held,  and  he  began  to  give  way  to  excesses  which  not  in- 
frequently accompany  that  time  of  life.     Instead,  now,  however, 

II.  17 


258 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUITS   IN    THE    NINETEENTH   CENTÜBY.       259 


of  remonstrating  kindly  with  the  youth,  as  to    the  impropriety 
of  such  indulgences,  to  which  for  the  most  part  the  Father  had 
in  an  underhand  way  given  rise,  he  not  only  censured  them 
most  vehemently,  but,  what  was   the  chief  thing,  represented 
them  in  the  light  of  real  crimes  to  the  uncle  now  imbecile  from 
age.     On  this  account  there  necessarily  arose  an  estrangement 
between  the  two,  as  the  uncle  saw  in  his  nephew  no  longer  the 
dear  relative  who,   in   the  stead  of  a   son,  should  enliven   the 
evening  of  his  life,  but  rather  an  ungrateful  "  ne'er-do-well,"  on 
whom  all  the  kindnesses  he  had  lavished  had  been  completely 
thrown   away;  and,   on  the   other   hand,    the   young  Benedict 
shunned  the  company  of  his  uncle,  as  that  of  a  morose  peevish 
man,  who  embittered  all  the  joys   of  existence  by  his  exces- 
sive  strictness.      Thus   it  was   in   the  house  of  old  de  Boey, 
when  Benedict,  after  having  passed   the  age  of  fifteen,  being 
seized  with    a  longing  after  the  outer  world,  on   one  occasion 
left   his  lonely  apartment  in  order   to  refresh   his   disordered 
mind  in    God's   free    air.      Accident   threw   in   his    way    some 
boys  of  his  own  age,  and  they  soon  struck  up  an  acquaintance 
with  each  other.     The  young  company    took   their   road  to    a 
chapel  before  the  town,  in  which,  at  the  time  of  their  visiting 
it,  neither  a  sacristan  nor  any  other  devout  person  was  present. 
Everything,  therefore — the  sacristy,  the  organ,  and  the  altar  with 
the  holy  pictures  placed  at  the  back  of  it— remained  completely 
open  to  the   undisturbed  diversion  of  the  boys.     Among  these 
holy  pictures  there  happened  to  be  a  Madonna  with  a  heavenly 
crown  of  silver,  and   this   attracting  the   eyes   of  the   young 
fellows,  they  declared  it  to  be  fair  booty.     Benedict  himself  took 
no  part  in  the  theft,  but,  nevertheless,  did  not  venture  to  oppose 
his  newly- acquired  comrades,  and  bound  himself  under  a  promise 
of  inviolable  silence.     Of  course,  the  transaction  soon  became 
noised   abroad,  and  Benedict  was  obliged  to  confess  his  own 
complicity,  while  the  real  thieves  did  not  omit  to  point  him  out 
as  a  ringleader,  as  they  thought  that  the  near  relative  and  heir 
of  so  rich  a  man  as  old  de  Boey  would  not  be  much  of  a  suflferer. 
Such,  indeed,  would  certainly  have  been  the  case  had  only  Father 
Lhoir  not  been  in  existence.     Now  he  had  for  some  years  past 
longed  for  some  such  occurrence,  and  he  would  have  been  no 
true  son  of  Loyola  had  he  not  taken  full  advantage  thereof.    He, 
therefore,  did  not  fail  to  represent  the  matter  to  old  de  Boey  in  the 


darkest  light  possible,  and  endeavoured  to  bring  him  at  once  to 
the  conviction  that  only  a  very  exemplary  punishment  of  his 
nephew  would  save  the  young  thief  from  a  criminal  course  of 
life.  Lastly,  in  spite  of  the  earnest  entreaties  of  Benedict  not 
to  expose  his  shame,  as  he  had,  indeed,  not  himself  taken 
any  part  in  the  robbery,  he  did  not  omit  to  bring  the  case 
before  the  judgment  court  of  Antwerp,  and  to  take  care  that  his 
pupil  should  be  sentenced  to  the  degradation  of  a  year's  impri- 
sonment for  being  concerned  in  a  church  robbery. 

This  occurred  at  the  end  of  1834,  and  the  first  step  towards 
making  a  galley-convict  of  the  young  Benedict  had  succeeded. 
The  young  man  was  at  once  conveyed  to  the  penitentiary  at 
St.  Bernard,  and  everybody  knows  what  is  learned  in  such  an 
institution. 

In  order  to  bring  him  back  to  the  way  of  virtue,  then,  after 
the  period  of  punishment  had  transpired,  his  uncle,  by  the 
advice  of  Father  Lhoir,  had  him  confined  in  the  lunatic  asylum 
of  Froidmont.  He  had,  it  seems,  come  across  an  old  law,  by 
which  it  was  allowed  to  a  relative  to  place  an  irreclaimable 
member  of  his  family  in  an  institution  of  the  kind  with  the 
view  of  curing  him.  Froidmont,  however,  was  such  a  peculiar 
reformatory  that  the  young  Benedict  shortly  became  a  Bedlamite, 
and  in  one  of  his  fits  of  madness  made  his  escape  without 
further  ado.  He  was  next  found  on  the  esplanade  at  Antwerp, 
with  a  sword-stick  and  a  newly-discharged  pistol  in  his  hand, 
shouting  out  and  staggering  like  a  drunken  person.  He  was 
immediately  arrested,  and  examined  by  a  physician,  and  anew 
brought  back  to  Froidmont,  because  he  was  evidently  sujBfering 
from  mental  aberration ;  but  Father  Lhoir  made  good  use  of 
this  circumstance  in  order  to  bring  the  uncle  to  the  conviction 
that  Benedict  had  at  that  time  the  intention  of  murdering  his 
uncle,  and  had  only  by  a  fortunate  circumstance  been  prevented 
from  making  the  attempt.  After  his  fresh  arrest — in  August 
1836 — Benedict  was  compelled  to  pass  another  year  at  Froid- 
mont, and  he  would  probably  have  remained  there  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  had  he  not,  for  a  second  time,  found  an 
occasion  to  make  his  escape. 

When,  however,  he  now  installed  himself  again  in  the  uncle's 
house  in  Antwerp,  he  entreated  the  latter  so  urgently  not 
to  send  him   back   to   the  lunatic   asylum,  that  the  latter  at 

17  * 


V 

1 


^«»♦--»•-C  "»r-»  »«  -^.^—'  - 


'\  ^•^-     .  >' 


260 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


last  consented.     But  what  was  now  to  be  done  with  the  youth  ? 
Whither  was  he  to  he  sent  ?     A  mercantile  house  in  Havanna 
was  tried,  hut  the  house  hecame  bankrupt,  and  the  youth  was 
again  without  employment.  Father  Lhoir  now  advised  that  the  lad 
should  go  to  Braine-le-Comte,  in  order  to  learn  carpentry  under 
carpenter  Lhoir,  the  Jesuit's  own  brother :  and  as  the  Father,  in  the 
meantime,  had  from  confessor  and  spiritual  adviser  to  old  de  Boey 
been  raised  also  to  be  his  man  of  business  and  factor,  the  uncle 
approved  of  the  plan,  as  might  be  understood.     Benedict,  then, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  twentieth  year,  was  obliged  to  become 
apprentice  to  a  carpenter ;  but,  from  peculiar  circumstances,  he 
acquired  a  taste  for  his  new  trade,  and  so  much  zeal,  that  in  a 
short   time   he   arrived  at  considerable  efficiency  therein.     He 
became  acquainted  in  Braine-le-Comte,  with  a  girl  of  the  name 
of  Catherine  Manfroid,  and  the  two  became  so  enamoured  with 
each  other  that  they  wished  to  marry.     Consequently  Benedict 
applied  to  his  uncle  for  his  consent,  and  while  in  the  meantime 
he  had  become  quite  a   steady  man,  he    had  so  little   doubt 
about  the  matter  that  he  at  once  made  the  furniture  ready  as 
dowry.     He  had,  however,  reckoned  without  his  host,  as  how 
could  the  sons  of  Loyola  consent  to  such  a  marriage  as  this,  in 
consequence  of  which  his  uncle  would  doubtless  become  recon- 
ciled to  him  ?     Then  he  would   again  be  installed  as  the  dear 
favourite  nephew,  and  the  prospect  of  inheriting  the  six  millions 
would  have  become,  for  the  Society  of  Jesus,  very  dark  indeed. 
On  this  account  the  carpenter  Lhoir  was  instructed  to  send  such 
a  disreputable  report  about  Catherine  to  Antwerp,  that  old  de 
Boey  was  in  despair  in  regard  to  complying  with  the  request  of 
his  nephew,  and  Father  Lhoir  was  commissioned  to  put  an  end 
to  the  business  as  soon  as  possible.     The  Father  set  off  imme- 
diately for  Braine-le-Comte,  and  declared  to  Benedict  that  his 
uncle   would   disinherit  him   if  he   did  not  forthwith   give  up 
Catherine,  and  ended  by  bringing  him   to  Toumai,  to  a  secret 
agent  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  called  Philippart.     Here  Benedict 
remained  under  the  strictest  observation  ;  or  he  was,  rather,  kept 
as  a  prisoner,  and,  especially,  without  any  money  whatever  at 
his  disposal. 

But  the  more  strictly  they  proceeded  against  him,  the 
more  his  longing  increased  after  his  beloved  one ;  so  he  took 
an  opportunity  which  occurred  to  embezzle  from  his  tormentor, 


THE    JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      261 

Philippart,  a  small  sum  to  enable  him  to  travel  to  Braine-le- 
Comte.  Philippart  was  at  once  indemnified  by  Father  Lhoir, 
but  was  instructed  to  lodge  a  complaint,  in  consequence  of  which 
Benedict  was  sentenced  afresh  to  imprisonment  in  his  former 
house  of  correction  in  St.  Bernard,  but  this  time  not  for  one  year 
but  for  three  years. 

That  was  the  second  step  towards  his  becoming  a  galley- 
convict,  and  now  the  third  was  not  far  off.  After  Benedict 
had  completed  his  term  of  punishment.  Father  Lhoir  brought 
him  away  from  St.  Bernard  and  took  him  to  Arlon,  once  more 
to  a  carpenter,  whilst  he  at  the  same  time  intimated  to  him 
that  his  uncle  de  Boey  was  still  too  irritated  to  see  his  nephew. 
Benedict  then  continued  to  pursue  his  avocation  at  Arlon, 
and  gave  satisfaction.  After  a  couple  of  months,  however,  he 
determined  to  go  on  his  travels,  in  order  to  see  a  little  of  the 
world,  and  during  his  wanderings  he  first  came  to  Prussia,  and 
later  on  to  Würtemberg,  where  he  for  some  little  time  remained 
at  work. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1842  he  went  to  France,  in  order 
to  become  acquainted  with  that  country ;  as  he,  however,  found 
no  work  there,  he  wished,  from  want  of  money,  to  enlist  in  the 
Foreign  Legion  in  the  beginning  of  January  at  Grenoble,  under 
the  name  of  Vandael,  and  thereupon  at  once  informed  Father 
Lhoir  about  it,  whom  he  still  foolishly  continued  to  look 
upon  as  a  fatherly  friend.  His  entrance  into  the  Legion, 
however,  never  took  place,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  met  with 
punishment  in  the  galleys;  or,  more  correctly,  compulsory 
labour  in  the  hulks  of  Toulon. 

On  the  30th  of  January  1843,  he  happened  to  fall  in  with 
two  people  of  bad  reputation,  and  as  all  three  of  them  did  not 
possess  a  single  sou  between  them,  they  arranged  among  them- 
selves to  procure  money  somewhere  or  other.  They  set  upon  a 
carrier  at  night,  got  hold  of  him,  and  robbed  him  of  everything. 
The  whole  amount  obtained  was  only  about  seven  francs,  but  it 
was,  nevertheless,  robbery  ;  and  as  the  thieves  were  immediately 
apprehended,  they  were  sentenced  for  the  crime.  Benedict 
got,  from  the  Assize  Court  of  the  Departement  du  Bar,  six  years* 
punishment  in  the  hulks,  and,  under  the  assumed  name  of 
Vandael,  was  at  once  conveyed  to  Toulon.  His  fate  had  now 
overtaken  him;    yet  nothing  was  known  of  it  in  his  uncle's 


262 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


house,  but  it  was  believed  there,  from  the  statement  of  Father 
Lhoir,  that  he  had  proceeded  with  the  Foreign  Legion  to 
Algiers ;  and  yet  more,  it  was  rumoured  shortly  afterwards  that 
he  had  met  with  his  death  in  Africa;  and  old  de  Boey  also  par- 
ticipated in  this  belief  without  Father  Lhoir  ever  having  told 
him  anything  to  the  contrary,  although  he,  as  we  shall  soon 
afterwards  learn,  was  perfectly  well  aware  of  the  real  truth. 

While  all  this  was  going  on,  the  Jesuits  had,  in  the  mean- 
time, been  making  themselves  more  at  home  in  the  house  of 
old  de  Boey ;  especially  Fathers  Lhoir,  Boone,  and  Hessels,  and 
they  soon  carried  it  on  so  far,  that  of  all  among  the  whole 
number  of  the  old  gentleman's  relations  there  was  not  a  single 
one  of  them  who  dared  to  come  near  him.  The  servants  received 
orders  to  refuse  admittance  to  any  of  them,  under  the  pretext 
that  the  uncle  was  otherwise  engaged,  or  that  he  had  gone  to 
bed,  or  was  asleep ;  there  was  always,  however,  at  least  one  of 
the  Jesuits  on  the  spot,  and,  indeed,  they  took  care  never  to  lose 
sight  of  the  old  gentleman,  even  during  the  night.  Of  course, 
the  welfare  of  his  soul  always  lay,  especially,  at  the  bottom  of 
their  hearts,  and  even,  on  this  account,  they  whispered  into 
his  ear :  "  If  you  leave  your  fortune  to  your  family,  all  harm 
that  they  in  future  will  do  with  the  money — and  that  they  will  do 
harm  there  can  be  no  doubt  from  the  spiritual  condition  of  your 
relations — will  rest  on  your  soul." 

Nevertheless,  the  old  gentleman  appeared  not  to  be  in  any 
hurry  to  make  a  will  in  favour  of  the  Jesuits,  and  in  order, 
therefore,  to  overcome  his  last  resistance,  they  persuaded  him  to 
make  a  journey  to  Rome,  where  he  might  obtain  a  plenary 
indulgence.  De  Boey,  although  already  a  decrepit  old  man, 
determined  upon  this  course,  and,  accompanied  by  two  of  the 
Fathers  mentioned,  he  devoted  fully  fifteen  months  to  the  capital 
of  Christendom,  and  her  hundreds  of  churches  and  cloisters. 
However,  after  that  he  had  so  long  prayed  and  made  pilgrimages, 
and,  indeed,  incurred  an  expenditure  of  more  than  200,000 
francs,  in  presents  to  the  Pope  and  the  saints,  he  came  to  the 
conviction  that  his  soul's  welfare  would  be  endangered  if  he  did 
not  benefit  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  preference  to  his  relatione; 
and  thus,  at  length,  was  the  great  aim  attained  for  which  the 
sons  of  Loyola  had  devoted  so  much  time,  trouble,  and  con- 
sideration.    In  short,  after  his  return  from   that  troublesome 


THE   JESUITS  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      263 

journey  to  Rome,  William  de  Boey  died  on  the  25th  February 
1850,  and  true  enough — the  Fathers  Hessels  and  Boone  had 
never,  during  his  last  days,  left  his  side — a  will  was  found. 
According  to  the  same,  the  whole  of  his  near  relatives,  eighteen 
in  number,  with  thej  sole  exception  of  Benedict  de  Buck,  whom 
William  de  Boey  considered  to  be  dead,  obtained  legacies  to  the , 
amount,  in  all,  of  about  35,000  francs,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
annuities  to  the  same  extent  were  secured  to  them  for  life;  but 
the  whole  residue  of  this  colossal  property  was  assigned  to  an 
advocate  of  the  name  of  Valentyns,  affiliated  to  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  who  at  once  made  it  over,  as  soon  as  he  took  possession 
thereof,  to  the  Order  in  question.  Valentyns,  whom  de  Boey  had 
not  known  at  all  before,  and  who  had  entered  the  house  only  three 
days  before  for  the  first  time,  was  thus  only  a  fictitious  heir  in 
order  to  get  over  the  restrictions  which  legally  stood  in  the  way 
of  leaving  property  directly  to  the  Jesuits,  and  the  sons  of 
Loyola  made  no  secret  that  they  had  obtained  the  inheritanr  \ 
On  the  other  hand,  they  at  once  built  the  magnificent  College  in 
Antwerp,  which  they  still  possess,  and  they  go  so  far  as  to 
concede,  when  the  question  is  asked  how  much  the  inheritance 
amounted  to,  to  reply,  with  a  soft,  humble  voice,  "  It  was  not  so 
considerable  as  public  report  made  it  out  to  be." 

The  Jesuits  had  thus  attained  their  object,  and  the  relations  of 
the  rich  old  man  were  cheated  out  of  the  property  which 
naturally  should  have  been  theirs.  This  fraud  was  so  apparent, 
too,  that  all  Antwerp  became  indignant  about  it,  and  those  who 
had  been  so  deeply  injured  were  encouraged  on  all  sides  to 
raise  complaints,  in  order  that  the  evidently  surreptitious  will 
might  be  upset.  They  did  not  do  so,  however,  and  could  not 
do  so,  as  the  said  will  contained  a  clause  that,  on  the  least 
attempt  of  the  relations  to  contest  the  same,  they  should  forfeit 
the  legacies  accorded  to  them.     The  clause  ran  as  follows  : 

**  As  the  concord  and  unanimity  of  my  family  lies  at  my 
heart,  and,  as  I  wish  to  prevent  all  legal  proceedings  and  strife, 
I  direct  and  affirm  that  each  individual  legatee  must  put  full 
confidence  in  the  honesty  of  my  universal  heir,  and  if  any  one 
of  them,  or  several  of  them,  to  whom  is  accorded  a  special  legacy 
or  pension,  commences  any  kind  of  contention,  or  raises  any 
action  at  law  against  my  universal  heir,  or  permits  himself  to 
enter  into  any  transaction  with  the  object  of  impeaching  the 


i 


264 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


THE   JESUITS   IN    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.       265 


validity  of  my  present  will:  I  affinn  and  require  that  the 
person  or  persons  who  shall  attempt  anything  of  the  kind,  shall 
forfeit  all  their  rights  which  they  may  have  to  any  pension  or 
any  special  legacy  whatever." 

Thus  was  it  explicitly  stated  in  the  testament ;  and  how, 
then,  could  one  or  more  of  the  relatives  to  whom  legacies 
were  assigned,  dare  to  proceed  with  a  complaint  against  the 
Jesuits  ?  Oh !  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  sufficiently  cunning, 
and  knew  how  to  make  certain  of  their  booty  in  every  way.  But, 
behold  !  they  still  found  themselves  in  a  dilemma,  and,  indeed, 
in  one  of  no  trifling  character,  as  there  existed  yet  another  of 
the  relatives  of  the  deceased  rich  man  who  had  not  received  any 
legacy,  and  who  might  contest  the  will,  as  he  was  not  affected 
by  this  said  clause.  This  relative  was  no  other  than  Benedict  de 
Buck,  whom  William  de  Boey  once  so  much  loved  that  Father 
Lhoir  found  it  necessary,  by  suspicious  machinations  and  sub- 
ornations, to  make  out  as  morally  dead.  Indeed,  in  spite  of  his 
knowledge  to  the  contrary,  he  allowed  him  to  be  considered  so, 
in  order  that  his  uncle,  holding  him  to  be  lost  for  ever,  should 
not  bring  the  old  love  to  his  recollection  by  leaving  anything  to 
him.  I  say,  in  spite  of  his  knowledge  to  the  contrary,  as  Bene- 
dict, as  soon  as  he  was  coofined  in  the  hulks,  at  once  applied  to 
the  said  Father  and  accurately  related  to  him  not  only  every- 
thing that  had  befallen  him,  but  requested  his  intercession  with 
his  uncle.  Still,  were  this  Benedict  de  Buck  even  yet  alive,  had 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  on  that  account,  any  cause  for  anxiety  ? 
Indeed,  he  was  for  nine  years  a  man  lost  to  the  world,  as,  from 
forcible  attempts  at  escape,  the  original  term  of  six  years  had 
been  further  increased  to  three  years  more  in  the  penitentiary. 
Besides,  no  one  in  his  home  knew  anything  about  the  matter, 
whether  he  was  still  alive,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  afraid  of, 
nor  was  it  likely  that  anyone  belonging  to  him  should  take  him 
up.  What  occasion  is  there,  then,  to  repeat  that  there  was  no 
need  for  anxiety  on  his  account,  especially  as  it  was  no  easy 
matter  for  anyone  to  hear  of  his  existence,  because  in  the  hulks 
he  went  by  the  assumed  name  of  Vandael. 

The  Society  of  Jesus,  however,  determined  to  go  to  work  as 
circumspectly  as  possible,  and  Father  Lhoir,  who  had  hitherto  so 
well  contrived  to  get  the  better  of  the  helpless  fellow,  whereby  to 
gain  advantage  for  the  Jesuits,  did  not  now  venture  for  an  instant 


to  lose  sight  of  him.  This  he  did  not  do  for  a  single  moment,  but 
at  once  entered  into  correspondence  with  him,  and  endeavoured, 
by  means  of  small  donations,  to  make  the  convict  believe  that 
he  would  always  find  a  benefactor  and  fatherly  friend  in  his 
spiritual  adviser.  The  said  money  donations  effected  this  result, 
though  Benedict,  by  his  own  confession,  obtained,  from  time  to 
time,  but  740  francs,  of  which,  moreover,  the  jailer  retained  for 
himself  more  than  half.  When,  then,  the  Father  subsequently,  in 
the  autumn  of  1849,  demanded  from  the  prisoner  a  full,  free,  and 
heartfelt  confession  of  all  his  misdeeds,  sins,  and  lawlessnesses, 
with  the  object  of  pacifying  the  indignant  uncle,  Benedict  forthwith 
complied.  The  Father  thus  obtained,  in  November,  the  written 
confession  desired ;  and  who  now  was  more  delighted  than  he  ? 

"  Now,"  rejoiced  he  in  his  heart,  "  now,  friend  Benedict,  dare 
to  say  a  word  !  Now,  just  try  to  make  a  complaint  against  me 
and  my  Order  on  account  of  legacy-hunting  !  As  soon  as  you 
do  this,  or  as  soon  as  you  show  any  inclination  to  do  so,  I  shall, 
regardless  of  consequences,  hand  over  to  the  tribunal  of  secret 
confession  the  statement  of  your  evil  deeds,  and  annihilate  you 
under  the  weight  of  your  shame  !  ** 

In  the  meantime,  as  it  appeared,  Lhoir  did  not  entertain  the 
slightest  fear  that  the  matter  would  ever  come  to  extremities, 
but  was  rather  inclined  to  hold  the  opinion  that  Benedict,  who 
did  not  enjoy  the  best  of  health,  might  end  his  life  in  the  hulks, 
and,  on  that  account,  did  not  even  intimate  to  him  the  death  of 
his  uncle,  which,  as  before  stated,  occurred  on  the  25th  February 
1850.  On  the  other  hand,  he  continued  to  send  him  money  as  if  it 
came  from  de  Boey.  Finally,  however,  as  the  day  of  his  liberation 
nearer  and  nearer  approached,  he  now  thought  it  necessary  to 
make  disclosures  to  the  prisoner  regarding  the  death,  because  the 
matter  must  shortly  come  out,  and  at  the  same  time  he  commis- 
sioned the  prison  chaplain  to  offer  him,  in  the  name  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  a  yearly  income  of  1,200  francs,  on  condition  of  his  re- 
nouncing all  further  claims.  With  this  brilliant  offer  he,  however, 
thoroughly  failed,  as  at  length  Benedict  de  Buck's  eyes  were  com- 
pletely opened,  when  he  became  aware  how  he  had  been  treated 
in  his  uncle's  will,  and  quite  passed  over  as  a  deceased  person, 
and  he  now  perceived  what  kind  of  a  friend  he  possessed  in 
Father  Lhoir.  He  was  seized  at  once  with  violent  rage,  and 
not  only  rejected  with  disdain  the  offer  of  the  1,200  francs,  but 


266 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


vowed,  indeed,  to  do  hin  utmost  to  take  revenge  on  Father 
Lhoir,  who  had  deceived  him  so  shamefully,  as  well  as  on  the 
Antwerp  Jesuits. 

All  this  the  prison  chaplain,  whose  name  was  Van  Hamm6e, 
wrote  to  the  said  Father  in  Belgium,  and  he  consequently  was 
aware  of  all  that  had  occurred.  Finally,  in  the  autumn  of  1852, 
Benedict  de  Buck,  on  the  expiration  of  his  nine  years  at  the 
hulks,  was  at  length  liberated,  and  at  once  made  his  way  to 
Belgium  in  order  to  seek  out  Father  Lhoir.  He  encountered 
him  at  Mons,  on  the  20th  October  1852,  and  at  once  peremp- 
torily demanded  from  him  the  payment  of  his  proper  share  of  his 
uncle's  succession.  This  imperious  tone,  however,  made  no 
impression  on  Father  Lhoir,  but  he  contemptuously  searched 
his  pocket,  and  offered  to  the  other  a  bank-note  for  a  hundred 
francs,  as  if  he  were  a  beggar,  and,  shrugging  his  shoulders, 
added,  "  that  was  all  he  could  do  for  him,  and  should  de 
Buck  demand  any  more,  he  might  certainly  reckon  upon  eternal 
disgrace  and  moral  annihilation."  Such  behaviour  naturally 
made  the  man,  cheated  of  his  inheritance,  perfectly  furious, 
and  he  thereupon  threatened  the  Jesuit.  De  Buck,  at  length, 
presented  a  pistol  at  the  Father,  without  firing  it  off,  however, 
whereupon  some  persons  coming  to  the  pious  Father's  assistance, 
easily  seized  it  out  of  the  culprit's  hands,  and,  by  the  order  of 
Father  Lhoir,  without  any  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  offender, 
handed  him  over  to  the  police.  It  was  all  over  with  the  poor 
man,  as  the  Father  made  a  complaint  against  him  for  attempt  at 
murder,  and,  at  the  same  time,  produced  the  written  circum- 
stantial confession  of  his  sins,  in  order  to  prejudice  the  judges 
all  the  more  strongly  against  the  accused.  They,  indeed,  allowed 
themselves  to  be  thus  influenced,  as  their  friend  the  Jesuit 
Father  desired  it  to  be  so;  since,  too,  unfortunately,  Benedict  was 
found  in  possession  of  several  tools  which  might  be  taken 
as  thieves'  instruments,  although  they  were  merely  carpenters' 
tools,  namely,  a  saw,  a  file,  an  English  awl,  a  description  of 
dagger,  &c.,  the  Appeal  Court  of  Brussels  condemned  him,  on 
the  16th  April  1853,  to  ten  years'  imprisonment,  and  afterwards 
to  ten  years^  police  surveillance,  on  account  of  vagrancy  and 
carrying  about  on  him  weapons  and  forbidden  instruments. 
"  Now  complain  of  us  for  legacy  hunting !  **  jeered  Father  Lhoir, 
with  devilish  delight,  as  his  victim  was  conveyed  to  the  prison 


THE   JESUITS    IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.       267 


of  Vilvorde,  as  he  naturally  believed  that  it  was  impossible  for 
the  prisoner  to  survive  this  fresh  punishment.  He  did,  how- 
ever, serve  his  time  and  a  still  further  six  months  also,  which 
the  Brussels  Court  of  Judicature  accorded  to  him  for  an  attempt 
at  escape.  He  stood  out  the  ten  years  and  a  half,  and  his  spirit 
was  so  little  broken  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  obtained  his  free- 
dom, on  the  13th  October  1863,  he  was  able  to  institute  the 
long-contemplated  action  against  the  plunderers  of  the  succes- 
sion appertaining  to  his  family.  But,  behold !  he  was  again 
arrested,  at  the  instance  of  the  Antwerp  Jesuits,  for  having 
threatened  them  with  death  in  writing,  and  placed  before  the 
Jury  Court  of  the  Province  of  Brabant ;  for  Friedrich  Bossaert, 
the  Provincial  of  the  Jesuit  Order  in  Belgium,  had  received  a 
letter  from  the  penitentiary  of  Vilvorde  bearing  the  signature  of 
Benedict  de  Buck,  and  in  this  letter  the  Jesuits,  namely,  the 
Provincial  Bossaert  and  the  Fathers  Lhoir  and  Hessels,  were  not 
only  directly  accused  of  having  stolen  the  inheritance  of  him, 
Benedict  de  Buck,  but  there  were  therein  strong  threats,  conjoined 
with  the  most  malicious,  insulting  expressions.  "  I  declare 
expressly  to  you,"  concludes  the  letter,  "  that  wherever  I  may 
be,  I  shall  never  renounce  my  rightful  claims ;  the  guilty  indi- 
viduals, wherever  they  may  be,  may  hide  themselves  in  vain ;  I 
will  know  where  to  find  them,  as  I  have  nothing  more  to  lose. 
Take  warning  of  what  I  have  said."  The  Provincial  then  laid 
this  letter  before  the  judges,  and  demanded  that  measures  should 
be  taken  to  prevent  de  Buck  from  carrying  out  his  threats  of 
murder.  The  State  officials,  however,  caused  the  letter  to  be 
examined  by  experts  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  actually  that  of 
de  Buck,  and,  as  they  declared  that  the  writing  was  his,  the 
arrest  of  the  author  thereof  was  of  course  made,  and  a 
charge  against  him  instituted.  De  Buck,  however,  entered  a 
protest  against  the  accusation  made  against  him,  and  denied  in 
the  most  vehement  way  having  written  the  threatening  letter, 
declaring,  with  a  firm  voice,  **  that  the  same  was  an  artificial 
imitation  of  his  handwriting,  fabricated  by  the  Jesuits,  and 
devised  by  them,  that  he  might  be  again  condemned  to  imprison- 
ment, and,  perhaps,  for  life,  in  order  that  they  should  get  rid  of 
him  for  ever."  Who,  now,  was  right,  he  or  the  sons  of  Loyola  ? 
The  trial  was  commenced  on  the  13th  May  before  the  Jury 
Court  of  Brabant,  and  all  streamed  there  to  be  present  at  it. 


268 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS, 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      269 


For  many  many  years,  there  had  not  been  a  Jury  Court  case  of 
such  interest,  as  for  many  many  years  nothing  of  such  import- 
ance had  been  in  question.  It  did  not  so  much  concern  the 
poor  Benedict  de  Buck,  as  rather  the  more  whether  it  might  be 
possible  in  Belgium,  the  first  stronghold  of  Jesuitism,  to  get  up 
a  case  against  the  Society  of  Jesus.  It  was  a  question  as  to 
whether  light  might  be  thrown  upon  the  dark  secrets  of  that 
frightful  Society,  and  the  vile  manner  of  its  transactions  pro- 
claimed abroad.  And,  wonderful  to  relate,  never  was  a  trial 
before  brought  to  so  brilliant  a  termination,  notwithstanding  that 
the  Public  Prosecutor,  with  all  the  power  of  his  position  and  all 
his  eloquence,  pressed  for  a  verdict  of  guilty,  notwithstanding 
that  the  accused,  who  had  been  hardly  out  of  prison  ever  since 
his  sixteenth  year,  was  very  badly  defended,  and  the  President  of 
the  Court,  M.  de  Marbaix,  was  declared  to  be,  and  doubtless  not 
without  reason,  a  zealous  partizan  of  the  Jesuits.  But  on  that 
account  two  youthful  aspirants  had  undertaken  Benedict's 
defence,  and  these  gentlemen  contrived  with  much  intrepidity  to 
lift  the  veil  of  secrecy  which  covered  this  ugly  business,  and  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  and  especially  Father  Lhoir,  soon  stood  forth  in 
all  their  hideous  bareness.  Finally,  no  spectator  or  juryman, 
could  any  longer  have  doubt  about  the  matter,  that  Benedict  de 
Buck  had  been  systematically  stamped  by  Father  Lhoir  as  a 
thief  and  criminal,  in  order  to  enable  the  latter  to  carry  out  the 
knavery  of  a  stupendous  legacy-hunt,  and,  as  after  a  four  days* 
trial  the  question  was  put  to  the  jury,  whether  Benedict  de  Buck 
was  guilty  of  having  threatened  Bossaert  and  his  companions 
with  murder,  the  unanimous  answer  proclaimed  was.  No. 

The  sons  of  Loyola  thus  complety  failed  in  their  complaint, 
and  Benedict  de  Buck  once  more  obtained  his  freedom.  In- 
deed, still  more,  for  all  now  pitied  him  as  the  victim  of  Jesuit 
intrigue,  while  the  authors  of  this  villainy  stood  forth  as  deeply- 
branded  hypocrites  and  legacy-hunters,  for  whom  no  transaction 
was  too  rascally,  provided  anything  could  be  got  by  it. 

It  is,  alas!  but  too  true  that  the  immense  heritage  remained 
theirs,  as  the  testament  of  the  deceased  William  de  Boey  could 
not  be  called  in  question. 

I  have  considered  it  necessary  to  enter  somewhat  into  detail 
concerning  this  trial,  as  it  is  well  calculated  to  give  us  a  deep 
insight  into   the  mode  of  thought   and  action  of  the   modern 


Jesuits,  and  as  it  will  be  perceived  therefrom  that  the  Fathers 
of  our  own  time  have  not  improved  one  iota,  in  relation  to  their 
love  of  money,  on  those  of  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  Even 
as  little  have  they  progressed  in  relation  to  purity  of  manners, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  example,  and  of  such  there 
are  still  to  be  found  many  dozens. 

The  Order  of  Jesus  was,  as  we  have  above  seen,  denied 
entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  and  on  that  account 
its  members  smuggled  themselves  into  it  under  another  name. 
The  sons  of  Loyola,  then,  under  the  title  of  "  Ignorantelli," 
had  founded  a  splendid  educational  institution  in  Turin, 
which  was  held  in  such  high  repute  that  upwards  of  300  young 
men,  all  of  whom  belonged  to  the  upper  classes,  were  educated 
in  it.  The  Bector,  Theoger,  was  especially  distinguished  for  his 
piety,  amiability,  and  modesty,  and  was  represented  universally 
as  a  perfect  pattern  of  a  teacher  and  head  of  a  school.  This 
opinion  obtained,  also,  after  the  transformation  Italy  underwent 
subsequently  to  the  year  1859,  and  the  higher  classes  continued 
to  hand  over  their  sons  to  the  Jesuits  without  any  mistrust 
whatever. 

Now,  it  happened  that  a  General  of  the  new  Italian  army,  who 
had  some  time  previously  been  sent  to  Southern  Italy  in  order 
to  fight  the  Bourbon  banditti  there,  commissioned  a  friend  in 
Turin  to  take  a  look  after  his  son  now  and  then,  as  he  had  been 
for  some  years  attached  to  the  Jesuit  Institution ;  and  the  friend 
first  began  to  execute  this  commission  in  1863.  Was  he  not 
astonished,  however,  when,  in  connection  with  the  said  Institu- 
tion, things  came  under  his  observation  of  the  existence  of 
which  he  had  not  the  least  conception !  Was  he  not  amazed 
when  he  became  convinced  that  the  heads  and  professors  of 
the  Institution  were  labouring  quite  contrary  to  the  intentions 
of  the  Government !  The  friend's  wonder,  however,  reached  its 
culminating  point  when  the  son  said,  in  the  course  of  con- 
versation, without  any  circumlocution  whatever,  or  the  slightest 
colour  in  his  face,  *'  The  real  robbers  are  the  royal  soldiers,  and 
my  father  is  nothing  else  than  a  General  of  robbers,  precisely  as 
Victor  Emanuel  of  Piedmont  has  stolen  Italy,  like  a  thief,  and 
not  obtained  it  legitimately.*' 

The  other  pupils  of  the  institution  were  found  to  entertain  the 
same  treasonable  sentiments,  and  it  was  thus  quite  clear  that 


It 


270 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


their  teachers  and  principal  were  bringing  them  up  as  regular 
conspirators  against  their  country.  The  friend  could  not  keep 
silence  about  this,  and  he  at  once  laid  the  necessary  informa- 
tion before  the  Minister  of  Justice,  who  thereupon  instituted 
a  commission  of  inquiry  into  the  matter,  and  ordered  the 
same  to  inspect  the  Institution  quite  unexpectedly  and  un- 
announced. This  took  place  !  But,  0  Lord  !  what  showed  itself 
now  ?  Not  only  a  miserable  method  of  teaching,  which  con- 
demned every  sound  elevation  of  the  mind  as  something  to  be 
rejected  and  heretical,  but  such  a  thorough  and  illimitable 
moral  corruption,  that  made  the  hair  of  the  Commissioners 
actually  stand  on  end. 

* 

The  Institution  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  closed  at  once,  and 
a  formal  trial  was  commenced  against  the  teachers  and  principal ; 
but  the  chief  offender.  Father  Theoger,  unfortunately,  succeeded 
in  making  his  escape  to  France,  and  several  of  the  other  teachers 
as  well  as  pupils,  also  disappeared  without  its  being  possible  to 
get  hold  of  them  again.  They  were  afraid  of  the  punishment 
that  awaited  them ;  and  this  fear  was  only  too  well  founded,  as 
such  abominable  things  came  to  light  during  the  course  of  the 
trial  that  no  one  could  have  believed  possible.  Shameful 
offences  were  quite  common,  and  gross  crimes  were  not  only 
openly  carried  on,  but  even  taught  and  recommended  as  salutary. 
I  have  no  intention  of  inflicting  any  further  details  upon  the 
reader,  but  will  merely  add  that,  as  already  said,  not  only  was 
the  Institution  closed  for  ever,  but  justice  received  satisfaction  in 
the  fullest  measure,  save  that  two  of  the  most  guilty  among 
the  guilty  escaped  through  flight. 

Upon  this,  no  time  was  lost  in  making  an  investigation 
regarding  the  rest  of  the  Jesuit  institutions  in  Italy,  several  of 
which,  as  those  at  Spoleto,  Foligno,  and  Apisi,  were  at  once 
closed.  Thus,  in  this  respect — that  is,  as  to  the  question  of 
morality — the  Jesuits  of  the  19th  century  resemble  those  of 
former  times ;  and  equally  so  as  regards  the  question  of  murder 
and  assassination.  But  how  as  to  this,  indeed  ?  Have  I  not 
already  proved  it  to  the  reader  by  the  history  of  the  Sunderbund 
war,  of  which  I  was  obliged  to  make  mention  in  the  history  of 
the  extension  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  in  Switzerland  ?  And  does 
,not  this  appear  even  more  clearly  from  the  Belgian  revolution  of 
1830,  which  resulted  in  the  separation  of  Belgium  from  Holland, 


THE   JESUITS   IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY.      271 

and  which,  according  to  the  irrefutable  testimony  of  history,  was, 
at  least,  in  a  great  degree,  the  work  of  the  Jesuits  and  their 
friends?  Was  there  not  evidence  of  this  also  in  the  Polish 
outbreak  of  1872,  wherein  the  Jesuits,  secretly,  and  well 
disguised,  so  long  incited  and  instigated  strife,  until  at  length 
blood  flowed  in  streams  ? 

The  reader  must,  indeed,  be  more  or  less  aware  of  all  these 
things,  and  it  is  merely  sufficient  to  bear  them  in  recollection, 
universally,  wherever  any  profit  for  themselves  could  be 
obtained,  they  preached  now,  as  in  former  times,  murder,  assas- 
sination, revolution,  and  rebellion  ;  only  they  denominated  their 
rebellions  and  revolutions  a  work  of  justice  and  religion,  while 
they  condemned  to  the  lowest  hell  the  democratic  insurrections, 
as  the  result  of  disdain  for  religion,  and  of  profligacy !  It  is  to 
be  well  understood,  moreover,  that  it  did  not  everywhere  and  in 
all  States  proceed  as  far  as  the  latter  means — open  rebel- 
lion and  civil  war;  but  it  was  found  necessary  to  proceed 
quietly,  and  creep  in,  as  it  were,  by  stealthy  ways.  One  must, 
first  of  all,  get  a  firm  hold  before  being  able  to  commence 
operations !  But  as  soon  as  the  period  arrived  that  this  was 
accomplished,  that  a  sound  footing  had  been  obtained,  what  a 
change  then  took  place !  Then  suddenly  the  delicate  advances, 
insinuations,  and  vexing  of  confessants,  no  longer  sufficed. 
War,  war,  war,  was  the  solution ;  not  such  war,  in  truth,  where 
the  sword  is  drawn  from  the  scabbard,  as  that  would  not  be 
tolerated  by  those  in  authority ;  but  a  war  with  the  tongue,  a 
war  with  the  heart,  an  everlasting  contention  and  strife  with  all 
those  who  were  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Jesuits,  more  especially 
with  abominable  heretics  and  an ti- Catholics.  But  of  this  I  will 
proceed  to  consider  in  detail  in  the  next  chapter,  taking  my 
leave  here  with  these  reflections. 


f» 


'> 


TTT- 


272 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM    INTO    JESUITISM; 
OB,    THE   JESUIT   PAPAL   INFALLIBILITY. 


In  the  foregoing  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the  extraordinary 
extension  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  during  the  first  half  of  the 
19th  century,  and  have  examined  the  way  in  which  the  Society 
employed  its  freshly- acquired  power,  so  that  all  thinking  people 
must  consider  the  proposition  to  he  firmly  estahlished  that  *'  the 
Jesuits  remain  the  same  as  of  old."  But  with  this  the  Fathers 
are  far  from  being  satisfied,  their  great  aim  and  object  being 
still  **  the  most  complete  sway  over  Church  and  State." 

In  the  Church  it  has  reached  as  far  as  this,  that  the  Jesuitical 
tendency  has  become  sole  and  unconditional  mistress ;  that 
only  those  make  use  of  the  name  Catholic  who  think,  believe, 
and  act  as  the  Jesuits  wish  them  to  think,  believe,  and  act ;  that 
Jesuitism  and  Catholicism  signify  one  and  the  same  thing ;  in 
short,  that  these  words  are  synonymous  terms. 

In  and  out  of  the  State,  however,  all  that  is  antagonistic  to 
Jesuit  principles  and  Jesuit  views  and  teachings  has  to  disappear, 
even,  it  may  be  said,  tjie  very  State  itself.  Thus,  all  the  difi'erent 
kingdoms  and  principalities  of  Catholic  Christendom  must  have 
nothing  but  Jesuit  principles,  morals,  and  religion,  nothing  but 
Jesuit  dictates  as  to  marriage  and  instruction,  nought  being 
left  to  them  but  to  carry  out  most  humbly  Jesuit  decrees  against 
anti-Catholics.  But,  naturally,  the  Fathers  are  unable  to  con- 
ceal from  themselves  that  to  obtain  such  power  will  cost  a 
tolerably  severe  contest,  and  they  are  unwilling  to  open  this 
struggle  thoughtlessly.    No  ;  the  strife  must  not  commence  till 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO  JESUITISM.      273 

they  are  properly  armed ;  and  they  may  venture  to  make  them- 
selves certain  of  victory  by  virtue  of  their  powerful  position. 
Their  endeavour,  therefore,  must  first  be  limited  to  securing  for 
themselves  this  requisite  authority,  and  in  this  respect  the  first 
decade  of  the  second  half  of  the  19th  century  has  been  excep- 
tionally favourable  to  them. 

The   reader  remembers,  without  doubt,   the  year  184ft,  and 
therefore  I  hardly  think  it  can  be  necessary  for  me  to  enter  into 
details  regarding  that  great  Revolution  which,  commencing  in 
France  in  February,  soon  spread  throughout  Germany,  and  drew 
into  its  sphere  of  agitation  the  whole  of  that  country,  together 
with  Italy,  Austria,  and  Hungary.    Consequently,  I  merely  affirm 
that  the  liberty,  the  waves  of  which  then  raged  vehemently,  was 
highly  detrimental  to  the  Order  of  Jesus,  as  in  France  as  well 
as  in  Germany,  in  Turin  as  well  as  in  Genoa,  in  Naples  as  well 
as  in  Sicily,  in  Styria  as  well  as  in  Tyrol,  in  the  Archduchy  of 
Austria  as  well  as  in  Bavaria,  indeed,  even  in  the  States  of  the 
Church,  its  members  were  expelled  and  its  colleges  abolished. 
Moreover,  here  and  there  their  houses  were  even  torn  down,  and 
the  General  of  their  Order,  hunted  on  all  sides,  at  length  found 
no  shelter  but  in  Protestant  England.     It  thus  appeared  that, 
for  the  second  time,  the  lust  hour  of  the  Loyolites  had  arrived ; 
but  out   of  apparently  the  deepest  misfortune  sprang   up,  for 
them,  the  greatest  good  luck.    The  great  Revolution  from  which, 
it  was  believed,  spiritual  as  well  as  material  liberty  had  been 
secured  to  the  people  for  all  time,  was,  in  the  course  of  18oI 
and  1852,  suppressed  by  force  by  the  different  Governments;  and 
then  set  in  such  a  system  of  reaction  as   the  Jesuits  could  not 
have   desired  better   for   themselves.     Yes,    truly,   they   had   a 
golden  era,  throughout  an  entire  decade  from  this  time,  as  all 
the  Governments  believed  in  their  words,  that  they  alone  were  fit 
to  put  down  the  frightful  phantom  of  Liberalism.     Besides,  not 
the  Governments  alone  were  on  thejr  side,  but  the  nobility  also, 
who   hated   as    the   deadliest   plague    the   said    Liberalism  of 
modern  ideas,  by  which  it  had  been  either  actually  robbed  of  its 
former  privileges,  or  still  feared  that  such  would  be  the  case;  and 
then  came  to  be  added  the  whole  of  the  Episcopate,  to  whom 
the  national   agitations  of  the  years   1848   and   1840   appeared 
nothing  else  than  a  kind  of  sacrilege.     In  short,  the  reaction — 
that  is.  the  clutching  again  after  the  power  in  vogue  in  the  Middle 
II.  13 


WW 


274 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


Ages,  which  for  some  time  had  heen  abated — spread  all  over 
Europe,  and  the  fat  swimming  on  the  top  of  this  new  ebullition 
consisted,  as  may  be  well  imagined,  of  members  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus. 

Let  us  look,  above  all,  at  Austria,  where,  on  the  31st  December 
1851,  the  Government  re-created  the  Constitution  of  1849. 
Did  not,  then,  the  Concordat  with  Rome  come  to  be  established 
through  the  exertions  of  the  Society  mentioned  ?  It  was  signed 
on  the  18th  of  August  1855,  ratified  on  the  25th  September, 
and  on  the  öth  November  1855  proclaimed  by  an  Imperial 
Patent,  which  completely  set  aside  all  formerly  acquired  freehold 
properties  (also  the  Josephinum,  ue.  arising  from  the  Emperor 
Joseph),  being  designed  to  form  from  this  time  a  barrier  against 
all  Liberalism — indeed,  against  the  whole  civilised  world  with 
their  modem  ideas.  One  has  only  to  bear  in  mind  Article  I. 
of  that  Concordat,  according  to  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  was  again  endowed  with  all  the  legal  powers  and  privi- 
leges which  it  possessed  in  former  times :  one  has  only  to  scan 
Article  IV.,  which  gives  complete  freedom  to  the  Bishops  to  exer- 
cise, in  their  dioceses,  all  the  powers  belonging  to  Government ; 
to  appoint,  especially,  their  councillors,  representatives,  and  assis- 
tants, entirely  according  to  their  discretion,  to  consecrate  anyone 
whom  they  pleased,  to  establish  benefices,  to  found  parsonages, 
to  arrange  about  public  prayers,  processions,  and  pilgrimages, 
as  well  as  to  hold  provincial  synods  according  to  necessity,  and 
to  proclaim  their  resolutions  as  binding :  one  has  only  to 
examine  Article  V.,  by  which  all  education  has  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  Article  VII.,  which  com- 
mands that  only  Catholic  professors  and  teachers  shall  be 
appointed  to  all  gymnasiums  and  middle-class  schools:  one 
has  only  to  peruse  Article  IX.,  which  delegates  to  bishops  and 
ordinaries  the  right  to  interdict  such  books  as  seem  to  them  to 
be  hurtful,  which  command  the  Government  has  to  carry  out : 
one  has  only  to  cast  one's  eyes  over  Article  X.,  which  refers  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  Court  all  law  questions  which  concern  faith, 
sacraments,  and  ecclesiastical  ofiQces,  so  that  it  alone  has  to 
decide  on  matters  about  marriage  and  hindrances  to  marriage : 
one  has  only  to  read  Article  XL,  according  to  which  the  bishops 
are  empowered  to  proceed  against  and  punish  all  believers  within 
the   Catholic   Church,  as  soon   as  they   overstep  ecclesiastical 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.       275 


regulations  or  are  suspected  thereof:  one  has  only  to  see  the 
drift  of  Articles  XXVIII.  and  XXX.,  by  which  not  only  the 
administration  of  all  church  properties,  foundations,  &c.  is 
delegated  to  the  Bishops,  but  the  privilege  of  introducing  every 
ecclesiastical  order  which  they  think  worthy  of  consideration  is 
conferred  on  them :  one  has  only,  I  say,  to  think  of  all  this, 
and  then  ask  oneself  the  question  whether  in  Austria  the  Catholic 
Church,  or,  rather,  the  Catholic  priesthood,  has  not  been  endowed 
with  almost  greater  privileges  than  it  even  possessed  in  the 
Middle  Ages  ?  To  its  tribunal  belong  all  marriage  permissions 
abd  prohibitions,  especially  as  regards  mixed  marriages.  All 
matters  connected  with  burial  and  exclusion  from  church  are 
equally  under  its  control,  as  well  as  all  education  from  above 
and  below.  Before  its  tribunal  all  borough  legislation  has  to 
be  submitted,  so  far,  that  is,  as  it  may  happen  to  come  into 
collision  with  canon  right  and  church  teaching.  How  could  there 
be  any  wonder,  then,  that  Jesuitism  flourished,  when  they  were 
thus  allowed  complete  liberty  ?  We  may  here  bring  to  recollection 
what  has  been  stated  on  this  point  in  the  foregoing  chapter. 
Could  it  be  cause  for  astonishment  that,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  Imperial  States,  they  possessed  themselves  of  all 
gymnasiums  and  lyceums,  especially  as,  according  to  episcopal 
permission,  they  had  to  undergo  no  examination  for  the  office 
of  teaching  ?  What  wonder,  then,  that  they  erected  magnificent 
colleges  in  towns  specially  adapted  to  their  purpose,  as  in 
Feldkirch,  Ragusa,  and  elsewhere,  whereby  the  State,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  princes  of  the  Church,  supported  them 
with  large  naoney  contributions  ? 

The  sons  of  Loyola  found  a  no  less  productive  field  in 
Prussia,  which  still,  as  regards  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants, 
adhered  to  evangelical  doctrines,  while  at  one  time  it  might 
boast  of  being  the  advanced  post  of  Protestantism.  However, 
King  Friedrich  William  HI.  issued  strong  regulations  in  respect 
to  the  dangerous  Society  of  Jesus,  and  it  was  not  only  forbidden 
to  Prussian  subjects  to  visit  the  Collegium  Germanicum  in  Rome, 
or  any  other  Jesuit  institution,  but  an  order  of  the  Cabinet  also 
interdicted,  under  severe  punishment,  the  maintenance  of  Jesuit 
missions  and  other  similar  inventions  for  conversion. 

It  was  quite  different,  however,  as  regards  the  Government  of 
Friedrich  William  IV.,  who,  being  an  enthusiast  for  the  so-called 

18  *• 


276 


HISTOBY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


Christian  State,  was  from  the  very  begmniDg  favourable  to 
devotion,  which  proved  highly  detrimental  to  the  free  intel- 
lectual development  of  Prussia.  As,  however,  after  the  com- 
plete suppression  of  the  Revolution  of  1848,  a  thoroughly 
reactionary  Ministry  was  called  to  take  the  head  of  affairs— I 
can  only  remember  the  names  of  Radowitz,  Manteufel,  Rauraer, 
Westphalen,  Bethmann-Hollweg,  Mühler— it  was  then  all  at  an 
end  with  the  spirit  of  progress,  and,  with  ultra- Lutheranism, 
ultra-Catholicism  as  well  obtained  complete  liberty  in  the 
Catholic  and  mixed  ecclesiastical  provinces.  The  celebrated 
Alexander  von  Humbolt  gave  to  that  time  the  name  of  "  a 
disordered  mischievous  economy,"  and  the  honest  Buoher  com- 
plained that  **  out  of  Hengstenberg  s  study,  by  means  of  Geriach, 
proceeds  everything  stupid  and  obscuring,  only  hypocrisy  and 
unbelief  being  sown  around,  so  that  one  might  blame  and 
condemn  this  dull  age  even  more  severely  than  that  of  Volney, 
of  unhappy  memory." 

In  January  1850,  there  was  allowed  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  Princes   of  Prussia,  first  of  all,  free  intercourse  with 
Rome,  then  perfectly  absolute  Church  administration,  with  the 
accompanying  rights  of  the  Archbishop,  which  were  formeriy  exer- 
cised by  the  Government;  further,  the  nomination  of  all  ecclesi- 
astical   appointments,  and  the  publication  of  all   ecclesiastical 
ordinances;  lastly,  the  admission  of  religious  Orders  and  reli- 
gious Societies,  as  well  as  their  free  intercourse  with  their  foreign 
Superiors  and  Generals.     How  the  sons  of  Loyola  now  rejoiced  1 
They  no  longer  required  to  creep  into  Prussia  under  false  names, 
but  had  free  right  to  bend  their  steps  in  any  direction,  wherever 
things  seemed  favourable  for  their  projects.     And,  in  fact,  it  is 
astonishing  how  rapidly  they  spread  themselves.     In  Cologne 
they  had  already,  in  a  few  years,  ü\e  colleges,  and  two  each  in 
Breslau,  Treves,  and  Münster,  and  one  each  in  Paderborn  and 
Gnesen.     They  possessed,  too,  novitiates  in  Münster,  Bonn,  and 
Gorheim,  and  the  seminaries  over  which  they  ruled  amounted  to 
a  whole  hundred.      Added  to  this,  also,  were  their  missions, 
their  sodalities,  their  brotherhoods,  their  exercises,  their  con- 
ferences in  the  confessional,  and,  above  all,  the  unions  founded 
by  them,  as  the  Pius  union,   the  Vincentius  union,  the   Boni- 
facius    union,    the    Horomeo    union,    the    Sloplum    union,    ihe 
SevtT  nus    union,    ilie   Hub.Tts    union,  and    the    uniun   of  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM    INTO   JESUITISM.       277 

Childhood   of   Jesus,   not    to   forget,    as   well,  the   Bachelors' 
union. 

But,  what  was  the  chief  thing,  in  addition  to  the 
Loyolites,  a  number  of  other  Orders  installed  themselves  in 
Prussia,  which  were  all  more  or  less  dependent  upon  them ; 
among  these,  especially,  the  school-brethren  and  school-sisters 
are  to  be  mentioned,  who,  everywhere  blindly  obeying  the  behests 
of  the  Jesuits,  endeavoured  to  get  into  their  hands  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  lower  classes ;  and  the  result  was  that,  after  the  lapse 
of  a  decade,  the  Prussian  States  could  number  not  fewer  than 
700  cloisters,  with  at  least  6,000  people  of  the  Order.* 

The  rest  of  Germany  proved  somewhat  less  fruitful  to  the 
Jesuits,  not  even  excluding  Bavaria,  as  in  that  country  they 
dare  not  set  foot,  because  the  laws  forbade  this.  They,  however, 
could  find  admittance  everywhere  as  private  individuals,  as  well 
in  Bavaria  as  in  Saxony,  and  in  Würtemberg  as  in  Hanover, 
while  the  Bishops  allowed  them  not  only  to  preach  but  to 
maintain  missions,  without  the  respective  Governments  seeing 
any  occasion  to  prevent  such  proceedings.  Further,  they  suc- 
ceeded here  (as,  also,  partly  in  Prussia,  where  Count  Friedrich 
Leopold  von  Stolberg  and  others  became  converted)  in  making 
a  number  of  proselytes,  among  whom  were  prominently  con- 
spicuous Duke  Friedrich  Ferdinand  von  Anhalt-Köthen,  Duke 
Friedrich  of  Gotha,  Prince  Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, 
the  hereditary  prince  of  Ysenberg-Birstein,  the  Bavarian 
Minister  Edward  von  Shenk,  the  author  Friedrich  Schlegel,  the 
Crown  Princess  of  Saxony,  ftee  Princess  Wasa,  the  Countess 
von  Quadt,  nee  Countess  Schönburg,  and  the  ill-famed  Countess 
Hahn  Hahn.  With  regard  to  Switzerland,  it  was  much  the  same 
as  with  the  smaller  German  States,  since  also  here  they  continued 
to  be  legally  excluded,  though  now  and  then  they  contrived  to 
creep  in  again,  as,  for  instance,  happened  in  Schwytz  (1856- 
1857)  through  the  evasion  of  the  law.     On  the  other  hand,  they 


*  For  instance,  the  diocese  of  Cologne  had,  in  the  year  1866,  ten  male  and 
thirty-one  female  descriptions  of  cloisters  ;  Treves,  six  male  and  twelve 
female ;  Paderborn,  three  male  and  thirteen  female ;  Münster,  four  male 
and  fourteen  female.  Aix-la-Chapelle  had  one  ecclesiastic  for  every  110 
Catholic  inhabitants,  in  Münster  for  sixty-one,  in  Treves  for  fifty-six, 
and  in  Paderborn  for  thirty-three.  Is  not  thereby  a  colossal  increase  of 
the  Order  in  Prussia  apparent  ?  An  increase  which  is  the  more  con- 
spicuous, as  before  1848  there  were  only  some  few  cloisters  of  the  Bene- 
dictines, Carmelites,  and  Franciscans. 


278 


HISTOEY   OF   THE    JESUITS. 


obtained  not  inconsiderable  power  in  Geneva,  under  the  dictator- 
ship of  Fazy,  and  not  the  less  did  they  succeed  in  converting 
some  influential  Swiss.  Thus,  especially,  the  Confederation 
Governor  voa  Mohr  in  Chur,  Councillor  von  Haller  in  Bern, 
and  the  well-known  Hurter  in  Schaffhausen.  Still,  what  did 
these  few  small  results  signify  among  the  great  bulk  of  the 
population  ?  France  showed  a  great  contrast  in  this  respect  to 
Switzerland,  inasmuch  as  the  despotism  of  Napoleon  III.  widely 
opened  the  doors  to  the  Society  of  Jesus.  He  required  its 
services  in  order  to  consolidate  his  new  throne,  reeking  as  it  did 
with  blood,  and  on  that  account  they  were  but  too  precious  to 
him;  so  not  merely  were  the  restraining  ordinances  of  the  year 
1828  abolished,  but,  further,  in  1850  the  most  unlimited  liberty 
to  establish  and  conduct  schools  and  institutions  was  con- 
ceded to  the  religious  associations,  and,  in  particular,  to  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  Still  more  favourable  became  its  position  by 
the  marriage  of  Napoleon  III.,  because  a  Spanish  party  was 
then  formed  at  the  Court  of  Paris,  and  they  were,  of  course, 
enthusiastic  for  everything  that  recalled  Ignatius  Loyola  to 
recollection,  and  cherished,  besides,  the  firm  conviction  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  dynasty  of  Napoleon  ever  to  be 
touched  as  long  as  it  had  the  Society  of  Jesus  on  its  sido. 

From  this  one  may  draw  the  conclusion  as  to  how  'greatly 
Jesuitism  must  have  been  favoured  in  France  under  the  despotic 
government  of  Napoleon  III.,  and  as  a  proof  of  the  extension  of 
the  schools  and  institutions  founded  by  the  Society  I  may  men- 
tion that  the  sons  of  Loyola  brought  no  fewer  than  fifty-two 
scholars  to  the  military  school  of  St.  Cyr  in  the  year  1868,  as 
well  as  twenty-seven  into  the  Pyrotechnic  school.  .Precisely  the 
same  was  the  case  in  Italy,  in  which  several  kingdoms  and 
principalities  were  again  open  to  the  sons  of  Loyola  after  the 
suppression  of  the  Kevolution  of  1848.  They  founded  colleges  in 
Modena,  Massaducale,  Malta,  and,  under  a  different  name,  even 
in  Turin ;  they  returned,  however,  especially,  in  great  numbers 
into  the  States  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  into  the  kingdom  of 
the  two  Sicilies,  in  the  latter  of  which  they  contrived  to  com- 
pletely monopolise  for  themselves  educational  affairs.  Jesuit 
teachers  alone  laboured  in  all  gymnasium's  and  lyceums,  and 
their  colleges  in  Palermo,  Naples,  and  Reggio,  were  established 
with  a  splendour  as  if  they  had  received  Imperial  endowments. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO    ;rESUITISM.      279 

Indeed,  they  founded  in  Palermo  a  kind  of  academy  for  knights, 
in  order  to  get  into  their  hands  the  whole  of  the  youth  of  the 
nobility,  and  the  run  on  it  increased  year  by  year.  Lastly,  I 
have  still  to  allude  to  the  third  great  Roman  state,  namely, 
Spain,  and  affirm  that  here,  also,  after  the  reaction  at  the  Court 
of  the  Queen  Isabella,  sunk  as  it  was  in  debauchery,  had  gained 
the  victory,  their  affairs  flourished,  proof  of  which  was  manifest 
by  their  colleges  and  novitiates  in  Loyola,  Madrid,  Aspeytia, 
and  other  places,  as  well  as  by  their  seminaries  and  novitiates 
in  Huesca,  Burgos,  Avila,  and  Albacete.  But  the  activity  of  the 
Jesuits  was  not  merely  confined  to  Austria,  Germany,  and  the 
Roman  States;  they  even  penetrated  into  countries  where 
hitherto  their  entrance  had  been  entirely,  or  almost  so,  pro- 
hibited, such  as,  for  instance,  Holland,  England,  and  North 
America,  but  as  I  have  already  spoken  about  the  latter  in  a 
former  chapter,  I  shall  now  be  very  brief  respecting  it.  So 
far  as  North  America  is  concerned— I  mean  the  North  American 
Free  States,  or  the  Union-the  power  of  the  Jesuits  increased  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  extension  of  Catholicism,  and  one 
in  Germany  can  have  no  idea  at  all  of  the  extraordinary  growth 
of  this  latter  religion  in  the  North  American  Union.  Twenty 
years  previously  the  diocese  of  Buffalo  numbered  20,000  Catho 
lies,  with  sixteen  churches;  according  to  the  census  of  the 
year  1866,  however,  there  were  200,000  .  Catholics,  with  140 
churches  and  eighteen  cloisters.  Still  more  gigantic  was  their 
progress  in  the  dioceses  of  Cincinnati,  mostly  by  emigration  from 
the  Palatinate,  as  there  were  there,  in  1866.  upwards  of  400,000 
Catholics,  with  400  churches,  and  fifty  religious  Orders.  The 
best  proof,  however,  of  the  increase  of  Catholicism  in  the  Union 
is  illustrated  in  this  way.  that  sixty  years  ago  one  single 
Catholic  Bishop  was  sufficient  to  meet  all  requirements ;  whereas 
in  1866,  there  was  one  Archbishop,  or  Metropolitan,  54  Bishops, 
20  173  Priests,  1,109  seminaries,  almost  all  of  them  being  in 
the  hands  of  the  Jesuits ;  2,948  churches,  2,576  provisional 
chapels,  which  within  a  few  years  would  become  churches,  93 
monks'  cloisters,  265  nuns'  cloisters,  and  12  Cathohc  academies, 
to  which,  of  course,  the  Jesuits  gave  the  tone. 

What  need,  then,  can  there  be  for  any  further  evidence  ?  lü 
precisely  the  same  manner  has  Catholicism  increased  in  Eng- 
land; and -when  once  the  Govemmeat  had,  with  the  approval  of: 


280 


HISTOET  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Parlinment,  decreed   Catholic   emancipation,   it   cnuld  not  be 
otherwise   than  that,    as  a   consequence,  the  adherents  of  the 
Papacy  obtained  still  other  concessions.     Among  those  I  refer 
especially  to  the  endowment  of  the  Jesuit  Catholic   College  of 
Maynooth,   as  well   as  to   the   Roman    Curie,   while   religious 
instruction  at  English  educational  institutions,  in  the  case  of 
Catholic  pupils,  is  given  by  priests  of  their  own  religion.     A 
third  concession  will  prove  to  be  still  more  lasting,  although 
perhaps  less  patent,  namely,  that,  in  addition  to  the  Colleges  of 
Stonyhurst  and  Hoddenhouse,  the  sons  of  Loyola  have  been 
allowed  to  found  other  settlements,  as  of  this  they  have  made 
the  most  extensive  use.     But  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus   gained    the  greatest    advantnge  from    the  circumstance 
that,  by  their  constant  exertions,   they  succeeded  in   bringin«' 
over  again  to  the  Papacy  a  number  of  Englishmen  of  rank, 
especially  professors   and   spiritual   advisers  who  had  hitherto 
belonged  to  the  English  High  Church,  the  ritual  of  which,  as 
well   as  its  ceremonial,   bears  much   resemblanca  to    that  of 
Catholicism,  and,  from  this,  they  even  became  intoxicated  so  much 
as  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few  decades, 
or,  perhaps,  a  century,  a  complete  end  will  be  made  to  the  Eng- 
lish defection  to  Protestantism   under  Henry  VIII.  Professors 
Pusey,  Newman,  Palmer,  Keble,  and  Hook,  of  the  University  of 
Oxford,  initiated  this  state  of  matters  through  their  ogling  with 
Catholicism,  which  afterwards  got  the  name  of  Puseyism  ;    but 
Vice-Chancellor  Newman  led  the  way  to  the  complete  passing 
over  to  Rome,  and,  in  a  short  time,  no  fewer  than  8G7  men  of  great 
consideration  followed  his  example,  among  whom  were  some  very 
wealthy  Peers,  as  the  Marquis  of  Bute  and  others,  with  243  who 
had  hitherto  been  Protestant  clergymen. 

Was  it,  then,  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Pope  of  Rome  at  that 
time.  Pius  IX.,  was  highly  jubilant ;  and,  indeed,  dared,  on  the 
strength  of  this  great  victory,  to  re-establish  a  Papal  hierarchy 
in  England,  through  a  special  Bull  of  September  1850  ?  Sure 
enough,  he  founded  twelve  bishoprics,  over  which  he  placed 
one  archbishop  ;  Hrst,  Cardinal  Wiseman,  and  after  his  dsath  the 
still  more  Popish  Manning  ;  and  all  this  the  English  Government 
allowed,  without  offering  any  energetic  opposition  thereto. 

I    have  now,  lastly,  to  report  upon  the  powerful  influence 
exercised  by  the  Jesuits  in  Holland.    From  this  almost  purely 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      281 


Protestant  country,  they  had  been  completely  excluded  after  the 
contest  about  the  Infallibility,  and  the  few  Catholics  living  there 
did  not  make  the  slightest  com:olaint  about  the  matter.  Matters, 
however,  underwent  a  complete  change  in  the  year  1848,  when 
the  principles  of  thorough  religious  liberty  became  law,  for  now 
the  sons  of  Loyola  were  free  to  make  entry  without  hindrance. 
Here,  as  in  England,  they  induced  the  Pope  to  re-establish 
a  Catholic  hierarchy,  and  further,  in  the  year  1853,  to  found 
four  bishoprics,  with  one  archbishopric.  They  then  managed 
to  get  into  their  hands  educational  matters  throughout  all 
the  Catholic  parts  of  the  country,  and  they  also  succeeded 
in  this  respect  in  most  of  the  towns.  x\s,  however,  their 
colleges,  especially  that  of  Amsterdam,  began  to  flourish, 
their  chief  aim  was  how  to  obtain,  together  with  the  Catholic 
pupils,  Protestants  also,  with,  of  course,  no  other  object  than 
to  convert  them;  and  here,  also,  they  were  abje  to  boast  of  no 
small  result.  The  opposition,  however,  with  which  they  had  to 
contend  was  not  by  any  means  inconsiderable,  and  this  increased 
in  proportion  as  they  gained  ground.  Indeed,  they  had  two 
enemies  to  deal  with  at  the  same  time,  each  of  whom  exerted 
itself  to  the  utmost,  namely,  first  of  all,  the  Protestants,  who 
formed  the  large  majority  of  the  population ;  and  then  the  old 
Catholics  or  Jansenists,  who  maintained  themselves  in  consider- 
able numbers  in  Utrecht,  Haarlem,  Deventer,  and  Amersfoort. 
This  was,  indeed,  a  very  severe  contest,  but  the  sons  of  Loyola 
knew  how  to  take  up  their  new  position,  and  to  attack  their 
enemies  in  the  severest  language  in  two  journals  founded  by 
the  Societv,  viz.  the  Catholic  and  the  Ti/d. 

Their  progress  in  Holland,  nevertheless,  suffered  severely  in 
these  combats,  as  not  only  the  Protestants  of  Holland,  but  also 
the  Catholics  became  enlightened,  through  the  same,  as  to  the 
true  character  of  Jesuitism,  and  did  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
so  easily  deceived  by  their  tricks  and  artifices  as  was  the  case  in 
other  countries.  The  prominent  influence  of  the  sons  of  Loyola 
which,  in  the  first  decade  of  the  second  half  of  our  century,  they 
contrived  to  exercise,  was,  as  the  reader  has  no  doubt  convinced 
himself,  very  important,  and   extended  itself,  indeed,  in   four 

different  directions. 

First  of  all,  they  possessed  immense  influence  on  the  masses, 
which  they  understood  how  to   command   by  means  of  their 


u 


282 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


missions,  sodalities,   &c.   &c.,    the  particulars  regarding  which 
have  been  explained  in  the  foregoing  chapter.     In  the  second 
place,  the  Governments  adhered  to  them,  even  in  the  case  of  the 
most  Protestant  States,  because  these  latter  were  of  opinion  that 
in  them  was  to  be  found  the  best  remedy  against  the  plague  of 
Liberalism  and  of  modern  ideas.     Thirdly,  they  for  the  most 
part  won  for  themselves  the  nobility,   as,  with  the  aid  of  the 
black  cohort,  who  strove  to  bring  matters  back  to  what  they 
were  during  the  Middle  Ages,  it  hoped  to  regain  its  lost  position, 
and,   moreover,   its   sons  were   brought   up   in   their  colleges. 
Fourthly,  and  lastly,  all  the  reigning  bishops  and  princes  of  the 
Church  saw  only  through  purely  Jesuit  spectacles,  and,  indeed, 
simply  on  this  account,  that  from  their  earliest  infancy  most  of 
them  had  received  their  instruction  and  education  in  the  schools 
of  the  sons  of  Loyola.     Indeed,  the  said  Fathers  had,  ever  since 
their  re-establishment,  looked  upon  it  as  their  first  aim   and 
object  to  labour  in  the  colleges,  as  well  as  in  the  universities 
of  the  countries,  and  never  to  desist  until  they  had  gained  pos- 
session of  the  whole  ofthat  class  of  theologians  from  which  it 
was  usual  to  select  the  bishops.     The  results  were  really  the 
most  splendid  that  can  be  imagined,  as,  up  to   the  year  1866, 
hardly  a  single  opponent  of  Jesuitism  sat  upon  a  bishop's  throne. 
Indeed,  it  had  come  even  so  far  as  this,  that  the  non-Jesuitical 
bishops  formed  an  expiring  generation,  and  almost  every  occu- 
pant  of  a    bishopric    considered   it  his  highest    aim    to    dis- 
tinguish   himself  by  his  support    of  Jesuit  tendencies    in   all 
his    colleges.*      Again,  almost    every    prince  of   the    Church 
maintained  a  Jesuit  as  spiritual  adviser — as,  for  instance,  the 
Bishop  of  Paderborn,  Father  Roh — and  this  spiritual  adviser, 
in    any  matter,    whether    religious,    ecclesiastic,    or   political, 
about   which    there    could   be   the    slightest    doubt,   invariably 
gave   his   decision,    which    was   regarded    as   final.       I  repeat, 
therefore,   that    the    powerful    influence    which    the    sons    of 

*  Of  those  bishops  and  archbishops  who  came  forward  as  friends  of  the 
Jesuits,  the  reader  must  allow  me  to  furnish  him  with  some  few  names  in 
alphabetical  order  : — The  Archbishop  Cardinal  Bonnechose,  of  Kouen  ;  the 
Bishop  Canossa,  of  Verona  ;  the  Archbishop  Cullen,  of  Dublin  ;  the  Bishop 
Deschamps,  of  Malines ;  Dr.  Fessler,  Bishop  of  St.  Polten  ;  Bishop  Gasser, 
of  Brizen  ;  Bishop  Martin,  of  Paderborn  ;  Bishop  Leonhard,  of  Eichstadt ; 
Bishop  Wermillod,  of  Geneva ;  Archbishop  Manning,  of  Westminster ; 
Bishop  Plantier,  of  Nimes ;  Bishop  Pie,  of  Poitiers ;  Cardinal  Keisach,  of 
Vienna ;  Bishop  Keynier,  of  Cambray ;  Bishop  Riccabona,  of  Trient ;  Bishop 
Genestrey,  of  Eatisbonne  ;  and  Archbishop  Tarnoezy,  of  Saltsburg» 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      283 

Loyola,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  half  of  our  century, 
partly  won,  and  partly  surreptitiously  obtained,  was  magnifi- 
cent ;  but  it  attained  its  highest  summit  when  the  Fathers  suc- 
ceeded, as  I  have  already  shortly  indicated  in  a  preceding  chapter, 
in  gaining  such  an  ascendancy  over  the  reigning  Pope  as  had 
never  before  been  witnessed.  When  Gregory  XVI.  died,  on 
1st  June,  1846,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  Romans,  the  election 
of  a  new  Pope  for  a  long  time  fluctuated  between  Gregory's 
secretary  and  confidential  companion.  Cardinal  Lambruschini, 
and  the  affable  and  benovolent  Cardinal  Count  Mastai  Ferretti, 
from  Sinigaglia;  but  on  the  16th  June  the  name  of  the  latter 
came  almost  unanimously  forth  from  the  urn,  and  he  thereupon 
succeeded,  under  the  name  of  Pius  IX. 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  Romans  was  immense,  as  a  complete 
new  era  of  government  was  expected  to  be  inaugurated  by  this 
Pope,  an  entire  breaking  through  of  the  former  Papal  system. 
In  fact,  at  the  commencement  Pius  IX,  began  his  reforms  well, 
with  a  political  amnesty,  which  made  him  very  popular,  as  he 
gave  their  liberty  to  more  than  6,000  prisoners.  But  what  a 
contrast  did  his  *' ecclesiastical "  proceedings,  especially  his 
Encyclica  (circular-letter  to  the  Bishops)  of  the  9th  November 
1846,  no  less  than  his  Alloöution  of  l7th  December,  1847,  form 
to  his  political  decrees!  In  both  the  above-mentioned  edicts  he 
showed  himself  to  be  as  thoroughly  Papal  aa  any  of  his  pre- 
decessors, as  he  thundered  therein  not  only  against  Bible 
Societies,  as  well  as  against  the  frightful  system  of  religious 
indifference  and  the  perverting  influence  of  philosophical  teach- 
ing, but  he  no  less  condemned  all  those  who  believed  that  they 
might  be  saved  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
especially  those  who  made  bold  to  interpret  the  word  of  God 
according  to  their  own  notion,  while  God  had  set  up  a  living 
authority  (the  Pope)  who  taught  the  true  meaning  of  His 
heavenly  revelations  and  ordered  all  disputes  in  matters  of  faith 
and  morality  by  his  infallible  judgment. 

From  this,  the  conclusion  may  be  drawn  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  new  Pope  to  be  in  earnest  when  he  favoured 
measures  of  freedom  in  the  secular  government  of  the  States  of 
the  Church,  and  the  apprehensions  on  this  score  were  soon  to 
be  realised.  Everything  that  the  Pope  ordained  was  merely 
designed  for  a  purpose,  being  calculated  to  appease  the  Romans 


284 


HISTOKY   OF    THE    JESUITS. 


M 


in  order  that  tliey  miglit  uot  also  be  seized  with  the  revolution- 
ary spirit  which  shook  the  half  of  the  world  in  1848 ;  and  it  was 
apparent  that  the  whole  of  these  reforms  would  be  again  swept 
away  as  soon  as  the  dangers  of  revolution  had  somewhat  sub- 
sided. The  consequence  of  this  was  that  the  Romans  urged  the 
Pope  to  take  his. measures  in  earnest,  and  to  finish  the  structure 
of  civil  liberty.  Pius  JX.  sought  afresh  to  temporize ;  but  the 
Romans,  who  could  no  longer  be  restrained,  now  made  short 
work  of  it,  and  in  March  1848  not  only  drew  up  for  themselves 
a  constitution  of  their  own,  but  also  expelled  the  Jesuits  at  the 
end  of  a  month,  as  it  was  known  that  they  strongly  influenced 
the  Pope.  Thereupon  an  end  was  quickly  put  to  the  affection 
and  concord  existing  between  His  Holiness  and  the  Romans; 
and,  finally,  Pius  IX.  saw  it  to  be  necessary,  as  one  tumult  in 
Rome  followed  another,  to  seek  his  safety  in  flight,  with  the 
help  of  the  Bavarian  Ambassador.  He  succeeded  in  effecting  this, 
well  disguised,  during  the  night  of  the  24th-25th  November, 
and  reached  the  Neapolitan  fortress  of  Gaeta,  to  which  he  had 
directed  his  steps;  he  thereupon,  on  the  1st  January  1849, 
launched  his  lightning  of  excommunication  against  Rome.  He 
made  sure  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Eternal  City  would  now 
immediately  crawl  again  towards  the  Cross,  but  they  simply 
replied  that  they  had  deposed  the  Pope,  as  secular  ruler  of  the 
States  of  the  Church,  and  declared  Rome  a  Republic.  This  was, 
indeed,  a  severe  blow;  but  still  Pius  IX.  knew  how  to  help  him- 
self, and  entreated  the  intervention  of  the  President  of  the  French 
Republic,  the  future  Emperor  Napoleon.  Napoleon  was  only 
too  ready  to  help,  as  he  had  good  grounds  for  winning  over  the 
Pope  for  himself,  and  he  accordingly  sent  an  army  against 
Rome.  The  Romans,  however,  under  the  lead  of  Garibaldi, 
bravely  defended  themselves,  and  the  French  did  not  succeed 
till  July  1849,  in  taking  the  city  by  storm. 

The  Pope  was  then  again  Sovereign  of  the  States  of  the 
Church,  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  to  prevent  his  return 
to  Rome,  as  the  French  bayonets  were  there.  Still,  he  did 
not  make  his  entry  into  the  Eternal  City  till  April  1850,  and 
even  then  the  Romans  received  him  with  coldness  and  indiffer- 
ence. They  thoroughly  hated  him,  because  he  had  turned  out 
quite  dififerently  from  what  was  originally  expected.  He  now, 
however,  showed  himself  in  his  true  colours,  and  surrounded 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     2ÖS 

himself  with  only  those  men  who  prompted  him  to  act  even 
more  Popishly  than  his  predecessor  Gregory.  That  these  men 
were  no  other  than  the  sons  of  Loyola,  or  such  as  had  been 
educated  by  them,  can  the  reader  have  any  doubt  ?  and  Pius  IX. 
at  once  proved  this  to  be  the  case  by  the  first  decree  which,  as 
Pope,  he  caused  to  be  issued  after  his  return  to  Rome.  What 
were  the  Jesuits  about  ?  First  the  canonization  of  their  brother 
in  faith,  Peter  Claver,  as  also  of  John  de  Britto.  After  these 
two,  then  followed  Andrew  Bobola,  as  well  as  the  noted  Peter 
Canisius ;  and,  lastly,  there  was  added  the  canonization  of  the 
Japanese  martyrs,  of  whom  the  reader  has  been  already  made 
acquainted.  The  Jesuits,  then,  were  those  whp  governed  the 
Pope  after  his  return  from  Gaeta,  and,  besides  them,  there  were 
only  such  Cardinals  as  had  sworn  entirely  to  their  creed,  headed 
by  the  Secretary  of  State,  Antonelli.  But  what  were  the  names  of 
these  Jesuits  ?  To  commence,  I  must  bring  forward,  in  the  first 
rank,  the  General  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  the  aged  Belgian 
Beckz,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken;  then  the  Italians 
Mignardi,  who  was  taken  by  Pius  IX.  as  Father  Confessor, 
Piccirillo,  Perrone,  and  Curli ;  further,  the  Belgians  Franzelin 
and  de  Bucq  ;  lastly,  the  Germans  Schrader  and  Kleutgen.  All 
of  these  became  quite  indispensable  to  the  Pope,  more  especially 
the  two  first  named  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  took  good  care 
that  no  "  outsider,"  that  is,  no  one,  either  lay  or  priest,,  who 
had  not  sworn  allegiance  to  their  banner,  should  approach  his 
presence,  even  for  a  short  time.  Only  in  their  atmosphere  was 
His  Holiness  allowed  to  breathe,  only  through  their  spectacles 
to  see,  and  only  with  their  ears  and  mouths  to  hear  and  learn 
what  was  going  on  in  the  world. 

'Formerly,  indeed,  in  previous  centuries,  this  had  by  no  means 
been  the  case ;  but  other  Orders,  especially  the  Augustines, 
Carmelites,  Minorites,  and  Dominicans,  had  their  influence,  and 
not  infrequently,  indeed,  strove  for  supremacy  with  the  sons  of 
Loy.ola.  The  whole  of  these  Orders  were  now  at  a  discount  in 
Rome,  and  the  Jesuitically-disposed  Pope  merely  allowed  them 
to  vegetate,  so  to  speak.  Indeed,  in  order  that  the  only  single 
one  of  them  that  still  had  any  influence  should  he  set  aside,  to 
wit,  the  Dominicans,  they  were  induced  to  select  as  their  General 
the  frenchman  Jandel,  who  was  entirely  for  the  Jesuits  and 
never  laid  any   obstacle  in  their   way.     As  regards  the  Orders 


.. 


f  r 


Ö66 


HISTORY   0^   THE   JESÜItS. 


which  had  sprung  up  in  modem  times,  such  as  Rederaptionists 
and  Liguorians,  from  the  commencement  they  had  been  nothing 
else  than  under-strappers  of  the  Jesuits,  preparing  the  way  for 
the  latter,  and  taking  their  cue  from  them.  Wl)at  became,  then, 
of  anyone  in  Rome  who  dared  to  oppose  the  all-powerful  will  of 
the  Jesuits  ? 

A  highly-esteemed  savant  and  theologian,  the  Cardinal  Guidi, 
once  tried,  in  an  audience  which  he  had  solicited  of  the  Pope, 
to  furnish  him  with  the  pure  wine  of  honest  advice.  But  what 
was  the  consequence  ?  He  was  from  that  hour,  and  for  ever 
afterwards,  denied  access  to  His  Holiness,  and  remained  isolated 
among  his  colleagues.  How  now  did  the  Jesuits  profit  from 
the  potent  influence  that  they  had  won  over  the  Pope?  In 
order  not  to  tire  the  reader,  I  will  mention  from  a  few  in- 
stances only  the  most  weighty.  • 

In  the  first  place,  the  sons  of  Loyola,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1866,  undertook  the  task  of  editing  the  Ctvilla  Cattolica 
which  is  the  official  organ  of  the  reigning  Pope.  In  his  Brief 
of  the  12th  February  1866,  Pius  IX.  declared  that  this  journal 
— which,  coupled  with  its  primary  duty  of  defending  the  Catholic 
religion,  was  expressly  destined  to  teach  and  disseminate  abroad 
the  authority  and  power  of  the  Roman  See — should  henceforth 
be  written  and  published  by  a  proper  college,  consisting  of  men 
nominated  by  the  Jesuit  chief.*  and  General  Beckz,  in  pursuance 
of  the  Brief,  at  once  named  Fathers  Piccirillo  and  Perrone  as 
editors.  And  it  is  a  fact  that  these  two  latter  were,  from  this 
time  forward,  regularly  accorded  audiences  of  the  Holy  Father, 
precisely  in  the  same  way  as  the  Secretaries  of  State  and 
Ministers,  not  less  seldom  than  once  a  week,  indeed,  but 
rather  oftener.  It  is  also,  further,  a  fact  that  the  editors  in  such 
audiences  laid  before  the  Pope  the  manuscripts  destined  for  the 
next  numbers;  that  the  Pope  read  over  the  same,  and  sent  them 
on  to  the  Chancellory  of  State  accompanied  with  remarks, 
according  as  he  found  them,  or,  as  was  almost  always  the  case, 
unaltered.  Finally,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  Civilta  declared,  in 
'conspicuous  type : — 

**  We  (that  is,  the  editors)  are  not  the  authors  of  the  Papal 

•  The  Pope  devoted  forthwith  a  special  building  for  the  editorial  office,  as 
well  as  considerable  salaries,  which  rendered  the  editors  independent  of  all 
earthly  anxieties. 


DEVELOPMENT    OP   CATHOLICISM    INTO   JESUITISM.     287 

thoughts,  and  it  is  not  by  our  inspirations  that  Pius  IX.  speaks 
and  acts;  but  we  are  certainly  the  true  echo  of  the  Holy  See." 

What  is  meant  by  this,  then  ?  Nothing  else  but  that  the 
Pope  himself  admits  that  the  ideas  which  are  from  time  to  time 
published  in  the  Civilta  are  his  own,  and,  therefore,  that  all  the 
many  utterances  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  Civilta,  inimical  to  modern 
States  and  the  entire  modern  civilisation,  are  nothing  other  than 
the  expression  of  the  innermost  conviction  of  Pope  Pius  IX. 
Nothing  else  than  that  the  present  Popedom,  or,  to  express 
myself  more  clearly,  the  present  Papal  Catholicism,  is  entirely 
identical  with  Jesuitism,  that  is,  with  the  teaching  and  faith  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola.  I  may  further  remark  that,  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  editorial  department  of  the  Civilta  Cattolica,  the 
final  revision  of  the  journal  in  question  is  looked  after  by  Mon- 
signor  (Prelate)  Marini ;  that,  moreover,  this  prelate  is  a  special 
confidant  of  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of  State,  Antonelli,  and, 
consequently,  that  no  essential  alterations  as  to  the  tendency 
of  the  articles  need  be  feared  at  his  hands. 

The  second  thing  I  have  to  state  is  this — that  the  Jesuits 
brought  about  that  the  Pope  should  promulgate,  as  his  own 
act,  without  consulting  his  Council,  the  Immaculate  Conception 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  in  order  to  send  it  out  into  the  world  as  a 
feeler  to  ascertain  how  far  the  power  of  the  Pope  might  reach. 
On  this  matter  the  Jesuit  Clement  Schrader  thus  expresses 
himself  verbatim  in  his  pamphlet  Pius  IX,  as  Pope  and  King, 
Vienna,  1865: 

"  This  is  quite  a  peculiar  act  of  the  Pontificate  of  Pius  IX., 
seeing  that  no  foregoing  Pontificate  had  enunciated  it ;  while  the 
Pope  has  defined  this  dogma  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  in  the 
plenitude  of  his  power,  and  without  the  co-operation  of  his  Council ; 
and  this  independent  definition  of  a  dogma  determines  at  the  same 
time — not  expressly  or  formally,  it  is  true,  but,  nevertheless, 
undoubtedly  and  as  a  matter  of  fact— another  dogmatical  deci- 
sion, namely  the  settlement  of  the  mooted  point  as  to  whether 
the  Pope  can  be,  in  his  own  person,  infallible,  or  whether  he 
can  only  lay  claim  to  infallibility  at  the  hcjad  of  his  Council. 
Pius  IX.  has,  it  is  true,  not  theoretically,  by  the  Act  of  8th 
December  1854,  defined  this  infallibility  on  the  part  of  the  Pope, 
but  practically  he  has  claimed  it." 

Is  it  not,  then,  to  be  clearly  seen  that  the  dogmatising  of  the  * 


!^ 


i 


28Ö 


HISTOBY  OP   THE  JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     289 


Immaculate  Conception  of  Mary  could  be  nothing  else  than  a 
feeler  to  ascertain  how  far  the  Pope  might  go  ?  But,  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  fact  itself,  not  a  single  word  was  ever  heard  in  the 
first  eight  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  about  an  Immaculate 
Conception  of  the  Mother  of  Jesus  Christ,  although  Mary-worship 
had  been  promulgated  at  a  very  early  period.  The  first  who 
alluded  thereto  was,  indeed,  the  Abbot  of  Corbie,  Paschasius 
Radbertus,  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  9th  century ;  but 
all  better-instructed  theologians  opposed  him  in  this  view.  At 
length  it  pleased  some  of  the  canons  at  Lyons,  in  the  12lh 
century,  to  celebrate  a  special  festival  in  honour  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  of  Mary,  and  forthwith,  here  and  there,  the 
thing  met  with  imitation.  However,  two  centuries  later,  the 
celebrated  Dominican,  Thomas  d'Aquino,  attacked  the  new 
dogma  as  heretical  on  truly  annihilating  grounds;  and  the 
matter  might  be  considered  as  settled. 

Such  was  not  the  case,  however,  for  the  Franciscan  Duns 
Scotus  took  up  the  matter  in  the  strongest  manner  possible ;  and 
from  that  time  arose  a  violent  contention  between  the  Dominicans 
and  Franciscans  respecting  the  said  dogma.  The  latter  fought 
like  men  for  the  Immaculate  Conception,  while  the  former  were  as 
violently  opposed  to  it ;  a  definite  decision,  however,  was  never 
brought  about,  and  only  this  was  clearly  evident,  that  men  of  the 
greatest  consequence,  and  most  learned  and  most  clear-sighted  as 
theologians,  rejected  the  dogma.  The  Jesuits,  however,  ranged 
themselves  on  the  side  of  Mary,  as  from  the  commencement 
they  had  carried  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  to  the  greatest 
height;  thus,  the  old  battle  was  renewed.  With  this  difference, 
however,  that  the  enlightened  among  theologians  declared  the 
whole  question  to  be  so  laughable  that  it  was  not  really  worth 
the  trouble  of  breaking  lance  about  it.  Thus  no  Pope  dared  to 
come  to  a  decision  on  the  matter,  not  even  those  most  favour- 
ably disposed  to  the  Jesuits ;  the  same  was  the  case  as  regards 
the  Council  of  Trent,  although  there  the  sons  of  Loyola  were 
almost  omnipotent. 

Pius  IX.,  on  the  contrary — and  from  this  we  may  see  how 
completely  the  Society  of  Jesus  governed  him— in  one  of  his 
Encyclica,  even  as  early  as  2nd  February,  1849,  intimated  to  the 
Catholic  bishops  that  he  had  the  intention  of  appointing  a  Spe- 
cial Commission  for  the  determination  of  the  question  regarding 


the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary,  and  requested  them  to 
communicate  their  views  on  the  subject  to  him  as  soon  as 
possible.  One  could,  indeed,  see  from  the  Encylica  itself,  how 
much  the  matter  lay  at  his  heart,  as  he  stated,  verbatim, 
therein,  ''That,  from  the  days  of  his  childhood,  nothing  lay 
nearer  his  heart  than  to  reverence  the  ever-blessed  Virgin  Mary 
with  peculiar  piety  and  devotion,  combined  with  the  most 
intense  and  heartfelt  love,  and  to  accomplish  everything  that 
might  tend  to  the  promotion  of  her  glory  and  public  worship." 

Well,  the  Commission  was  appointed,  and  the  Pope  nominated 
as  President  of  the  same  the  celebrated  theologian  Dr.  Passaglia, 
the  trusted  confidant  of  the  Jesuits.  One  may  draw  a  con- 
clusion from  this  as  to  what  was  the  opinion  of  the  remaining 
members  of  the  Commission ;  but,  nevertheless,  their  consulta- 
tions lasted  fully  three  years,  and  Passaglia  did  not  publish 
his  report  till  December  1853.  The  contents  of  the  same 
proved  all  the  more  delightful,  as  the  sentence  of  the  Com- 
mission ran  as  follows  :  "  That  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  on  account 
of  her  transcendent  holiness  and  grace,  which,  as  above  every- 
thing human,  cannot  naturally  be  quite  clearly  propounded, 
must  be  ascribed  an  immaculate  conception,  free  from  all  original 
sin,  founded  on  Scripture,  tradition,  and  public  worship  as 
conducted  up  to  the  present  time." 

The  bishops,  for  the  most  part,  voted  as  assenting  to 
this,*  and  Pius  IX,,  in  his  joy  on  this  occasion,  wrote  from 
Eome,  on  1st  August  1854,  summoning  a  Council  for  the 
purpose  of  confirming  the  projected  dogma.  The  Council,  how- 
ever, never  took  place,  so  far  as  deliberation  was  concerned,  as 
only  192  prelates  appeared ;  these,  for  the  most  part,  indeed, 
were  Italian,  who,  besides,j  dropped  in  so  slowly,  that  the 
first  meeting  of  the  same  was  not  held  until  the  20th  No- 
vember 1854.  The  Pope,  some  days  latex,  then  laid  the 
dogma  before  them,  and  their  consent  to  it  was  given  on  the 
4th  December,  without  any  proper  consultation  and  discussion 
having  taken  place.     Thereupon,  Pius  IX.  held  a  solemn  High 

*  Not  fewer  than  440  prelates,  as  one  man,  acquiesced  in  this  Popish  hobby, 
as  one  "which  might  be  well  carried  out  without  harm,  and  only  thirty-two 
were  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  better  to  let  it  alone,  in  order  not  to  arouse 
the  laughter  of  the  times.  Among  the  latter,  however,  were  to  be  found 
some  voices  of  great  weight,  as  that  of  Archbishop  Sibour  in  Paris,  the 
Cardinal  Bishop  of  Breslau,  Dievenbrock,  and  the  Archbishop  Schwarzen- 
berg  of  Salzburg. 


f 


* 

I 

-» 


n. 


19 


290 


HISTOEY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Mass,  on  the  8th  December,  in  the  Sistine  Chapel;  placed  a 
diadem  of  brilliants  on  the  image  of  Mary ;  and  issued  the  famous 
Bull,  Ineffahilis  Deua,  in  which  the  Pope,  "  By  virtue  of  his 
own  authority,  as  also  by  virtue  of  the  authority  of  Jesus,  and 
of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,"  declared  "  that  the  dogma 
which  teaches  that  Mary,  from  the  first  moment  of  her  concep- 
tion, by  an  especial  grace  and  privilege  of  God,  was  preserved  free 
from  all  taint  of  original  sin,  was  manifested  by  God,  and  must, 
therefore,  be  firmly  and  constantly  believed  by  all  the  faithful." 

Thus,  finally,  was  the  great  end  attained  for  which  the  Jesuits 
so  long  contended,  and  the  unheard-of  doctrine  "  of  the  Imma- 
culate Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,"  from  this  time  forward 
was  to  be  held  as  "  dogma." 

How,  then,  was  the  new  creed  received  by  Christendom  ? 
Most  men  remained  perfectly  indifferent  about  the  matter,  as  if 
the  thing  did  not  at  all  concern  them  ;  those  of  cultivation,  how- 
ever, openly  derided  and  mocked  at  the  circumstance  of  a  new 
goddess  being  added  to  the  Christian  heaven.  But  those  of  the 
clergy  came  worst  off  who  dared  to  express  openly  their  dis- 
pleasure at  the  new  article  of  faith,  as  they  were  forthwith 
excommunicated  by  the  Pope,  and  no  Government  dared  to  take 
action  against  His  Holiness.  It  was  highly  disgusting,  how- 
ever, that  the  old  Catholics  or  Jansenist  Bishops  of  Holland — 
who  issued  a  pastoral  letter  of  their  own  against  the  dogma, 
wherein  they  proved  in  the  clearest  possible  way  that  the  same 
was  taught  neither  by  Holy  Scripture  nor  yet  by  tradition,  and 
on  that  account  called  down  also  excommunication  upon  them- 
selves— were  unable  by  any  possibility  to  be  reached  by  the 
arm  of  the  Holy  Father  in  Rome.  But  even  in  this  case,  the 
Jesuits  carried  off  the  victory  by  means  of  a  further  letter,  in 
which  Pius  IX.  compromised  himself  still  more  deeply. 

In  the  summer  of  1859,  the  Franco-Italian  war  against 
Austria  began — the  reader  doubtless  remembers  the  famous 
New  Year's  speech  which  Napoleon  III.  made  to  the  Austrian 
Ambassador,  Von  Hübner — without  the  Roman  Curie  being 
able  to  prevent  it ;  and  as,  in  consequence  of  the  same,  the 
Austri ans  withdrew  from  the  Papal  provinces  occupied  by  them  in 
June  (on  June  13th  from  Bologna),  those  provinces  rose  in 
a  body  in  order  that  they  might  be  included  in  the  new  king- 
dom of  Italy.     There  could  be  no  wonder  about  this,  as  there 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     291 


did  not  exist,  perhaps,  at  that  time,  a  worse- governed  kingdom 
in  the  whole  world  than  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Pope  would  on  that  account  long  before  have  shaken 
off  the  yoke,  had  they  not  been  restrained  by  force,  partly  as 
regards  the  Austrians  (in  the  Romagna),  partly  by  the  French 
in  Rome  and  its  neighbourhood,  and,  again,  partly  by  means  of 
the  mercenary  troops  in  the  remaining  States  of  the  Church. 

Well,  then,  the  Austrians  withdrew  from  Romagna,  and  the 
very  next  day,  as  has  been  mentioned,  the  populace  rose. 
In  vain  did  the  mercenary  Papal  troops  fight  against  them,  and 
the  most  cruel  atrocities  occur  in  Perugia.  In  vain  did  the 
Pope  issue  one  allocution  after  another,  wherein  he  testified 
that  the  possession  of  the  Pope's  temporal  power  was  a  neces- 
sity for  him,  and  consequently  that  the  annexation  of  Romagna 
to  the  kingdom  of  Italy  must  be  punished  as  a  robbery  of  the 
Church.  The  Romagnians  had  no  desire  to  return  under  the 
scourging  rod  of  the  Holy  Father,  and  none  of  the  foreign 
Powers  were  at  all  disposed  to  proceed  by  force  against  them. 
On  the  contrary.  Napoleon  III.,  in  a  letter  dated  31st  December 
1859,  demanded  the  renunciation  of  Romagna  by  the  Pope, 
receiving  in  return  a  guarantee  for  the  remainder  of  his  posses- 
sions. 

What  now  could  be  done  ?  Prudence  counselled  submis- 
sion, in  order  most  probably  not  to  lose  still  more,  or,  indeed, 
perhaps  all.  The  Jesuits,  however,  in  whose  hands  the  Holy 
Father  found  himself,  urged  him  to  the  contrary,  and  thus,  then, 
the  French  Emperor  got  **  Nonpossumus  "  for  his  answer,  a  reply 
which  has  since  become  famous.  So  Pius  IX.,  indeed,  ex- 
claimed, "  Non  possumus" — the  signification  being  "  We  cannot" 
— "as  he  could  not  relinquish  what  did  not  belong  to  him  but  to 
all  Catholics."  **  Nay,  rather,"  added  he,  "  by  such  abdication 
he  would  infringe  his  oath,  his  preferments,  his  rights,  and  not 
merely  encourage  disturbance  in  the  remaining  provinces,  but 
also  injure  the  rights  of  all  Christian  princes." 

At  the  same  time  as  this  answer  was  despatched  to  Rome,  all 
means  were  put  into  operation  in  order  to  give  expression  to 
the  same,  and  the  whole  Catholic  Episcopate  were  required  to 
lodge  a  protest  "  against  a  deed  of  violence  by  which  the  most 
ancient  possession  was  attacked,  and  all  legitimate  rights  and 
relations  were  put  in  question."    Besides,  collections  were  every- 

19  * 


292 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     293 


where  made  for  the  distressed  Pope  (these  moneys,  called 
"  Peter's  Pence,"  were  highly  welcome  to  the  Roman  Curie,  and 
on  this  account  they  have  never  heen  discontinued),  and 
addresses,  preachings,  meetings,  puhlic  prayers,  and  everything 
else  of  the  kind  that  was  humanly  possible  were  instituted. 
Indeed,  even  a  Protestant  King  of  Prussia  projected  to  draw 
the  sword  for  the  Pope,  and  thereby  to  win  for  himself  his  high 
blessing  !  Unfortunately,  nevertheless,  all  this  proved  fruitless, 
and  Bomagna  was  and  remains  lost.  The  Jesuits  urged  the 
Pope  to  the  adoption  of  the  ultima  ratio,  the  last  means 
that  remained  at  his  command,  namely,  the  excommunication  of 
the  robbers  of  Romagna,  and,  under  date  the  26th  March  1860, 
appeared  the  Bull  of  Excommunication  referriug  thereto : — 

"  All  those  who  had  been  guilty  of  rebellion,  invasion,  usurpa- 
tion, and  other  similar  attempts,  were  by  the  same  excommuni- 
cated ;  further,  all  their  instigators,  accomplices,  advisers,  and 
followers,  as  well  as  all  those  who  had  favoured  or  facilitated 
these  deeds  of  violence;  finally,  all  who,  although  even  sons 
of  the  Church,  had  arrived  at  such  a  pitch  of  effrontery  that 
they  continually  asseverated  their  respect  and  devotion  for  the 
Church,  while  they  still  attacked  its  secular  power  and  despised 
its  authority." 

It  was  clearly  evident  whom  the  Pope  meant,  although  he 
mentioned  no  name,  and  King  Victor  Emanuel  knew  very  well 
who  it  was.  His  army  and  the  whole  of  his  people  also  knew; 
but  did  this  give  rise  to  an  insurrection  against  him  ?  0  Lord, 
no ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  increased  his  popularity,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Holy  Father  in  Rome  became  an  object  of 
derision  among  almost  all  Italians.  Still  more,  not  a  single 
one  of  the  foreign  potentates  broke  off  friendly  relations  with  the 
King  of  Italy  on  account  of  this  Bull  of  Exconununication,  and 
thus  the  Papal  curse  completely  failed  in  its  object.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  mankind  now  stood  on  quite  a  different  footing 
as  regards  civilisation  than  in  the  tiroes  of  Gregory  YII.  or 
Innocent  III.,  and  it  was  only  the  Loyolite  surrounding  of 
the  Pope  that  had  flattered  itself  with  the  hope  that  one  could 
possibly  conjure  up  again  the  Middle  Ages.  When,  however, 
even  the  ultima  ratio  vanished  in  sand,  entirely  disregarded, 
the  rage  of  the  Jesuits  worked  itself  up  to  stark  madness, 
and  they  proceeded,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Pope,  to  collect 


a  mighty  army  with  which  they  hoped  to  defeat  the  troops  of 
Victor  Emanuel.  These,  indeed,  were  actually  forthcoming, 
but  what  was  to  be  expected  of  them  ?  It  is  true  that  nothing 
could  be  advanced  against  old  General  Lamoriciöre,  the  leader 
selected,  schooled  as  he  had  been  in  Africa ;  but  what  concern- 
ing the  army  itself?  A  small  minority  consisted  of  Austrian 
soldiers  on  furlough,  or  discharged  from  the  service,  as  well  as 
French  enthusiasts ;  but  the  great  bulk  was  formed  of  drunken 
Irishmen  and  vagabonds  of  all  nations.  It  may,  therefore,  be 
easily  imagined  that  the  Papal  army,  on  coming  into  collision 
with  the  troops  of  Victor  Emanuel,  was  ignominiously  defeated, 
and  the  inevitable  consequence  was  that,  after  the  storming  of 
Ancona,  both  Umbria  and  the  Marches  were  lost  to  the  Pope. 

Even  Rome  itself,  indeed,  would  have  been  conquered,  had  it 
not  been  that  Napoleon  III.  had  protected  the  Eternal  City  by 
a  French  corps,  and  by  brute  force  hindered  the  entrance   of 

Garibaldi. 

It  may,  then,  be  seen  that  the  Pope  did  not  act  wisely  during 
the  war  in  allowing  the  Jesuits  to  drive  him  to  throw  down 
the  gauntlet  to  the  King  of  Italy,  and  it  might  have  been  thought 
that  in  consequence  of  this  a  rupture  would  have  taken  place 
between  him  and  the  Jesuits.  But  precisely  the  reverse  was  the 
case,  and  Pius  IX.  was  always  more  and  more  encircled  by  the 
latter,  indeed,  they  finally  drove  him  to  adopt  a  measure  which,  for 
disregard  of  all  moderation,  had  never  hitherto  been  surpassed. 
Forsooth,  he  issued  an  Encyclica,  on  the  8th  December  1864, 
which  condemned  the  entire  civilisation  of  the  times ;  and  we 
cannot  do  better  than  reproduce  here  the  principal  heads  of  this 
colossal  curse  of  excommunication. 

Pius  IX.  says  in  his  circular  letter  to  the  Catholic  bishops : 
"  Our  predecessors,  and  the  defenders  and  supporters  of  the 
Sublime  Catholic  religion,  as  well  as  of  truth  and  justice,  had 
much  at  heart,  not  less  than  the  supreme  care  over  the  welfare  of 
souls,  the  discovery  and  condemnation,  in  their  most  wise  pastoral 
letters,  of  all  erroneous  teaching  and  mistaken  opinions,  which 
had  given  rise  to  the  most  violent  storm,  in  resistance  to  our 
divine  faith,  to  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church,  to 
decorum  in  manners,  and  to  the  everlasting  welfare  of  the  souls 
of  mankind  and  desolated  the  Church  and  State  in  a  manner 
most  deeply  to  be  deplored.     On  this  account,  therefore,  these 


J 


^ 


294 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


our  predecessors  have  invariably,  with  most  apostolic  vigour, 
oflPered  continual  resistance  and  opposition  to  the  flagitious 
machinations  of  godless  men,  who,  frothing  up  in  ebullition  their 
peculiar  aberrations  like  the  floods  of  the  raging  sea,  promised 
liberty  while  they  themselves  continued  §laves  of  corruption, 
and,  with  deceitful  views  and  highly  injurious  writings,  took 
pains  to  subvert  the  principles  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  of 
the  social  system,  to  eradicate  every  virtue  and  privilege,  to  ruin 
all  souls  and  hearts,  to  cause  the  unwary,  and  especially  the 
inexperienced  youth,  to  deviate  from  due  propriety  in  manners, 
to  destroy  them  miserably,  to  draw  them  into  the  snares  of  error, 
and,  finally,  to  tear  them  away  from  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic 
Church." 

After  some  intermediate  observations,  Pius   IX.  thus   con- 
tinues : — 

"  In  a  like  manner  have  we  also  raised  our  voice,  as,  to  the 
great  pain  and  disquiet  of  our  soul,  we  perceive  the  hideous 
storm  roused  up  by  so  many  infamous  and  wicked  opinions,  and 
the  highly  prejudicial  and  never  sufficiently  to  be  deplored 
damage,  which  overwhelms  the  Christian  people  with  such  a 
flood  of  errors.  We,  too,  have  raised  our  voice  by  virtue  of 
our  apostolic  office,  and,  by  means  of  several  Encyclical  Briefs 
which  we  have  issued,  the  allocutions  we  have  delivered  in  the 
Consistory,  and  by  other  apostolical  writings,  have  condemned 
the  conspicuous  errors  of  our  truly  melancholy  times,  have 
aroused  your  most  careful  episcopal  vigilance,  and  reminded 
and  warned,  over  and  over  again,  all  children  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  so  dear  to  us,  that  they  should  utterly  abhor  and  haply 
avoid  this  frightful  pestilence.  Although,  however,  we  have 
never  omitted  to  prohibit  and  reprobate  these  leading  errors, 
nevertheless,  the  well-being  of  the  Catholic  Church,  no  less 
than  the  salvation  of  souls  committed  by  God  to  our  care,  and 
the  matters  connected  with  the  social  system  itself,  settled  by 
us,  demand  that  we  should  afresh  incite  your  pastoral  solicitude 
towards  the  combating  of  other  not  less  worthless  opinions, 
which  spring  up  from  these  errors  as  from  wells." 

"For  you  well  know,  reverend  brethren,"  it  goes  on,  "that 
there  are  not  a  few  in  this  present  time  who,  while  they  apply 
to  the  social  system  the  absurd  and  godless  principle  of  natural- 
ism, dare  to  teach  that  the  best  organisation  of  States  and  of 


DEVELOPMENT    OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      295 


social  progress  strictly  demands  that  human  society  should  be 
constituted  and  regulated  irrespective  altogether  of  religion,  just 
as  if,  indeed,  this  latter  had  no  existence  at  all.     As  a  sequence, 
indeed,    to   this    completely    false   idea  of  the   management  of 
society,  they  are  not  intimidated  from  encouraging  that  erroneous 
view,  detrimental  alike  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  Catholic 
Church   as  well  as  to   the  welfare  of  souls,  that  this  liberty  of 
conscience  and  of  religion  should  be  the  peculiar  right  of  every 
one,  which   the  law   in  all   well-conducted  communities   must 
express  and  regulate,  and  that  a  title  to  that  liberty,  unlimited 
by  any  ecclesiastical  or  secular  authority,  may  rest  with    the 
citizens,  in  virtue  of  which  they  may  be  enabled,  openly  and 
before  all,  to  make  known  and  declare  any  thoughts  agreeable  to 
them,  either  orally  or  through  the  press,  or  in  any  other  manner 
whatever.     And  they  exclaim,  in  a  truly  godless  manner,  *  Let 
all  right  be  withdrawn  from  the  citizens  and  the  Church,  in 
virtue  of  which  they   dare  to   dispense   alms   for  the  sake   of 
charity,  and  let  the  law  be  abolished  by  which,  on  certain  days, 
manual  labour  is  prohibited  for  the  sake  of   God's  service  * ; 
while  they  set  forth  most  deceitfully  that  the  said  right  and  the 
said  law  are  opposed  to  the  principles  of  good  popular  govern- 
ment.    And,  not  content  with  banishing  religion  from  society  in 
general,  they  desire  to  exclude  it  also  even  from  families.     For, 
while  these  people  recognise   and  teach   the   highly  injurious 
errors  of  communism  and  socialism,  they  afifirm  that  the  domestic 
community,  or  the  family,  borrows  the  whole  groundwork  of  its 
existence  merely  from  civil  right,  and  that,  even  on  that  account, 
all  rights  of  fathers  over  their  children,  and  particulariy   the 
right  of  caring  for  the  education  and  instruction  of  the  same, 
are  derived  from,  and  depend  on,  the  secular  laws. 

"With  these  nefarious  opinions  and  machinations,  those 
highly  deceitful  men  proceed  to  contend  that  the  wholesome 
teaching  and  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  should  be 
completely  banished  from  the  education  and  instruction  of 
youth,  so  that  the  tender  and  pliable  minds  of  the  young  are 
lamentably  infected  and  ruined  by  these  injurious  errors  of 
teaching.  On  that  account,  they  never  cease,  in  the  most  dis- 
graceful manner,  to  plague  the  monkish  and  secular  clergy,  from 
whom,  as  the  most  brilliant  memorials  of  history  can  testify, 
the  Christian,  civil,  and  scientific  communities  derive  such  great 


296 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


advantages  ;  and  reiterate  that  this  same  clergy  as  an  enemy,  as 
it  were,  to  useful  progress  and  civilisation,  should  be  relieved 
from  all  charge  and  concern  as  to  the  instruction  and  education 
of  youth.     Others,  with  special  effrontery,  dare  to  subjugate 
the  highest  authority  derived  from  the  Church,  and  this  apos- 
tolic See  of  Christ,  the  Lord,  to  the  caprice  of  secular  authority, 
and  to  deny  to  the  Apostolic  See  all  right  to  have  any  control 
in  regard  to  matters  appertaining  to  external  order.     Then,  they 
are  not  ashamed  to  affirm  that  the  laws  of  the  Church  are  not 
binding  to  the  conscience,  except  when  they  are  recognised  by 
the  secular  power ;  that  the  acts  and  decrees  of  the  Popes  of 
Rome  require  the  sanction  and  approbation,  or,  at  all  events, 
the  acquiescence  of  the  secular  power ;  that  the  excommunica- 
tions launched  by  the  Popes  of  Rome  against  those  who  attack 
and  arrogate  to  themselves  the  privileges  and  possessions  of  the 
Church,  depend  upon  a  confusion  of  ecclesiastical  with  civil  and 
political  order;  that  the  Church  has  no  business  to  determine 
what  the  conscience  of  believers  may  fix,  in  relation  to  prac- 
tice in  secular  matters ;  finally,  that  the  Church  has  no  right 
to  proceed  against  the  transgressors  of  their  laws  with  secular 
punishments.      And  they  do  not  blush  to  recognise  publicly, 
before  all  the  world,    the  judgment  and  principles  of  heresy, 
out  of  which,  already,  so  many  perverted  opinions  and  errors 
have  arisen.     Then,    they    always  continue  to  aflBrm  that  the 
power  of  the  Church,  in  virtue  of  Divine  right,  has  no  effect  in- 
dependent of  the  secular  power,  and  that  this  separation  and 
independence  cannot  be  conceded  without  the  Church  seizing 
and  arrogating  to  itself  the  essential  rights  of  the  secular  power. 
We  cannot,  finally,  pass  over  in  silence  the  audacity  of  those 
who  set  up  the  affirmation  that  those  sentences  and  decrees  of 
the  Apostolic  See,  which  do  not  relate  to  the  dogmas  of  faith 
and  morality,  may  be  denied  assent  and  obedience,   without  sin 
and  without  any  endangerment  whatever  to  the  Catholic  con- 
fession.   In  such  great  perversity  of  degenerate  opinions  we  have 
considered  it  our  apostolic  duty,  and,  on  account  of  our  great 
solicitude  concerning  the  souls  which  are  entrusted  to  us  by 
God,  we  believe  ourselves  to  be  afresh  constrained  to  raise  our 
voice,  and  for  this  reason  we  reprobate,  forbid,  and  condemn,  in 
virtue  of  our  apostolic  authority,  all  and  every  one  of  the  wicked 
opinions  and  teachings  individually  specified  in  this  document, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      297 


and  we  will  and  command  that  the  same  shall  be  held  as  repro- 
bated, forbidden,  and  condemned  by  all  children  of  the  Catholic 
Church." 

Thus  the  Pope  wrote  to  all  the  Catholic  Bishops  of  Christen- 
dom, and  his  Encyclica  concludes  with  these  words  :  "  Given  at 
Rome,  by  the  Holy  Peter,  on  the  8th  December  1864,  in  the 
tenth  year  after  the  dogmatic  declaration  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception of  the  Mother  of  God  and  Virgin  Mary,  in  the  19th  year 
of  our  Pontificate.     Pius  IX." 

But  now,  however,  we  ask,  "  What  are  the  individual  wicked 
opinions  and  teachings  which  the  Pope  reprobated,  forbade,  and 
condemned  ?  "  The  Papal  list,  or  syllabus,  enumerates  eighty, 
and  we  would  wish  to  reproduce  the  whole  thereof,  but  to  do  so 
would  take  up  a  great  deal  too  much  space,  and  we  must,  there- 
fore, be  content  with  making  a  selection  of  them. 

Thus  reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition 
(No.  3  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  Human  reason  is  the  only  arbi- 
trator concerning  what  is  true  and  false,  good  or  bad  ;  it  is  even 
itself  law,  and  is,  with  its  natural  powers,  adequate  to  care  for 
the  benefit  of  men  and  peoples." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
7  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  The  prophecies  and  miracles  reported  and 
related  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  inventions  of  the  poet,  and 
the  mysteries  of  Christian  belief  are  merely  the  result  of  philo- 
sophical investigations,  and  in  the  books  of  the  two  Testaments 
are  contained  mythical  inventions,  and  Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  a 
mythical  fiction." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
11  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  The  Church  must  not  only  not  proceed 
inimically  against  philosophy,  but  she  must  also  tolerate  the 
errors    of   the   same   and  leave  it   even   to   itself    to    correct 

them.'* 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  No. 

15  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  Every  man,  guided  by  the  light  of  reason, 
is  free  to  adopt  and  to  recognise  whatever  religion  he  considers 

to  be  the  true  one." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 

16  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  By  the  exercise  of  any  religion  whatsoever 
men  may  find  the  way  to  eternal  salvation  and  attain  eternal 
happiness." 


*^ 


298 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  tbe  proposition  (No. 
18  of  tbe  Syllabus) :  "  Protestantism  is  nothing  more  than 
another  form  of  the  same  true  Christian  religion,  and  one  may 
be  in  it  as  acceptable  to  God  as  in  the  Catholic  Church." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
21  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  The  Church  has  not  the  power  to  esta- 
blish the  dogma  that  the  religion  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 
only  true  religion." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
24  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  The  Church  has  not  the  power  to  employ 
external  pressure  or  any  direct  or  indirect  temporal  force.'* 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
29  of  the  Syllabus) :  **  Pardons  granted  by  the  Pope  must  be 
looked  upon  as  of  no  use,  unless  sanctioned  by  the  State 
government." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
31  of  the  Syllabus):  '* Ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  in  civil  as 
well  as  criminal  matters,  in  which  ecclesiastics  are  concerned,  is 
completely  abolished,  without  reference  even  to  the  Holy  See.*' 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
36  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  The  decision  of  a  national  council  admits 
of  no  further  discussion,  and  every  State  government  can  bring 
a  matter  to  a  decision." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  proposition  (No. 
38  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  The  separation  of  the  Church  into 
eastern  and  western  has  contributed  to  the  exaggerated  preten- 
sions of  the  Popes  of  Rome."  (With  the  condemnation  of  this 
proposition  the  Pope  would  annul  history). 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
45  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "The  whole  guidance  of  the  public  schools 
in  which  the  youth  of  a  Christian  State  is  educated  may  and  must 
be  conformable  to  the  State  control  (with  the  exception  of 
episcopal  seminaries  under  certain  conditions),  and  truly  so,  since 
no  right  whatever  can  be  recognised  whereby  any  other  authority 
can  interfere  in  regard  to  school  discipline,  the  regulation  of  the 
studies,  the  granting  of  degrees,  and  the  choice  of  teachers." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
47  of  the  Syllabus):  **  The  best  State  regulation  demands  that 
the  schools,  which  are  accessible  to  all  classes  of  the  people 
equally,  as  well  as  the  public  institutions  which  are  intended  for 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     299 

higher  instruction,  should  be  exempt  from  all  authority,  guidance, 
and  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  and  be  superintended 
by  the  secular  powers,  according  to  the  will  of  the  Governments, 
and  according  to  the  ruling  spirit  of  these  latter." 

Rebrobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
55  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  The  Church  shall  be  separate  from  the 
State,  and  the  State  from  the  Church." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
67  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  According  to  the  laws  of  nature  the 
marriage  bond  is  not  indissoluble,  and  in  several  cases  divorce 
can  be  legally  pronounced  by  the  secular  authorities." 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned,  is  the  proposition  (No. 

72  of  the  Syllabus)  :  **  Boniface  VIII.  has,  in  the  first  place, 
declared  that  the  vow  of  chastity,  taken  in  ordination,  renders 
marriage  null  and  void."  (Another  attempt  to  annul  a  historical 
fact  by  a  Papal  condemnation.) 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 

73  of  the  Syllabus)  :  "  A  true  marriage  may  take  place  between 
Christians  through  civil  contract  merely,  and  it  is  false  that  this 
is  null  and  void  should  the  sacrament  be  omitted.'* 

Reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned  is  the  proposition  (No. 
77  of  the  Syllabus) :  "  It  is  no  longer  expedient,  in  our  time, 
that  the  Catholic  religion  be  considered  the  sole  State  religion, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  forms." 

Finally,  there  is  still  the  proposition  (No.  80  of  the  Syl- 
labus) :  "  The  Pope  of  Rome  must  conform  and  accommodate 
himself  to  progress,  to  Liberalism,  and  to  modern  civilisation," 
which  is  reprobated,  forbidden,  and  condemned,  and  therewith 
is  a  crown  put  upon  the  whole  Syllabus. 

Such  was  the  step  to  which,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1864, 
the  Jesuits  contrived  to  impel  the  Pope,  and  one  might 
now  believe  they  had  at  length  attained  their  end.  Not  so, 
however,  but  they  had  still  a  last  trump  ^*in  petto";  so  they 
caused  the  Pope,  through  a  Council,  to  be  proclaimed  as  un- 
erring, or,  as  it  is  mostly  called,  infallible.  Viewed  by  the  eye 
of  reason,  it  is  certainly  not  merely  absurd,  but  perfect  insanity, 
to  put  forward  the  proposition  that  any  mortal  being  can  exist 
possessing  the  attributes  of  freedom  from  error,  or  infallibility, 
as,  in  that  case,  the  said  mortal  would  be  divested  of  mortality, 
and  straightway  elevated  to  the  Godhead.     But  when  have  the 


::;vrr:-;^i-:*^ 


800 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


sons  of  Loyola  ever  hesitated  to  smack  reason  straight  in  the 
face,  when  so  doing  contributed  to  their  advantage  ?  Naturally ; 
for  through  the  Pope  alone  were  the  Jesuits  what  they  were. 
It  was  only  him,  or,  rather,  perhaps,  his  predecessor,  they  had 
to  thank  for  all  their  privileges,  as,  indeed,  for  their  very  exist- 
ence, and,  without  the  Papacy,  Jesuitism  would  never  have  taken 
root.  On  the  other  hand,  to  what  end  would  the  Papal  power 
have  come  had  there  been  no  sons  of  Loyola  ?  Thus  have 
Jesuitism  and  the  Papacy  grown  into  one  another,  and  in  most 
recent  times  they  can,  indeed,  no  longer  be  distinguished  from 
each  other.  Thus,  as  the  Pope  was  infallible,  so  were  the  Jesuits 
infallible ;  or,  as  may  be  better  said,  as  the  Pope  obtained  a 
fulness  of  power  through  the  dogma  of  the  Infallibility,  such  as 
no  former  Popes  ever  possessed,  so  this  plenitude  of  might 
tended,  above  all,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Jesuits.  For  they 
acquired  the  entire  sway  in  the  Catholic  Church  over  science, 
literature,  and  matters  of  instruction,  and,  above  all,  their 
theology  and  moral  philosophy  were  raised  to  be  canonical. 
Indeed,  as  a  modem  reasoner  expresses  it,  they  entirely  alone 
stamp  the  dogmatic  coin,  and  all  other  Orders,  all  other  theo- 
logians and  ecclesiastics — yes,  indeed,  the  whole  of  Catholic 
Christendom — must  bow  humbly  down  before  them. 

Surely  and  verily,  then,  was  their  Order  the  '*  urim  and 
ihuinim  "  of  the  Popish  High  Priest,  as  the  latter  could  only  issue 
an  oracle  when  he  had,  beforehand,  consulted  his  "Breastplate," 
whereby  the  said  oracle  was  put  into  his  mouth.  Thus  **  in- 
fallible," or,  better  said,  "  earthly  God  Almighty,"  shall  the  Pope 
be,  in  order  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  may  be  enabled  to  take 
possession  of  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  and  appropriate  its 
entire  vital  powers.  But,  of  course,  the  dogma  of  the  Infallibility 
could  only  be  created  by  a  Council,  and,  accordingly,  the  Jesuits 
commenced  to  urge  the  Pope,  in  the  year  1865,  to  call  together  such 
a  Council.  It  is  true  no  General  Council  had  taken  place  for 
centuries,  and  the  different  European  Powers  might  declare 
themselves  to  be  opposed  to  the  same.  But  what  had  the  Pope 
to  trouble  himself  about  such  trifles  when  so  great  a  thing  was 
in  question  ?  Thus,  in  the  year  1868  were  the  necessary  pre- 
parations instituted,  in  order  that  the  same  should  be  called 
together  at  the  end  of  1869,  and  everywhere  did  the  Jesuits 
speak  of  it,  and  what  great  hopes  they  founded  on  the  same ! 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      301 

Thus  an  article  appeared  in  the  Cirina  Cattolica,  in  the  follow- 
ing language: — 

"The  Liberal  Catholics  fear  lest  the  Council  should  proclaim 
the  doctrine;of  the  Syllabus,  and  the  dogmatical  infallibility  of  the 
Pope  ;  the  proper  Catholics,  however,  that  is,  the  great  majority 
of  believers,  have  opposite  hopes.  They  trust  the  Council  may 
promulgate  the  doctrine  of  the  Syllabus,  and  not  less  will  the 
true  Catholics  receive  with  joy  the  proclamation  of  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Pope.  No  one  can  mistake  that  the  Pope  himself 
is  not  inclined  to  take  the  initiative  in  respect  to  a  proposition 
which  appears  to  concern  himself.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  however, 
that  the  unanimous  manifestation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the 
mouth  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  will  define  by  acclamation 
the  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  Finally,  the  true  Catholics  wish 
the  Council  may  crown  the  series  of  homages  which  the  Church 
has  ofi"ered  to  the  all-holy  Virgin,  through  the  promulgation  of 
the  dogma  of  her  glorious  reception  into  Heaven." 

Thus  wrote  the  Civilta,  while  the  Belgian  Jesuit  paper,  the 
Tf/d,  expressed  itself  as  follows : — 

"  We  hope  that  the  Council  will,  once  for  all,  put  an  end  to 
the  division  among  Catholics,  while  it  deals  a  death-blow  to 
the  spirit  and  teaching  of  Liberalism.  On  that  account  it  is  the 
certain  expectation  of  all  true  believers  that  the  dogma  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  Pope,  and  of  his  supremacy  over  all  councils, 
will  be  defined  as  soon  as  possible." 

Finally,  the  Jesuitical  Monde  (who  does  not  know  this  ultra 
of  all  ultramontane  journals  ?)  proclaimed  to  mankind  the  news 
that  the  next  (Ecumenical  Council  in  Rome  was  determined  to 
deal  a  decisive  blow  against  Protestantism. 

"  Protestantism,**  writes  the  Monde,  in  December  1868,  "has 
arrived  at  its  last  stage  of  decomposition.  This  is  a  self-evident 
fact ;  so  much  so,  that  even  the  heads  of  this  sect  can  no  longer 
conceal  the  same  from  themselves.  Protestantism  maintains 
itself  still  in  some  minds  by  the  nucleus  of  Christian  truths 
which  it  has  preserved  to  itself;  but  in  by  far  the  greater 
majority  of  Protestants  we  find  nothing  but  rationalism  and 
nihilism.  Is  this  at  all  a  reassuring  symptom,  or  is  it  not 
much  rather  a  prelude  to  new  and  more  frightful  trials  for 
the  Society  ?  We  are  of  opinion  that  this  state  of  transition 
will  be  of  short  duration.     Sober  minds  will  spring  back  from 


I 


t 


S02 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


the  edge  of  the  gulf  which  opens  up  before  them,  and  return 
again  to  the  Catholic  truth.  The  Catholic  religion  will  triumph 
over  Lutheran  Calvinistic  errors  as  she  has  overcome  the  Arian 
and  numerous  other  heresies,  the  names  of  which  are  to  be  found 
in  history  ;  but  the  next  General  Council  of  St.  Peter  will  bring 
about  this  great  revolution,  and  then  will  peace  settle  itself  down 
upon  mankind  whose  wish  is  good  and  pure." 

One  sees  how  much  the  Jesuits  hoped  to  gain  by  this  council 
that  they  had  suggested.  The  great  thing,  however,  was  always 
the  infallibility  of  the  Pope ;  thus  the  question  involuntarily 
forces  itself  on  our  attention  as  to  whether  this  doctrine  was  a  pure 
invention  of  the  Jesuits,  or  whether  it  had  already  been  in  exist- 
ence in  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Jesuits  say  the  question  is 
coeval  with  Catholicism  itself,  but  what  does  history  show 
about  this  ?  For  fully  ten  entire  centuries  after  the  birth  of 
Christ  complete  silence  reigns  throughout  the  whole  Christian 
Church  respecting  this  doctrine,  and  neither  any  of  the  old  con- 
fessions of  faith,  any  catechism  whatever,  nor  any  other  single 
writing  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  contains  one  word  about 
the  Pope  and  his  infallibility.  During  the  first  four  centuries 
there  were,  indeed,  no  Popes,  but  merely  Bishops  of  Kome, 
and  the  power  of  these  scarcely  reached  beyond  the  city  itself. 
They  had,  moreover,  no  influence  at  all  on  the  decision  of 
questions  of  controversy  which  at  that  time  agitated  the  Christian 
world,  and,  consequently,  there  exists  no  trace  whatever  of 
any  decrees  that  they  may  have  issued  during  this  period. 
Controversial  questions  were,  indeed,  simply  and  solely  settled 
by  the  assembled  bishops  at  synods  and  councils,  and  at 
several  of  those,  as,  for  instance,  at  the  second  (Ecumenical 
Meeting  in  the  year  381,  when  the  dogma  regarding  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  formulated,  Rome  was  not  represented  at  all.  From 
the  5th  century  onwards,  however,  as  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  See  had  already  greatly  increased  in  importance,  this 
was  altered,  and  the  voice  of  Rome  now  assumed  a  more  decided 
character.  Thus,  in  the  year  449,  the  Bishop,  or,  as  we  may 
now  say,  the  Pope,  Leo  the  Great,  delivered  a  powerful  utterance 
on  the  so-called  Eutychian  controversy ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
he  acknowledged  that  his  view  only  obtained  force  after  being 
confirmed  by  the  assembled  bishops  (Synod  of  Chalcedon). 

Pope  Vigilius,  in  the  year  546,  came  forward  still  more  in  the 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      SOS 

Nestorian  controversy ;  but  as  the  fifth  CEcumenical  Council,  in 
the  year  553,  dissolved  Church  fellowship  with  him  on  the  ground 
of  his  heresy,  he  declared  that  hitherto,  unfortunately,  he  had  been 
but  an  instrument  of  Satan,  working  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
Church,  and  recalled  all  that  he  had  previously  taught  and  decreed. 
It  went  still  worse  with  Pope  Honorius  L,  as  the  CEcume- 
nical Synod,  held  at  Constantinople  in  the  year  680,  condemned 
him,  on  account  of  his  approval  of  the  so-called  Monothelet- 
isra,  as  being  heterodox,  and  his  previous  manuscript  decisions 
were  committed  to  the  flames.  Indeed,  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors, such  as  Leo  II.  and  others,  could  not  refrain  from 
repeating  the  anathema  over  him,  although  he  had  long  been 
committed  to  the  grave.  So  here  we  have  an  example  of  a 
heretical  instead  of  an  infallible  Pope. 

In  the  extremely  shocking  condition  in  which  the  Roman  See 
found  itself  from  the  time  of  Nicholas  I.  to  that  of  Leo  IX. 
(from  the  year  858  to  the  year  1049),  either  ill-famed  women  or 
barons  rivalled  one  another  in  appointing,  according  to  their 
pleasure.  Popes  who  surpassed  in  profligacy  all  that  had  been 
seen  or  heard  of  previously.  One  has  only  to  think  of  a  John 
XII.,  as  also  of  a  Benedict  IX.  One  has  only  to  call  to  mind 
how  the  Holy  See  was  openly  bought  and  sold  at  that  time, 
until  finally,  in  the  days  of  the  Emperor  Henry  III.,  three 
Popes  contended  respecting  the  Tiara. 

What  sort  of  influence  could  such  Popes  exercise  in  Chris-, 
tendom  ?  how  could  they  lay  any  claim  to  infallibility  ?  Not 
merely  could  they  not  do  so,  but  they  did  not  themselves  wish 
it ;  and  simply  on  this  account,  because  they  were  much  too 
deeply  sunk  in  the  mire  of  the  most  common  vices  to  be  able  to 
think  even  of  anything  noble. 

It  was  a  very  different  thing  when,  in  1049,  the  famous 
monk  Hildebrand,  afterwards  Gregory  VII.,  began  to  make  his 
powerful  influence  felt,  and  commenced  that  great  battle  with 
the  kingdom,  which  finally  ended  victoriously  for  the  Roman 
See.  His  motto  was  reformation  of  the  deeply  degraded  Church, 
and  thereby  he  procured  a  colossal  following  for  himself.  The 
single  and  sole  aim  he  pursued  was  to  gain  absolute  dominion 
for  the  Church  over  the  State,  and  then  to  secure  to  the  Pope 
sole  authority  over  the  former,  or,  as  may  be  better  said,  over 
the   bishops  and  clergy.    And  this  aim  he  attained  in  some 


••*J  •*•"* 


304 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


degree  partly  through  himself,    and  partly  through  his  equally 
powerful  immediate  successor.     The  means,  however,  of  which 
Gregory  VII.  and  his  successor  made  use,  for  the  most  part 
belonged,  truly,  to  the  most  exceptionable  that  could  be  well 
imagined.     One  has  only  to  bring  to  remembrance  the  colossal 
falsification    of    the    Isidorian   canonry,    which    then,    by   the 
order  of  the  Roman  See,  was  effected  by  Anselm   of  Lucia, 
Gregory  of  Pavia  and  others.     One  has  only  to  call  to  mind 
the  famous  donation  of  Constantine  the  Great,  owing  to  the 
purely  fictitious  cure  of  the  said  Emperor  from  leprosy,  and  his 
baptism  by  Bishop  Sylvester.     One  has  but  to  remember  the 
decree  of  Gratian,  devised  in  Bologna,  upon  which,  during  many 
centuries    (until   the   fraud   was   discovered)    the  whole  Papal 
canon  law  depended.     One  has  but  to  call  to  recollection  the 
unmarried  state  of  the  clergy  (celibacy),  which  was  only  made 
law  in  order  that  the  Pope  might  gain  over  a  whole  army  of 
cowl-bearers  without  fatherland.     One  has  but  to  consider  the 
formidable  masses  of  begging  monks,  who  inundated  the  whole 
of  Europe,  fighting  for  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  Papacy, 
Lastly,  the  Inquisition  must  be  had  in  memory  which  consigned 
to  an  earthly  hell  everyone  who   doubted    about   an   absolute 
Pope. 

It  does  not  belong  to  us  here  to  bring  to  light  the  details  of  all 
this,  which  appertains  rather  to  the  history  of  Popery,  and  I 
.must  content  myself  by  affirming  that,  through  Gregory  VII. 
(the  monk  Hildebrand)  and  his  immediate  successors,  especially 
Innocent,  the  Pope  became  elevated  to  a  height  which  was 
scarcely  removed  a  step  from  infallibility.  Innocent  III.,  indeed, 
created  afresh  out  of  the  Vicarius  Petri  (representative  of 
the  Apostle  Peter),  as  the  Popes  had  hitherto  designated  them- 
selves, a  Vicarius  Christi,  or,  indeed,  Vicarius  Dei  (repre- 
sentative of  Christ  and  God),  and  consequently  decreed  that  he, 
as  Pope,  must  no  longer  be  considered  human,  because  he 
governed  as  the  alter  ego  of  our  Lord. 

Boniface  VIIL,  who  wore  the  tiara  from  1294  to  1303,  issued, 
indeed,  the  notorious  Bull,  Unam  Sanctam  (so  called  from  the 
words  by  which  it  begins),  in  which  he  not  only  condemns  as 
heresy  the  assertion  that  the  temporal  power  is  independent  of 
the  spiritual,  but  also  represents,  as  a  doctrine  of  faith,  that  the 
Pope  controls   all,  while  he  himself  cannot  be  controlled  by 


DEVELOPMENT   Ot   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     3Ö5 

anyone,  as  he  is  alone  responsible  to  God !  He  holds,  says  he, 
two  swords  in  his  hands,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal,  of 
which  the  one  can  only  be  used  by  himself  alone,  the  other  by 
kings  and  princes,  but  only  according  to  his  pleasure  and  with 
his  permission.  Upon  such  a  height  had  the  Popes  elevated 
themselves  in  the  13th  century  ;  but  from  this  time  their  power 
decayed  more  quickly  than  it  had  been  acquired. 

Philip  IV.  of  France,  who  felt  himself  to  be  highly  insulted 
by  the  excommunicating  curse  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,*  suc- 
ceeded, by  bribery  and  other  such  means,  in  bringing  round  to 
his  side  a  majority  of  the  Cardinals  in  Rome,  so  that  after  the 
death  of  Boniface,  in  the  year  1304,  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux, 
Bertrand  de  Got,  was  chosen  to  be  Pope,  and  this  latter,  who 
called  himself  Clement  V.,  at  once  removed  the  Papal  seat  from 
Rome  to  Avignon  in  France.  But  what  was  the  consequence  ? 
Simply  this ;  that  not  only  the  said  Clement  V.,  but  also  his  six 
successors,  who  resided  altogether  in  Avignon,  were  compelled 
to  act  completely  according  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the 
reigning  kings  of  France,  and,  consequently,  there  could  no 
longer  be  any  question  as  to  Papal  infallibility.  This  period 
was  afterwards  very  aptly  denominated  the  Babylonish  captivity 
of  the  Popes.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Messieurs,  the  represent- 
atives of  God,  the  more  they  were  oppressed  by  their  French 
vassalage  the  more  they  endeavoured  to  assume  a  powerful 
language  against  Germany,  and  already  Clement  V.  declared 
that  every  German  Emperor  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Pope. 

But  still  more  daring  were  his  successors,  John  XXIL  and 
Benedict  XII.,  as  both  of  these  darted  the  lightning  of  ex- 
communication against  the  German  Emperor,  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
and  declared  him  deposed.  But  how  did  the  state  of  affairs 
turn  out  ?  Was  it  that  Louis  of  Bavaria  was  deprived  of 
the  German  throne,  and,  consequently,  the  Pope  came  off 
victorious  ?  Oh  no ;  quite  the  reverse.  The  German  Electoral 
Princes  met  together,  the  Archbishops  of  Mayence,  Treves,  and 
Cologne  at  their  head,  and  pledged  themselves  with  an  oath 
emphatically  to  maintain  their  right  of  election  of  a  supreme 

•  The  details  concerning  this  can  be  read  in  the  History  of  the  Popes* 
Such  discussions  do  not  belong  to  the  History  of  the  Jesuits.  In  my  Mysteries 
of  the  Vatican  I  have  fully  treated  of  it  in  vol.  i.,  p.  260,  and  following  pages, 
4th  edition. 

II.  20 


i-j- 


S06 


HISTORY   OF   THE    JESÜlfä. 


head  against  anyone,  be  he  whom  he  might.  Indeed,  to  make 
the  matter  even  plainer,  they  added :  ■ 

"  The  rights  and  ancient  customs  of  the  German  Empire 
enjoin  that  the  conformation  by  the  Holy  See  of  the  supreme 
head,  elected  by  a  majority  of  Electoral  Princes,  is  by  no 
means  requisite ;  and  even  the  title  of  Emperor  may  be  borne 
by  him  consequent  on  such  election,  without  any  regard  to  the 
Pope ! " 

This  took  place  on  the  16th  July  1338,  and  immediately  the 
Imperial  Diet,  held  at  Frankfort,  confirmed  these  resolutions  in 
every  respect.  Afterwards  the  fundamental  law  of  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  German  nation  as  regards  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
was  proclaimed  by  the  Emperor  Louis  on  the  8th  August  1338. 
It  ran  thus  : — 

"  We  declare,  according  to  the  counsel  and  with  the  consent 
of  the  Electoral  Princes  and  Parliaments  of  the  German  Empire, 
first,  that  the  Imperial  dignity  is  immediately  derived  from  God 
alone ;  secondly,  that  he  who  is  chosen  by  all,  or  even  by  a 
majority,  of  the  Electoral  Princes,  becomes,  by  this  election 
simply  and  solely,  at  once  King  and  Emperor,  and,  consequently, 
the  recognition  and  confirmation  of  the  Apostolic  See  is  not 
required ;  thirdly  and  lastly,  that  all  who  oppose  this,  or  even 
maintain  anything  to  the  contrary,  shall  be  punished  as  guilty 
of  high  treason.*' 

Thus  did  the  Geiman  Princes  break  loose  from  the  hitherto 
all-powerful  Papacy,  and,  so  far  as  Germany  was  concerned,  an 
end  was  now  put  to  the  hitherto  arrogant  Papal  pretensions. 
It  can  be  easily  imagined,  also,  how  deeply  the  Papal  power  was 
thereby  shaken ;  but  it  soon  came  to  be  much  worse  in  this 
respect.  Hardly,  indeed,  had  Gregory  XI.,  in  1377,  returned 
from  Avignon  to  Rome,  in  order  tu  put  an  end  to  the  insufl'erable 
dependence  of  the  Popes  on  France,  than,  after  his  death,  which 
followed  in  1378,  the  Cardinals,  although  most  of  them  were 
French-disposed,  yet  out  of  fear  of  the  violence  of  the  Romans, 
elected  the  Archbishop  of  Bari,  Bartholemew  de  Prignano,  to  be 
Pope,  under  the  name  of  Urban  VI.  But  only  a  few  months 
later,  such  as  were  French-disposed  made  their  escape  to  Agnano, 
in  Neapolitan  territory,  where  they  were  protected  by  Queen 
Johanna  of  Naples,  and  they  at  once,  in  September  1378,  created 
an  opposition  Pope,  in  the  person  of  the  Archbishop  Robert  of 


Development  of  Catholicism  into  Jesuitism.    30? 

Genoa,  who,  giving  himself  the  name  of  Clement  VII.,  migrated 
to  Avignon.  So  there  were  two  Popes  instead  of  one,  and  with 
this  double  Popedom  began  a  time  almost  worse  than  insane. 

As  regards  the  opposition  Popes,  as  soon  as  Urban  died  a 
successor  to  him  was  made  by  his  followers,  who  elected  Boni- 
face IX. ;  and  equally  so,  later  on,  by  those  French-inclined, 
who  chose  Benedict  XIII.  The  two  Popes,  Boniface  and 
Benedict,  had  also,  after  their  death,  successors,  and  thus  it 
appeared  to  go  on  continuously.  They  cursed  each  other  and 
the  opposite  party  in  such  a  frightful  manner,  suflficient  to 
make  men's  hair  stand  on  end,  besides  waging  war  with  earthly 
weapons.  But  what  was  still  worse  even  than  this,  the  whole 
Christian  world  became  divided  into  two  parties,  of  whom 
the  one  (France,  Naples,  Castille,  Arragon,  Navarre,  and  Scot- 
land) recognised  the  French  Pope  as  Vicarius  Dei,  while  the 
other  (Germany,  upper  Italy,  Hungary,  Poland,  Denmark,  &c. 
&c.)  paid  homage  to  the  Roman  Pope. 

What   frightful  confusion !     What   bloodthirsty   contention ! 
What  corruption  and  usury  as  regards  the  ecclesiastical  appoint- 
ments, as  each  of  the  Popes  required  money !     In  spite  of  these 
frightful  doings,  the  opposition  Popes  were  still  allowed  to  sub- 
sist, until  at  length,  after  thirty  years,  the  better-disposed  among 
the  secular  and  spiritual  princes,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
Christianity  itself  must  fail  to  the  grouud  unless  someone  inter- 
fered; and   thus   Charles  VI.,  King  of  Frauce,   assembled   by 
summons   a   General  Council  at  Pisa  in  the  year  1409.     The 
Council  met  and  deposed  the  opposition  Popes  Gregory  XII. 
and  Benedict  XIII.     Further,  it  nominated  a  new  Pope  in  the 
person  of  Alexander  V.,  who  alone  was  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  proper  successor  of  Peter,  and,  consequently,  it  enunciated 
the  doctrine  that  the  CEcumenical  Council  stood  above  the  Popes. 
This  was,  indeed,  all  right  and  proper,  but  what  followed  ? 
Gregory  XII.,  as  well  as  Benedict  XIII.,  both  protested  against 
their  depositions,  and  there  were  now  three  instead  of  two  Popes. 
God   be  merciful    to  us !     Three  Popes,  each   of  which  raged 
against  the  other  two  like  a  tiger  I     Alexander  V.,  it  is  true, 
died  in  1410,  but  still  three  Popes  existed,  äs  the  Cardinals 
of  his  party  at  once  nominated  a  successor  in  Balthasar  Cossa, 
who  called  himself  John  XXIII.     Yes,  indeed,  John  XXIII. 
became  the  third  Pope,  although  he  w:as  notoriously  the  most 

20  • 


308 


HIStORY   OF   THfi    JESUITS* 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     309 


unworthy,  most  ill-famed  and  vilest  of  men  who  could  be 
found  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  confusion  now  attained 
its  highest  point,  and  the  whole  Ecclesiastical  Court  was  sunk 
in  profligacy,  corruption,  and  ignorance. 

At  that  time  the  Emperor  Sigismund  of  Germany  constrained 
the  Pope  John  XXIII.  to  convoke  another  new  (Ecumenical 
Council,  which  latter  met  in  October  1414  at  Constance, 
on  the  lake  so  named.  It  was  the  greatest  gathering  that 
the  world  had  ever  seen,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
powerful,  as  all  the  Christian  rulers  of  Europe  had  previously 
declared  that  obedience  must  be  rendered  to  its  decisions. 
There  appeared  at  it,  besides  the  Emperor  Sigismund  and  the 
Pope  John  XXIII.,  26  princes,  140  counts,  20  cardinals. 
7  patriarchs,  20  archbishops,  391  bishops  and  abbots,  more 
than  300  doctors  of  theology,  and  not  less  than  4,000  other 
priests.  It  was,  consequently,  an  easy  matter  for  the  Fathers 
of  the  Council  to  succeed  in  deposing  the  opposing  Popes, 
and  also  in  nominating  as  a  sole  properly-constituted  Pope, 
Cardinal  Colonna,  who  called  himself  Martin  V.,  and  thereby 
put  an  end  to  the  schism  which  had  lasted  for  so  many 
years.  So  now  there  reigned,  as  formerly,  one  single  Pope 
alone.  The  Council  not  merely  succeeded  in  this,  but  in 
its  fourth  and  fifth  sitting  it  also  managed  to  constitute 
the  following  proposition  as  an  everlasting  doctrine  of  faith. 
The  proposition  runs  thus :  "  Every  properiy  convened  CEcu- 
menical  Council,  representing  the  Church,  has  its  authority 
direct  from  Christ,  and  in  matters  of  faith,  in  the  settlement 
of  schisms,  and  in  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  every  one, 
even  the  Pope,  is  subordinate  to  it,  in  the  fullest  degree." 

Thus  decreed  the  Council,  and  not  a  single  one  of  the  prelates 
there  present  remonstrated  against  it.  On  the  contrary,  all, 
without  exception,  declared  themselves  as  agreeable  to  the  dictum, 
and  the  whole  Christian  world  said  Amen  thereto.  Yes,  indeed, 
the  whole  Christian  world,  and  truly  with  the  most  perfect 
right,  as  thus  and  not  otherwise  had  it  been  held  during  the  first 
ten  centuries  of  our  era.  The  Popes  even  from  this  time  for- 
ward assented  to  it ;  and  seeing  that  not  merely  all  the  bishops 
adhered  to  the  Council,  but  especially,  also,  all  historians  and 
learned  theologians,  among  whom  I  may  mention  the  Spaniards, 
Alfred  Madrigal  and  Andreas  Escobar,  the  Germans  Copläus, 


Witzel,  and  Nausea,  and,  in  fine,  the  celebrated  Parisian  high 
school  with  the  still  more  celebrated  Sorbonne,  they  did  not 
dare  for  fully  two  centuries  to  revert  to  the  pretensions  and 
arrogance  of  a~  Gregory  VII.  or  even  a  Boniface  VIII. 

It  became  very  different  after  Ignatius  Loyola  had  founded  the 
Jesuit  Order,  since  the  Jesuits  looked  upon  it  as  their  highest 
problem  to  establish,  by  the  annihilation  of  Protestantism,  the 
omnipotence  of  the  Papacy,  as  it  obtained  in  the  Middle  Ages 
at  the  time  of  Hildebrand  and  Innocent,  and  designated  all  those 
who  offered  to  exercise  resistance  to  this  as  heterodox  persons. 
Who,  then,  was  more  jubilant  than  the  Boman  Curie ! 

0  God!  if  the  Papacy  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  but  be 
restored,  then  must  the  whole  western  world  cringe  again  at  the 
feet  of  the  Pope,  and  the  latter  would  once  more  become  the 
"  Representative  of  God,"  similar  to  the  blessed  condition  of  an 
Innocent  III.  It  was  even  on  this  ground  that  the  successors 
of  Peter  became  not  only  the  'most  zealous  supporters  of  the 
Jesuits,  but  threw  themselves  entirely  into  their  arms,  and  did 
only  what  the  pious  Fathers  suggested  to  them. 

Thus   Paul  IV.,  in   1558,  only  two  years  after  the  death  of 
Ignatius   Loyola,  issued  the  disreputable  Bull,  Cum  ex  apo 
8tolatu8  officio,  drawn  up   by  the   Jesuit  General  Laynez,   in 
which  he  defines  the  following  propositions ; — 

"1.  The  Pope,  who,  as  Pontifex  Maximus  (Supreme  Priest), 
is  the  representative  of  God  on  earth,  has,  in  the  plenitude  of 
his  power,  entire  dominion  over  peoples  and  kingdoms ;  he 
directs  all,  but  cannot  himself  be  directed  by  anyone  in  this 
world. 

"  2.  All  princes  and  monarchs  as  well  as  all  bishops,  as  soon 
as  they  have  degenerated  into  heresy  or  schism  from  the  Church, 
are  irrevocably  deposed,  deprived  of  all  sovereign  rights  for  ever, 
and  have  incurred  the  penalty  of  death  without  any  judicial  for- 
mality being  required.  In  cases  of  penitential  conversion,  they 
shall  be  immured  in  a  cloister  in  order  that  they  may  make 
atonement  for  life  on  bread  and  water. 

"  3.  No  one  must  render  any  assistance  whatever,  not  even 
such  as  humanity  dictates,  to  a  heretical  prince  or  one  found  to 
be  schismatical ;  the  monarch  who  attempts  this  is  forthwith 
deprived  of  his  country,  which  shall  then  fall  to  the  lot  of  princes 
obedient  to  the  Pope  who  can  take  possession  of  the  same." 


I 


810 


HISTOBY  OP  THE   JESUITS. 


^^o  spoke  Paul  IV.  who  reigned  between  1555  and  1559  ;  but 
Urban  VIII.  went  still  further,  as  under  his  Pontificate  the  ill- 
famed  "Lord's  Supper  Bull"  (so-called  because  it  commences 
with  the  words,  ///  coena  Domini)  was  definitely  issued,  and  at 
once  read  aloud  from  the  pulpits  of  all  the  churches  of  Rome 
on  Maundav-Thursdav.  But  what  were  the  contents  of  this 
Bull  which  henceforth  had  to  become  abiding  law  throughout 
the  whole  of  Christendom  ?  Why,  the  Bull  *'  excommunicates 
and  curses  all  heretics  and  schismatics,  as  well  as  all  those  who 
receive,  favour,  and  protect  them,  no  less  than  all  princes  and 
magistrates  who  harbour  in  their  countries  other  than  Catholic 
b(4ievers ;  excommunicates  and  curses  further,  all  who  read  the 
books  of  heterodox  individuals,  and  who,  without  the  leave  of 
the  Pope,  keep  or  print  them,  as  also  all,  let  it  be  individuals, 
corporations,  or  universities,  who  appeal  from  a  Papal  edict  to 
an  approaching  General  Council.  It  excommunicates  and 
curses,  finally,  all  princes  and  their  servants,  down  even  to 
writers  and  beadles,  who,  without  Papal  permission,  presume  to 
levy  new  taxes,  to  institute  new  duties,  or  to  punish  in  any 
way  at  all  spiritual  transgressors,  thus  encroaching  on  spiritual 
jurisdiction." 

Thus  the  Jesuits  caused  Pope  Urban  VIII.  to  speak ;  and  was 
it  to  be  wondered  at  that  almost  all  the  Princes  and  States  of 
Europe  protested  against  this  monstrous  Bull  ?  Was  it  to  be 
marvelled  at,  that  not  one  single  Government  permitted  the 
proclamation  of  the  same,  and  that  even  the  Archbishop  of 
Mayence  hesitated  about  it  ?  The  Jesuits,  on  the  other  hand, 
admitted  the  Bull  into  their  school  books,  and  not  onlv  wrote 
explanatory  commentataries  on  the  individual  paragraphs,  but 
denied  the  Holy  Communion  to  those  who  doubted  their  legality. 

Thus,  in  short,  did  the  Jesuits  labour  indefatigably  to  make 
the  Pope  again  the  universal  monarch  of  the  world,  exactly  as 
had  been  the  case  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  they  evinced 
redoubled  zeal  after  their  Order,  abolished  by  Clement  XIV.,  had 
been  re-established,  owing  to  a  predilection  for'  them  on  the 
part  of  Pope  Pius  VII.  But,  as  may  be  easily  imagined,  all 
the  Popes  coincided  with  them,  and  allowed  themselves  only  too 
often  to  be  hurried  into  taking  steps  which  their  supreme  power 
warranted ;  there  remained  always,  in  that  respect,  the  point  as 
to  the  right  of  the  Councils  ever  the  Popes.     Indeed,  ever  since 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     811 

the  Council  of  Constance,  this  was  an  article  of  faith,  and  so  ^ong 
as  this  was  the  case,  complete  Papal  absolutism  was  out  of  the 
question.  Now,  how  was  this  to  be  rectified  ?  Very  simply, 
indeed ;  in  this  way— that  the  Pope  should  convoke  an  (Ecu- 
menical  Council  which  should  declare  him  to  be  infallible  over 
the  Councils,  and,  consequently  that  all  the  powers  of  an  absolute 
gQvernor  of  the  world  should  be  delegated  to  him.  That  was 
the  great  trump  card  which  the  Jesuits  of  modern  times  took 
upon  themselves  to  play,  and,  as  may  be  well  understood,  Pius 
IX.  went  into  the  plan  with  the  greatest  eagerness. 

Under  date  29th  June  186«,  his  missive  was,  therefore,  issued 
throughout  the  world,  which  fixed  the  opening  of  the  Council  in 
Rome  for  the  8th  December  1869,  and  this  document  was  now 
zealously  criticised  on  all  sides.  In  the  same  the  Holy  Father 
calls  to  recollection — 

"  That  the  Popes,  as  well  as  society  in  general,  had  at  once 
summoned  General  Councils  during  the  severest  disorders  and 
distresses  of  the  Church,  in  order  that  it  might  serve  to  deter- 
mine,  with   the  bishops  of  the  whole   Catholic   world,   as   to 
the  definition  of  articles   of  faith,   the    annihilation  of  ruling 
errors,  the  protection,  revelation,  and  development  of  Catholic 
doctrine,  the  proposed  maintenance  and  restoration  of  Church 
discipline,  and  the   abolition  of  depravity   of  manners  among 
the  people."     "  At  present,  however,'*  he  went  on  to  say,  '*  the 
Church   is    shaken   by    the   most   frightful    commotions,   and 
society  in   general  oppressed   by  many  and   great   evils.     The 
Catholic  Church  and  her  doctrine,  as  well  as  the  highest  autho- 
rity  of  the  Papal  See,  are  attacked,   the  religious  Orders   are 
abolished,  impious  writings  of  all  kinds  being  widely  dissemi- 
nated, and  the  instruction  of  youth  almost  universally  withdrawn 
from  clerical  supervision.     Thereupon  follows  the  progress  of 
disbelief  and  depravity  of  manners,   the  infringement   of 'laws 
human  and  divine,  so  that  not  alone  the  Church,  but  society  m 
general  is  visited  with  disorder  and  misery.     In  order,  there- 
fore,  to  regulate  such  oppression  and   deviation  from  the  right 
way,  a  general    Church   assembly   is    summoned,  which    shall 
carefullv  consider  and  determine,  as  regards  purity  of  the  faith 
the  discipline  and  organisation  of  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical 
orders  the  observance  of  Church  commands,  care  being  taken 
for  the  Christian  instruction  of  youth  and  the  improvement  of 


'.^iifi  w— : i 


/ 


312 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


manners,  in  order  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  shall  he 
everywhere  revivified,  and  always  more  and  more  disseminated 
ahroad  and  obtain  preponderance." 

In  this  manner  the  Pope  expressed  himself,  provisionally, 
regarding  the  object  of  the  Council ;  but  for  participation  in  the 
same  he  demanded  not  merely  the  Catholic  Patriarchs,  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  abbots,  and  especially  all  those  who  were 
entitled  to  a  seat  and  vote  at  the  General  Council  of  the  Catholic 
Church  at  all  times,  but  also  the  bishops  of  the  Greek  Church, 
who  are  not  in  relation  with  the  Roman  See,  and  in  particular 
the  Protestants  as  well  as  "  all  those  who  acknowledge  the  same 
Redeemer  Jesus  Christ  and  pride  themselves  in  the  name  of 
Christian,  but  who  do  not  acknowledge  the  true  Christian  faith, 
and  who  do  not  belong  to  the  community  of  the  Catholic 
Church." 

"  That  these  latter,"  so  it  continues  finally,  '*  may  be  given 
the  opportunity,  through  the  Council,  to  extricate  themselves 
from  a  condition  in  which  they  cannot  be  sure  of  their  own 
particular  salvation,  and  to  come  back  into  the  bosom  of  the 
Holy  Mother  Church,  as  this  return  to  truth  and  fellowship 
with  the  Catholic  Church  may  not  alone  be  the  salvation  of 
individuals,  but  also  that  of  the  entire  Christian  community." 

The  Jesuits  thus  caused  the  Pope  to  speak,  and  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  missive  caused  no  small  sensation  in  the  world. 
First  of  all,  the  Protestants  allowed  themselves  to  deliberate  re-  * 
garding  this,  and  one  after  another  expressed  their  astonishment 
at  the  naive  invitation  of  the  Representative  of  Christ  to  take  part 
in  the  Council.  Still  more  were  people  amazed  at  his  childish 
belief  that  the  Protestants  would  suddenly  enter  into  this  idea,  and 
again  become  good  Catholics;  so  there  was  no  want  of  scoffing 
and  jeering  about  the  matter.  No  less  was  it  protested  against 
most  solemnly,  especially  in  large  assemblies,  and  the  severest 
reproaches  were  directed  against  the  Pope  and  his  Jesuits.  At 
length  an  Englishman,  Dr.  Cumming  went  so  far  as  to  write  to  the 
Holy  Father,  that  he  would  be  willing  to  take  part  in  the  Council 
provided  it  should  be  allowed  to  him  to  plead  at  the  same  in 
favour  of  the  principles  of  Protestantism,  and  at  once  pub- 
lished his  particular  proposal  in  the  newspapers.  It  was,  of 
course,  without  result,  as  the  Pope  caused  a  reply  to  be  given 
to  him  through  the  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  Dr.  Manning, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     313 

"  that  the  Church  of  Peter  could  not  by  any  means  admit  of  a 
discussion  in  regard  to  damnable  error  and  heresy,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  all  Protestants  were  highly  welcome  if  they 
would  discard  their  preconceived  erroneous  opinions,  and  again 
return  to  the  Father  from  whom  they  had,  unfortunately,  so  long 

strayed  away." 

But  let  us  now  turn  from  the  utterances  of  the  Protestants 
respecting  the  Council,  and  come  to  what  the  Catholics  thought 
about  it.  The  most  part  remained  indifferent,  if  they  did 
not  relieve  themselves  by  laughing.  Others,  who  had  been  long 
before  won  over  by  the  Jesuits,  acquiesced  in  it,  and  rejoiced 
over  the  new  bone  of  contention  which  had  been  thrown  among 
mankind.  A  minority  were  inspired  with  a  peculiar  fear  in 
regard  to  this  appointed  Council,  and  these,  consisting  of  the 
German  bishops,  who  on  this  account  assembled  at  Fulda, 
did  not  omit  at  first  to  raise  openly  their  warning  voices. 
Much  more  important  altogether  than  this,  was  it  that  even 
the  German  Government  of  Bavaria  mixed  itself  up  in  the 
matter,  and  with  marvellous  openness  disclosed  the  aim  which 
was  intended  by  the  Council.  The  Holy  Father  had  not  men- 
tioned a  single  word  in  his  missive,  to  which  I  have  before 
alluded,  that  it  might  be  proposed  to  proclaim  the  Papal  infalli- 
bility as  a  new  doctrine  of  faith.  No,  but  he  spoke  in  the  most 
pathetic  manner  of  the  promotion  of  religion  and  piety,  of  the 
defence  of  justice  and  faith,  of  the  improvement  of  the  education 
of  youth,  and  much  more  of  a  similar  description.  It  appeared 
that  his  Holiness  wished  to  make  the  worid  believe  that  matters 
of  a  quite  innocent  character  would  be  brought  before  the 
Council;  but  the  Bavarian  President  of  the  Ministry,  Prince 
Hohenlohe,  issued  a  circular  despatch,  under  date  the  9th  April 
1869,  to  the  ambassadors  accredited  to  the  different  European 
Courts,  which  brought  the  matter  to  light  without  any  circum- 
locution, and  I  cannot  do  better  than  here  reproduce  this 
despatch.     It  runs  as  follows: — 

"  It  may  for  the  present  be  assumed  as  a  certainty  that  the 
General  Council  summoned  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Pius  IX.,  if 
no  unforeseen  circumstance  should  interfere,  will  be  actually 
held  in  December.  The  same,  without  doubt,  will  be  attended  by 
a  very  large  number  of  bishops  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe, 
and  will  be   more   numerous  than   any  which   has  previously 


'uuiit 


814 


HIBTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


taten  place,  and  will  thus,  also,  in  the  puhlic  opinion  of  the 
Catholic  world,  lay  claim  for  itself  and  its  decisions  the  high 
importance  and  consideration  which  are  attached  to  an  (Ecu- 
menical Council.     That  the  Council   will  occupy  itself  merely 
with   the   consideration   of    questions  of   faith,   with    subjects 
of  pure  theology,  is  not   to   be  supposed,  as  matters   of  this 
nature,  which  require  a  settlement  by  Council,  are  not  forth- 
coming.    The  sole  dogmatical  subject,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain 
from  sure  sources,  which   may  be  settled  by  a  Council  in  Rome, 
and  for  which  at  present  the  Jesuits  throughout  Italy  as  well  as 
Germany   and    elsewhere    are  agitating,  is  the  question  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  Pope.     This,  however,  reaches  far  beyond  a 
purely  religious  sphere,  and  is  of  a  highly  political  nature,  as 
herewith  will  also  come  to  be  determined,  as  an  article  of  belief, 
the  power  of  Popes  over  all  princes  and  peoples.     If  this  highly 
important  and  weighty  question  is  now  calculated  to  arouse  the 
attention  of  all  Governments  which  have  Catholic  subjects  upon 
the  Council,  so  must  their  interest,   or,  more  correctly,   their 
solicitude,   be  increased   when  they   consider   the  preparations 
already   in  progress,  and    the  organisation   of  this  Committee 
about   to  be   constituted   in  Rome.      Among   these  points   for 
determination,  there  is  one,  also,  which  has  to  do  with  matters 
connected  with   the  Established  Church.      It  is  thus,  without 
doubt,  the  settled  purpose  of  the  Roman  Court  to  decide,  through 
the  Council,  at  least,  some  resolutions  of  a  politico-ecclesiastical 
character,  and  questions  of  a  mixed  nature.   It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  periodical  published  by  the  Roman  Jesuits,  Civilta  Cattolicä, 
to  which  Pius  IX.,  in   a  special  Brief,  has  imparted  the  signi- 
ficance of  an  official  organ  of  the  Roman  Curie,  has  recently 
indicated    a   problem   intended    for   the   consideration   of    the 
Council,  viz.  to  convert  the  sentences  of  condemnation  of  the 
JPapal  Syllabus  of  8th  December  1864,  into  positive  resolutions 
or  decrees  of  Council.    As,  now,  these  articles  of  the  Syllabus  are 
directed  against  several  important  axioms  of  State  administration 
as  existent  in  all  civilised  nations,  there  thus  arises  the  anxious 
question  for  the  Governments — whether  and  in  what  shape  they 
would  have  to  indicate,  partly  to  the  bishops  under  their  juris- 
diction,   and    partly,  also,    to    the   Council  itself,   the   serious 
results  which  might  be  brought  about  by  so  important  a  rupture 
of  the  relationship  hitherto  subsisting  between  Church  and  State. 


Vfr: 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM,     315 


'*  There  further  remains  the  question — whether  it  might  not 
be  expedient  that  the  Governments  should,  through  their  re- 
presentatives present  in  Rome,  tender  a  protest  in  common, 
against  such  resolutions  which  might,  in  a  one-sided  way,  be 
determined  by  the  Council,  without  the  assistance  of  the 
representatives  of  the  State  authorities,  and  without  previous 
communication  respecting  ecclesiastical  State  questions,  or  sub- 
jects of  a  mixed  nature.  It  appears  to  me  imperatively  neces- 
sary that  the  States  concerned  should  endeavour  to  arrive  at  a 
reciprocal  understanding  regarding  these  serious  affairs.  I  have 
up  to  the  present  waited  to  see  whether  an  allusion  from  one 
side  or  another  might  not  be  forthcoming  ;  as  this,  however,  has 
not  taken  place,  and  time  presses,  I  find  myself  constrained  to 
charge  you  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Governments  to  whom 
vou  are  accredited,  the  matters  in  question,  in  order  to  obtain 
information  relative  to  their  opinions  and  views  respecting  these 

weighty  concerns. 

"  I  beg  also  to  submit  to  the  consideration  of  the  before- 
mentioned  Governments,  the  question  whether  a  joint,  if  not  a 
collective,  mode  of  action  of  the  European  States,  and  a  more 
or  less  identical  form  might  not  be  resolved  upon,  in  order  that 
the  Court  of  Rome  should  not  beforehand  leave  them  in  igno- 
rance regarding  the  attitude  to  be  assumed  by  them  before  the 
Council,  and  whether  a  conference  of  some  description  of  the 
representatives  of  the  whole  of  the  Governments  concerned 
might  not  be  considered  the  fittest  means  to  determine  that  joint 
action  in  regard  to  a  settled  mode  of  procedure." 

One  sees  that  the  Premier  Minister  of  Bavaria  thus  spoke 
clearly  and  openly,  and  the  view  he  took  was  apparent,  to 
frustrate  the  intentions  of  the  Pope  and  his  friends  the  Jesuits, 
at  least  in  relation  to  the  dogmatisation  of  the  Syllabus,  as  well 
as  to  the  declaration  regarding  the  Infallibility  of  the  Roman 

High  Priest. 

But  how,  then,  did  the  different  European  Governments 
receive  his  proposition  ?  Several  of  them  did  not  mistake 
regarding  the  uncommon  importance  thereof,  and  instantly 
demanded  in  Rome  whether  the  views,  spoken  of  by  Prince 
Hohenlohe,  were  actually  entertained  in  Rome.  But  while  the 
Roman  Secretary  of  State,  Cardinal  Antonelli,  gave  the  most 
tranquillizing  assurances,  and  indicated,  indeed,  that  the  Roman 


•*»~. 


816 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


Curie  was  not  responsible  for  what  an  'individual  Jesuit  had 
written   in  the  Chilta,  the  inquiring  ministers  saw  no  longer 
any  cause  for  distrust,  and  simply  declined  the  proposition  of 
the  Premier  Minister  of  Bavaria.     Thus  acted  Count  Beust,  the 
PrimeMinister  of  Austria,  and  he  was  followed  by  the  smaller 
German  Governments.     Most  of  the  dissentient  States  were  of 
opinion,  however,  that  they  knew  how  to  protect  themselves 
against  any  such    ecclesiastical  attacks,    and  they  decided   to 
await,  first  of  all,  whatever  should  occur  in  Rome.    They  wished 
to  keep  quiet,  truly,  and  the  Swiss  Confederacy  replied  "  that 
it  did  not  find  itself  in  a  position  to  put  in  a  protest  beforehand, 
or  to  take,   indeed,  fprecautionary  measures   against  eventual 
conclusions  to  which  the  Council  might  at  any  time  come,  and 
especially,  as  the  Constitutional  measures  were   already  suffi- 
ciently well  known,  as  to  how  such  resolutions  of  the  Council 
as  might  be  in  opposition  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
or  might  endanger  the  peace  under  the  secrecy  of  the  confes' 
sional,  had  to  be  met." 

Thus  the  Conference  asked  for  by  Prince  Hohenlohe  not  only 
did  not  take  place,  but  no  hindrances  of  any  kind  were  offered 
to  the  assemblage  of  the  Council,  and  the  Jesuit  party  in  Rome 
were  simply  allowed  to  do  as  they  pleased.  The  Council  was 
convoked  by  the  Pope  for  the  8th  December  1869,  and  already 
on  the  1st  of  that  month  upwards  of  400  bishops  and  prelates 
out  of  all  Catholic  Christian  States— indeed,  from  all  regions  of 
the  world— were  to  be  found  in  Rome.  During  the  next  two 
days  there  streamed  in  300  more,  and  thus  the  opening  actually 
took  place  on  the  day  fixed,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  Pope  advanced  in  procession  before  the  assembled  bishops 
into  the  hall  in  the  Vatican,  where  the'sitting  was  held,  and  the 
crowd  was  enormous.  In  the  hall  itself  were  to  be  found,  in 
the  Tribunes  filled  to  overflowing,  the  first  Catholic  notabilities, 
ambassadors,  counts,  princes,  even  an  Empress  (Austria),  and 
all  now  listened  in  breathless  silence  to  the  allocution  (address) 
of  the  Pope.  But  what  did  he  say?  Not  a  word  about  what 
had  been  mooted  by  Prince  Hohenlohe,  but  he  merely  expressed 
hisjoy  atthe  arrival  of  the  Bishops,  *'as  they  had  now  only 
come  together  in  order  to  point  out  to  all  men  the  ways  of  God, 
and  to  adjust  false  human  science,  as  well  as  the  impious  con- 
spiracy  of  disbelievers  against   the    Church."      He   did   not 

9 


DEVELOPMENT   Of   CAtHOtiitllSM   INTO   JESUITISM.     3l7 

indeed,  express  himself  thus  pithily  and  briefly,  for  his  speech 
took  a  full  hour  in  delivery ;  the  fact  was,  however,  that  it 
related  as  little  to  the  true  object  of  the  Council  as  did  the 
missive  which  invited  the  bishops  to  Rome. 

But  let  us  now  leave  the  allocution,  as  well  as  the  festivities 
connected  with  the  opening,  which  took  fully  six  hours,  and 
turn  to  the  Council  itself,  that  we  may,  first  of  all,  ascertain 
something  as  to  its  composition.  It  consisted,  on  the  whole, 
at  the  time  of  the  convocation  of  the  higher  Catholic  clergy, 
besides  the  Pope,  of  57  real  cardinals,  12  real  patriarchs,  139 
real  archbishops,  723  real  bishops,  and,  lastly,  of  234  titular 
bishops,  among  whom  were  36  titular  archbishops.  This 
made  up  the  full  number,  in  all,  of  1,163  of  the  higher  eccle- 
siastics; but,  of  course,  it  was  well  known  that  all,  without 
exception,  could  not  appear,  as  many  were  unavoidably  de- 
tained ;  some  by  sickness,  some  by  the  infirmities  of  old  age, 
and  others  by  one  cause  or  another.  Only  about  the  half  was, 
therefore,  to  be  reckoned  on;  but  still  the  thing  turned  out  even 
better  than  was  anticipated,  and  not  fewer  than  767  prelates  met 
in  conclave.  Such  a  mass  of  the  Princes  of  the  Church  had 
never  before,  at  any  previous  Council,  been  brought  together, 
and  Pius  IX.  could  look  upon  his  assembly  with  pride. 

Let  us  examine,  however,  these  ecclesiastical  gentlemen  more 
in  detail.  There  was,  to  begin  with,  a  great  difference  between 
them ;  as,  for  instance,  the  diocese  of  Breslau  numbered 
1,700,000  Catholics,  and  possessed  only  one  single  bishop,  while 
the  States  of  the  Church,  as  constituted  in  the  year  1869, 
numbering  not  quite  700,000  Catholic  inhabitants,  were  repre- 
sented by  62  bishops.  In  like  manner,  1,400,000  belonged 
to  the  diocese  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  1,300,000  to 
that  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cambray,  and  2,000,000  Catholics 
to  that  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  On  the  part  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  on  the  other  hand,  there  appeared  68  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  although  the  population  they  represented 
had  not  even,  put  together,  a  third  more  inhabitants  than  the 
diocese  of  Cologne,  Cambray,  and  Paris.  Further,  still,  Catholic 
Germany  numbering  somewhere  about  12,000,000,  was  repre- 
sented by  only  14  Princes  of  the  Church,  while  the  whole 
of  Italy  sent  no  fewer  than  194 ;  and  that  this  was  a  great 
disproportion  must  be  clear  to  everyone.     Notwithstanding  all 


3l8 


HtStORY   OF   THE   JESUITS* 


this,  however,  the  Pope  ruled  that  every  bishop,  whether  he 
represeoted  a  larger  or  smaller  community,   should   have  the 
same  right  as  to  voting,   and  even  the  titular  bishops  enjoyed  a 
similar  privilege.      Why  was  this  ?     The  grounds  of  it  could 
well  be  apprehended,  in  that  the  Pope  knew  quite  well  that  the 
smaller   bishops   were,   with   scarcely  an  exception,  all  on  his 
side.     Already  had  the  Papal  organ — edited  by  the  Jesuits — 
the  Civilla  Cattolica,  under  date  the  2nd  October,  1869,  loudly 
proclaimed  that  the  bishops  had  not  been  summoned  to  Home  in 
order  to  discuss,  but  in  order  to  approve  of  all  the  proposi- 
tions which  would  be  made  in  the  name  of  the  Pope;  and  if 
this,  now,  was  the  aim  that  was  pursued  in  the  Pope's  favour, 
then  must  there  not   be,  at  the   Council,  a   decided  majority 
of  the  members  on  his  side  ?     Certainly,  if  it  was  wis^hed  that 
his  plans  should  be   carried  through,   a  large  majority  of  the 
bishops  must  blindly  approve  of  everything  without  discussion ; 
and  the  Jesuits  had  to  take  care   that  such  a  majority  should 
be  at  their  disposal  at  once  from  the  beginning.     They,  indeed, 
did  take  care  in  this  respect,  as,  lo  and  behold  !  as  soon  as  the 
Council  was  opened,  it  became  apparent  that  two  great  parlies 
existed.     Two  very  unequal  ones,  however,  namely,   a  minority 
of  somewhere  about   160,   and  a  majority  of,  say   000  heads. 
It  was  reasonable,  then,  to  inquire  of  what  elements  the  two 
parties   consisted,    and  it    was    found  that    the   majority   was 
chiefly  of  two  descriptions  of  bishops ;  namely,  first  of  all,  of 
bishops  of  the  Koman  race,  and  secondly,  of  the  titular,  or 
mission   bishops.     The  Bomans  came  in  the  first  place  from 
Italy,  then  from  Spain  and  Portugal;  lastly,  from  Mexico, Brazil, 
and  the  South  American  Free  States,  and  formed  a  contingent 
of  somewhere  about  350  heads.     How  could  these  vote  other- 
wise than  as  the  Pope's  party  wished  ?     One  has  only  to  reflect 
that  by  far   the  greater  number  of   those   had  acquired   their 
entire  education  and  theology  in  Jesuit  Colleges.     One  has  to 
consider  how  much  the  Italian  bishops  were  dependent  on  those 
who  almost  entirely  nominated  them.     One  has  to  bear  in  mind 
that  the  Spanish  bishops  had  been  raised  to  their  bishoprics  by 
the  extra  pious,  because  extra  profligate,  Queen  Isabella,  and  her 
faithful  counsellor,  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Madrid,   and  that  the 
Queen,  together  with  the  latter,  had  naturally,  selected  only  the 
most  truly  Popish  sheep.     One  has,  lastly,  to  call  to  recollection 


l)i:VELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     319 

the  spiritual  darkness  which  had  for  so  long  a  period  reigned  in 
South  and  Central  America,  into  which  even  our  own  century 
had  been  unable  to  introduce  any  ray  of  light,  at  least  so  far  as 
the  high  clergy  were  concerned.     When  all  this  is  considered, 
can  it  be  wondered  at  that  all  these  Romans,  or,  at  least,  almost 
all  of  them,  swam  in  Jesuit  ultramontane  waters  ?  while  the  mis- 
sionary bishops  from  Asia  and  Africa,  who  together  formed  a 
contingent  of  about  150,  would  prove  themselves  to  be  schooled, 
being  not  one  iota  less  Popish,  or,  as  I  have  above  said,  Jesuitically 
ultramontane,  since  naturally  being,  indeed,  without  exception, 
pupils  of  the  Roman  Propaganda ;  they,  therefore,  only  waited  for 
any  hint  coming  from  that  quarter.   From  them  no  single  opinion 
was  wanted  or  required,   but   each  vowed  to  do  whatever  the 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  required  of  them,  without  for  a 
moment  troubling  himself  as  to  the  nature  of  the  vow  he  had 
taken.      They   were   "voting  cattle,"    as   one    says  in  North 
America,  and  therein  lay  simply  and  solely  the  ground  why  they 
had  been  summoned  from  their  distant  stations.     Simply  and 
solely,  indeed ;  for,  as  proper  Bishops,  that  is,  as  ecclesiastics 
who  represented  large  Catholic  districts,  or,  as  may  be  better 
said,    strong  Catholic   communities,    they    could   not   be  con- 
sidered, because  they  possessed,  for  the  most  part,  none  at  all, 
or,  at  least,  a  very  small  one  indeed,  just  in  its  infancy.     But 
did  not  their  summons  to  Rome  cost  the  Pope  a  large  sum  ? 
0  Lord !  they  had  all  of  them  a  frightfully  long  and  expensive 
journey  to  make,  and,  as  the  eternal  complaint  of  the  missionary 
journals  about  want  of  money  was  well  known,  their  own  purses 
were,  indeed,  perfectly  empty.     If  their  presence  in  Rome  was 
required,  it  was  necessary  to  give  them  assistance  from  the  Pope, 
and  this  cost  large  sums  of  money.    Still  more,  during  the  whole 
time  of  their  sojourn  in  Rome  it  was  necessary  to  feed  them  and 
supply  all  their  other  requirements,  as  they  were  unable  to  earn 
anything  for  themselves,  and  this  maintenance  and  clothing  of 
them,  &c.*  also  made  great  demands  on  the  Papal  treasury. 


•  Besides  these  mission  bishops  there  were  also  at  least  150  others, 
notoriously  poor,  who  were  present  at  the  expense  of  the  Pope,  especially 
those  from  the  East  and  the  Titular  Bishops  (^bishops  inpartibus  inßdelium) 
who  were  attached  to  no  dioceses.  To  such  appertains  the  proverb,  "  Wess 
Brod  ich  ess,  dess  Lied  ich  sing  "  (I  sing  the  praises  of  him  whose  bread 
1  eat).  It  was  well  that  at  that  time  Peter's  pence  flowed  in  freely,  other- 
wise the  Pope  might  readily  have  become  insolvent  instead  of  Infallible.    I 


3Ö0 


HISTORY   0^   THfi   JESUITS. 


Lastly,  was  not  the  expense  of  the  return  journey  of  these  mis- 
sionary bishops  a  great  burden  to  the  Pope,  and  could  it  be 
imagined  that  they  would  have  been  summoned  had  he  not  been 
perfectly  certain  of  them  ?  It  is  to  be  seen,  then,  that  the 
Jesuitical  ultramontane  party  could  rely  upon  more  than  500 
votes ;  but,  added  to  this,  there  came  the  Jesuitically-schooled 
Bishops,  of  whom  there  were  not  a  few,  partly  in  Germany, 
partly  in  England,  Belgium,  and  North  America,  and  still  more 
in  France,  and  thus  the  certain  majority  from  the  beginning 
amounted,  at  the  least,  to  600  heads.  The  minority,  however, 
which  was  reckoned  at  somewhere  about  160  heads,  consisted 
partly  of  German,  Hungarian,  and  Bohemian  bishops,  so  far  as 
they  had  not  previously  been  won  over  by  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
partly,  also,  of  those  French,  North  Americans,  and  English 
who  could  lay  claim  to  education  and  knowledge. 

The  reader  has  now  been  acquainted  with  the  constitution  of 
the  Council,  and  knows  that  the  Pope  and  his  friends  the 
Jesuits  could,  by  a  large  majority,  carry  everything  that  they 
desired ;  but  they  were  not  at  all  satisfied  with  this,  they  wished 
to  gain  over  the  minority  also  for  themselves,  or,  at  least,  to 
reduce  it  to  a  minimum.  It  might  be  expected  beforehand, 
truly,  of  some  few,  that  they  would  remain  firm  and  consistent, 
in  order  to  bid  defiance  to  Jesuitical  suggestions  ;  it  was  not  to 
be  anticipated,  however,  that  the  others  could  boast,  in  any 
way,  of  such  an  iron  character,  but  that  they  could  be  made 
supple  by  degrees.  Thus,  then,  did  the  sons  of  Loyola  set  to 
work,  under  the  guidance  of  their  General  Beckz,  hanging  like 
chains  on  the  bishops  amongst  the  minority.  Wherever  they 
themselves,  however,  could  not  reach,  they  knew  how  to  influence 
one  of  the  chaplains,  or  secretaries,  or  counsellors  devoted  to 
them,  so  that  he  might  play  their  game,  and  thus  an  artificial 
net  was  spun  round  all  the  members  of  the  minority  which  was 
drawn  together  in  the  Collegio  del  Jesu.  What,  however,  were 
the  means  employed  ?  Well,  naturally  enough,  threats  in  the 
first  place,  and  on  the  other  hand  promises,  which  seldom  fail  to 
produce  their  effect  on  weak  souls.  Oh  !  can  it  not  easily  be 
imagined  that  the  enticement  of  a  title,  as,  for  example,  that  of 

may  also  remark  that  Pius  IX.  nominated,  in  the  years  1868  and  1869,  over 
fifty  titular  bishops,  ostensibly  for  no  other  reason  than  to  increase  the 
number  of  votes  upon  which  he  might  reckon  in  the  Council. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     321 

Papal  House-Prelate,  might  make  an  impression  among  the 
bishops  belonging  to  the  'minority  ?  Thus,  the  Bishop  Lavi- 
gerie,  of  Nancy,  allowed  himself  to  be  allured  thereby,  when  a 
new  liturgical  garment,  a  stole  adorned  with  fringe,  called  Super- 
numerale,  was  found  for  him,  which  hitherto  no  Western  bishop 
had  been  allowed  to  wear !  Besides,  were  there  not  Cardinals^ 
hats  which  might  be  promised ?  I  lemeraber  the  instance,  in 
this  respect,  of  the  Hungarian  Primate  Simon.  Might  not,  in- 
deed, national  hate  be  even  made  use  of,  as,  for  instance,  when  the 
Polish  bishops  were  promised  that  the  Pope  would  accord  his 
blessing  if  Poland  should  break  loose  from  Russia  ?  In  short, 
there  were  plenty  of  baits,  and  it  was  only  required  to  bring 
them  to  bear  in  a  skilful  manner,  as  fitting  for  each  individual 
person.  Moreover,  might  not  threats  be  made  to  operate 
— threats  of  the  Pope's  disfavour,  as  well  as  that  of  im- 
pending excommunication,  on  more  prolonged  resistance  to  the 
wishes  of  the  great  majority  ?  Certainly  by  such  means  good 
results  were  obtained,  especially  when  their  employment  was  not 
restricted  merely  to  one  or  two  cases.  Thus,  the  preponderating 
majority  of  the  Council  was  through  and  through  Jesuitically 
ultramontane,  and  this  was  proved  by  the  manner  and  way  in 
which  its  commissions  were  constituted.  The  subjects  which  the 
Council  had  to  take  into  consideration  were  previously  examined, 
before  being  brought  to  discussion  in  the  great  assembly  of 
Council,  the  Commissions  being  confirmed,  or  otherwise, 
according  to  the  result.  On  the  whole  six  of  these  were  nomi- 
nated, the  first  for  dogmas  and  articles  of  faith  {Gojigregatio  de 
ßde)j  the  second  for  questions  of  ecclesiastical  polity  {Congre- 
gatio  de  ecclesia),  the  third  for  ecclesiastical  discipline,  the 
fourth  for  ecclesiastical  order,  the  fifth  for  Oriental,  and  the  sixth 
for  miscellaneous  matters;  by  far  the  most  important,  however, 
were  the  first  two,  which  were  to  give  their  judgment  on  matters 
of  Faith  and  Church,  and  in  the  persons  who  were  elected  on  this 
committee  the  earnest  opinions  of  the  Council  were  again  re- 
flected. Only  such  prelates  were  chosen  as  held  Jesuitical  ultra- 
montane opinions ;  and  thus  it  was  known  pretty  well  beforehand 
what  would  be  the  sentiments  of  the  majority  of  the  Council,  as 
the  subjects  submitted  to  their  consideration  would  assuredly  be 
viewed  in  a  Jesuitical  ultramontane  light.  Had  broad- thinking 
prelates,  on  the  other  hand^  been  elected,  they  would,  of  courscj 

u.  21 


822 


HISTOBY   Of   THE   JESUITS. 


have  held  a  contrary  opinion,  and  then  the  resolutions  of  the 
Councirs  committees  would  have  met  with  opposition. 

Well,  now,  already  the  two  parties  measured  their  strength,  on 
the  I4th  December,  by  the  election  of  the  Committee  on  Articles 
of  Faith  ;  but  what  was  the  result?  The  minority,  that  is,  the 
liberal-thinking  among  the  prelates  (I  thus  term  them,  although 
even  they  possessed  but  little  enough  of  what  one  generally 
understands  by  the  expression),  were  unable  to  carry  a  single 
one  of  their  party,  although  they  gave  themselves  the  greatest 
trouble  that,  at  least,  the  two  most  prominent  theologians 
and  Church  historians.  Dr.  Hefele,  Bishop  of  Rottenburg,  and 
Archbishop  Dupanloup,  of  Orleans,  might  not  be  thrown  out ; 
indeed,  the  majority  elected  only  Jesuit  pupils,  and  that 
according  to  a  list  which  was  previously  prepared  for  them  by 
the  Collegio  del  Jesu.  Thus,  only  adherents  of  the  Jesuit 
party  were  placed  on  the  Committee,  and  of  these,  in  the  first 
rank  were  Dechamps,  Manning,  Martin,  Senestry  Pie,  Regnier, 
and  Gardoni.  Precisely  similar  results  were  afterwards  obtained 
as  to  the  election  of  the  remaining  committees,  and  it  was 
now  perfectly  well  known  that  every  proposal  that  the  Jesuit 
ultramontane  party  had  a  desire  to  bring  forward  would  be  carried 
in  Council.  I  will  presently  indicate  some  of  the  members  of 
Council  by  name,  and  this  will,  perhaps,  awaken  in  the  reader 
curiosity  to  become  more  acquainted  somewhat  with  these  pre- 
lates, at  least  the  more  important  among  them.  Let  us,  first  of 
all,  turn  to  the  majority,  to  those,  that  is,  who  might  be  called 
the  "pillars  of  the  Papacy."  It  must,  indeed,  certainly  be  con- 
ceded that  nine-tenths  of  them,  and,  before  all,  the  Romans  and 
missionaries,  were  very  far  behindhand  as  regards  knowledge  and 
cultivation,  and  frequently  were  not  even  at  home  in  Latin,  much 
less  in  theology;  but  they  had  leaders,  and  these  latter  must  not 
be  undervalued.  In  the  first  rank  I  name  Monsignor  Gardoni, 
Archbishop  of  Edessa,  who  already  had  played  a  part  in  the 
Council  as  Consulter  of  several  Congregations  and  Theologian 
of  the  Dataria,  and  had  devoted  himself,  heart  and  soul,  to  the 
Jesuits.  Cardinal  Barnabo  contrived  to  render  no  less  service  to 
the  Curie,  for,  as  Prefect  to  the  Propaganda,  he  at  once  assumed 
a  decided  attitude  as  to  the  discipline  of  the  missionary  bishops, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  threaten  some  of  them  with  a  withdrawal  of 
their  subsidies  from  the  Pope  as  soon  as  they  showed  symptoms, 


DEVELOPMEi^T    OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     323 

even  in  the  least  degree,  of  an  inclination  towards  independence. 
Further  are  to  be  named  Cardinals  de  Angelis  of  Lucca  and 
Capalti  of  Bilio,  of  whom  the  latter  was  a  tolerably  well-schooled 
theologian,  and  even  understood  a  little  German ;  not  more, 
however,  than  to  say  that  the  science  of  the  country  incited  in 
him  a  feeling  of  horror. 

I  next  have  to  mention  Monsignor  Lulio,  a  Barnabite,  and 
the  prelates  Audisio  and  Vincenzi,  of  whom  the  first  had  com- 
posed a  work  on  Jesuit  moral  theology,  the  second  a  history  of 
the  Popes,  and  the  third  an  apology  for  Origen.  The  principal 
pillars  of  the  majority  were,  however,  not  Romans,  but  English, 
French,  or  Germans,  simply  for  this  reason,  that,  in  order  to 
find  true  men  of  learning,  one  must  travel  far  abroad,  to  Ger- 
many, France,  and  England. 

Among  the  non-Romans,  Archbishop  Dechamps,  of  Mechlin, 
prominently  distiuguished  himself;  a  scholar  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  who  knew  how  to  develop  his  inborn  gift  of  speech.  He 
attached  himself,  from  the  very  commencement,  to  the  most 
extreme  party,  and,  when  there  was  nothing  else  for  it,  loved  to 
engage  in  a  combat  of  words  regarding  all  bad  Christians  who 
set  themselves  up  in  opposition  to  the  principles  preached  by  the 
Jesuits.  Along  with  him  might  be  placed  Archbishop  Spalding, 
of  Baltimore,  a  New  Englander,  who,  at  the  commencement, 
placed  himself  among  the  liberal  thinkers,  but  only  for  the  first 
few  days,  for  he  afterwards  \vent  over  full  sail  into  the  Jesuit 
camp.  Archbishop  Manning,  of  Westminster,  the  successor 
of  Cardinal  Archbishop  Wiseman,  some  years  before  deceased, 
showed  himself  equally  determined  in  regard  to  his  Jesuit  ultra- 
montane opinions,  and  succeeded  in  carrying  with  him  the 
English  and  Irish  bishops.  It  ought  to  be  known,  however, 
that  in  his  activity  he  never  lost  sight  of  his  own  personal 
advantage,  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the  promise  of  a  Cardinal's 
hat,  he  would,  perhaps,  have  attached  himself  to  the  opposition 
side  of  the  Council.  Among  the  few  Germans  who  went,  thick 
and  thin,  with  the  majority,  were  Bishops  Martin  of  Pader- 
born, Senestrey  of  Ratisbon,  Fessler  of  St.  Polten,  and  Leonrod 
of  Eichstadt,  as  those  four  bad  long  before  been  won  over  to 
Jesuit  views ;  and  on  their  arrival  in  Rome  it  was  natural  for 
them  to  range  themselves  completely  in  the  circle  of  the  Popish 
party.     It  is  true  that,  of  late  years,  they  had  expressed  them* 

21  • 


824 


HlSTOBY   01&'   THE   JESUITS. 


selves— especially  Bishop  Martin — quite  differently ;  but  does  it 
not  happen  a  thousand  times  over  that  men  change  their  opinions, 
especially  when  thereby  they  derive  no  sort  of  disadvantage. 
Besides,  I  cannot  help  remarking  that  the  German  bishops 
mentioned  distinguished  themselves,  in  the  speeches  which  they 
delivered,  much  more  by  shouts,  rebukes,  and  insults,  than  by 
profoundness  and  eloquence  ;  and  it  may  be  observed  that  their 
aim  and  object  was  much  more  to  fulminate  than  to  confute. 

Lastly,  there  were  several  Frenchmen  who  belonged  to  the 
Jesuit  ultramontane  party,  and  among  those  I  may  mention  the 
Bishops  Pie  of  Poictiers,  Dreux-Brez6  of  Moulins,  and  Regnier 
of  Cambray.  Less  conspicuous  were  the  Bishops  Plantier  of 
Nimes,  Mermillod  of  Geneva,  and  some  others;  but  they  dragged 
along  the  great  coach,  and  stood  in  high  favour  with  the  holy 
Father  and  his  Jesuits. 

We  must  now,  however,  as  a  matter  of  course,  refer  to  the 
leaders  of  the  minority;  and  here  it  proves  to  be  undeniable 
that,  although  their  number  was  but  small,  they  far  excelled  in 
understanding,  knowledge,  honesty  of  purpose,  consistency,  and 
eloquence.  What  calmness  and  dignity,  as  well  as  elegance, 
did  Archbishop  Melchers,  of  Cologne,  display,  although  it  must 
certainly  be  admitted  that  he  was  wanting  in  determination,  as 
he  wished,  if  possible,  to  prevent  the  occurreuce  of  any  rupture. 
What  force  of  language  was  at  the  command  of  Archbishop 
Haynald,  of  Kalosca  (Hungary),  as  well  as  of  Bishop  Stross- 
mayer,  of  Bosnia  and  Servia !  With  them  no  other  member  of 
the  Council  could  compete.  This  was  universally  admitted,  and 
the  difference  between  the  two  consisted  in  this,  that  Haynald 
distinguished  himself  by  greater  elegance  and  adroitness,  Stross- 
mayer  by  greater  fire,  so  that  his  burning  words  penetrated  even 
to  the  bone  and  marrow.*  Archbishop  Darboy,  too,  knew  how 
to  speak  excellently  well,  and  as  he  diligently  endeavoured  to 

*  Strossmayer  especially  thundered  against  the  Jesuits  in  the  fifth  sit- 
ting of  the  Council,  judging  unfavourably  as  to  their  teaching  and  system. 
"  Consider  well,  my  honourable  brethren,"  he  exclaimed  to  the  bishops, 
"  the  situation  in  which  these  men  opposite  (the  Jesuits)  stand.  It  is  they 
who  initiate  and  determine  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Council.  Consider 
how  the  conclusions  which  it  has  the  idea  of  surrounding  with  the  highest 
Church  authority  are  framed,  fixed,  and  prescribed  by  these  men.  Consider 
the  dangers  to  which  the  Church  must  be  subject  when  it  takes  its  teaching 
from  the  Jesuits,  as  their  doctrines  are  in  contradiction  to  history,  to  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  to  the  Word  of  God,  to  everything,  in  short,  that  is 
held  to  be  most  sacred  by  true  Christians." 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     326 

express  himself  with  perspicacity,  his  opponents  listened  to  him 
with  strained  attention.  Precisely  similar  was  it  with  Arch- 
bishop Dupanloup  of  Orleans,  who,  notwithstanding  his  French 
delicacy,  unburdened  himself  with  the  utmost  candour,  and  un- 
reservedly pronounced  "  that  the  folly  of  omnipotence  which  had 
been  assiduously  awakened  and  cherished  in  the  heart  of  the 
Pope  by  miserable  flatterers,  added  to  Curial  avarice,  bore  the 
chief  blame  of  the   decay   and  numberless   deficiencies   of  the 

Church." 

Not  less  brilliant  as  a  leader  of  the  minority  was  Bishop 
Hefele,  of  Rottenburg,  as  learned  a  theologian  as  anyone,  as  also 
the  greatest  living  authority  in  Council  business.  Then  there 
was  the  Cardinal-Prince  Archbishop  Schwarzenberg  of  Prague,  as 
well  as  Cardinal  Archbishop  Rauscher  of  Vienna,  both  of  whom 
could  not  be  too  highly  esteemed  for  their  intrepidity.  Further, 
Cardinal  Archbishop  Mathieu  of  Besan^on,  and  Archbishop 
Ginoulsiac  of  Lyons ;  lastly,  Bishops  Förster  of  Breslau,  Dinkel 
of  Augsburg,  and  Eberhard  of  Treves,  whose  candour  could  not 
for  a  moment  be  questioned. 

But  when,  now,  the  best  speakers,  supported  by  learning  and 
steadfastness  of  character,  had  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of 
the  minority,  and  used  the  greatest  efforts  to  carry  out  what  they 
considered  to  be  the  truth,  what  more  could  be  done  ?  The 
majority  formed  a  determined  body,  that  would  hsten  to  no 
arguments,  but  simply  follow  the  advices  they  received  from  the 
Collegio  del  Jesu.  Moreover,  were  the  deliberations  of  the 
Council  free  ?  that  is  to  say,  of  such  a  nature  that  every  member 
found  himself  in  a  position  to  express  his  opimon  without  any 
let  or  hindrance  ?  Was  it  permitted  to  everyone  carefully  to 
examine  the  matter  at  issue,  and  then,  when  this  was  done,  to 

vote  accordinsflv  * 

There  is  still  another  question  to  which  I  must  necessarily 
devote  a  few  words,  as  now,  when  one  reflects  upon  all  this  one 
can  have  some  idea  how  the  Council  terminated  as  it  did.  First 
of  all,  the  place  in  which  the  Council  held  its  sittings  was 
extremely  unfavourable  for  free  deliberation.  The  right  wmg 
of  the  nave  of  St.  Peters  bad  been  selected  by  the  Pope  for  the 
purpose,  or.  in  other  words,  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Processus. 
and  this  space  was  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  Bas.hca  of  the 
great  church  by  barricades.     But  while,  now,  th.s  locality  was 


826 


HISTORY   OP   THE   JESUITS. 


suflBciently  extensive  to  furnish  conveniently  with  seats  all  the 
bishops,  patriarchs,  and  cardinals  there  assembled,  it  was  com- 
pletely wanting  in  the  first  requirement  for  a  large  assembly  hall, 
namely,  it  was  deficient  as  to  its  acoustic  properties.  After 
obtaining  a  seat,  the  speaker  could  not  be  heard  unless  he 
possessed  the  powerful  organ  of  a  Strossmayer,  which  so  pene- 
trated through  it  that  all  his  words  could  be  clearly  followed.  It 
was  declared,  even  by  Cardinal  di  Piatro,  after  the  first  six  sittings, 
that  he  had  actually  not  understood  a  single  speech,  and  another 
cardinal  also  stated  that  during  all  the  deliberations  not  forty 
words  had  reached  to  him.  Anything  like  a  thorough  discussion 
was  quite  out  of  the  question ;  a  lively  exchange  of  remarks 
and  counter-observations  did,  indeed,  take  place,  but,  on  these 
grounds,  no  speaker  could  hope  to  make  an  impression  on  his 
audience. 

There  might  have  been  some  amends  made  in  this  respect 
if  the  members  of  Council  had  at  least  been  able  to  read 
the  speeches  which  they  could  not  hear;  but,  after  the  first 
sitting,  the  bishops  were  prohibited  from  allowing  their  votes 
and  discourses  to  be  printed,  and  this  prohibition  remained  as 
long  as  the  Council  lasted. 

Can  one  now  call  this  a  free  council,  with  free  deliberation  ? 
Has  not,  indeed,  every  member  of  every  assembly,  and  in  every 
parliament,  the  right  of  making  propositions  either  himself  alone 
or  in  conjunction  with  other  associates  holding  similar  opinions, 
and  of  bringing  forward  motions  which  may  be  discussed  by  the 
assembly  ?  How  was  it,  however,  with  the  Council  at  Rome? 
Well !  the  Pope,  in  virtue  of  his  supreme  power,  nominated  a 
general  congregation,  which  had  to  examine  into  all  propositions 
and  motions  on  their  introduction,  and  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
them  as  to  whether  or  not  they  might  be  brought  forward,  and 
this  Commission  was  composed  entirely  of  those  who  held 
Jesuitical  opinions.*  Thus  it  was  that  only  those  propositions 
could  be  brought  forward  which  met  with  the  approval  of  the 
Pope  and  his  party.     As  a  rule,  however,  all  decrees  were  intro- 

•  In  the  General  Congregation  there  were  summoned  by  the  Pope  the 
Cardmals  Pairizi,    di   Pietro.    de   Angelis,    Corsi,   Sforza,   Cullen,    Barili. 
Moreno,  and  Antonelli ;  then  the  Patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  of  Jerusalem 
again,  the  Archbishops  of  Tours.    Turin,    Valencia,    St.   lago    da  Chili 
Baltimore     Soronto,    Tessalonica,    Cardi,   and    Westminster;    lastly,    the 
Bishops  of  Paderborn  and  Anagni.  "/,*•"« 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     327 

duced  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  himself,  and  the  assembly  had 
nothing  further  to  do  than  to  accord  its  "  placet."* 

In  short,  it  was  the  most  servile  council  that  could  well  be 
imagined ;  and  in  confirmation  of  this  I  quote  the  opinion  of 
a  man  who  was  held  in  great  esteem  in  the  Catholic  camp, 
Vicomte  le  Meaux,  the  son-in-law  of  Count  Montalembert. 
Writing  to  the  strongly  Catholic  Parisian  newspaper  "  Corre- 
spondajit,  he  states  : — 

"All  propositions  about  which  the  Council  have  to  consult 
are  made   up  beforehand ;  the  order  of  affairs  is  forced  upon 
the  bishops,  the  committees  are  chosen,  before  any  deliberation, 
according  to  an  official  list,  by  a  disciplined  majority  which  give 
their  votes  as  one  man.     In  these  committees  the  minority  is 
unrepresented,  while  other  conferences  than  those  in  the  general 
congregation    do   not   take   place.      The   matters   are   brought 
forward  quite  impromptu,  and  laid  before  the  members  of  Council 
without  previous  explanations.     The  speeches  are  with  difficulty 
understood,  while  as  regards  memoranda  (stenographic  reports) 
which  may  be  inspected  by  the  Fathers,  there  are  none ;  so  that 
it  is  impossible  for  the  bishops  lo  communicate  their  mature 
thoughts   to  their  colleagues.     Then  it  is   forbidden  to   cause 
anvthing  whatever  to  be  printed  here  for  the  Council ;  and  in  all 
tliese  features  one  recognises  an  assembly  called  together,  not  to 
discuss  but  to  approve,  designed  to  elevate  the  power  which  has 
summoned  it,  instead  of  to  moderate  it." 

Tlie  Vicomte  de  Meaux  formed  this  judgment  from  personal 
observation ;  and  now,  I  ask  once  more,  was  it  a  free  assembly 
with  free  power  of  deliberation  ?  But  with  what  did  the  Council 
occupy  itself  ?  Of  course  with  ecclesiastical  matters  of  faith,  as 
the  Pope,  in  his  irissive  to  the  bishops,  as  well  as  in  his  allocu- 
tion at  the  opening  of  the  Council,  had  proclaimed ;  but  these 
matters  of  general  business  were  but  secondary  to  those  on 
account  of  which  ouch  pains  had  been  devoted  in  culling  together 
in  Rome  so  many  bishops  from  such  great  distances,  and  with 

*  If  all  those  present  said  Yes,  or  "  Placet,"  it  ran  thus :  "Nosque  (We. 
'Pius  IX  ')  saci^  approbante  Coucilio  decernimus,  statuimus  atque  sanci- 
mus^';  bu  f  the  minority  said  No,  or  "  Non  placet."  the  number  ot  '^Noes- 
had  ti  be  given,  and  then  it  read  thus :-"  Nosque  sacro  approbante  Concilio 
äecernimus,  statuimus  atque  sancimus."  The  Pope  ^^^  then  the  only 
decisive  lawgiver,  who.  out  of  politeness  and  courtesy,  listened  to  the 
oWoHB  of  the  bishops ;  and,  consequently,  the  Council  was  only  treated  as 
a  consultative  body  called  together  for  that  purpose. 


mim 


mm 


828 


HISTORY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


*3!S' 


such  expense  and  trouble.  The  question,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  rather  in  regard  to  things  of  the  highest  importance,  no 
less  than  the  exposition  and  sanctioning  of  three  entirely  new 
articles  of  faith,  namely,  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  Mary ; 
the  dogmatising  of  the  Syllabus,  with  the  contents  of  which  the 
reader  has  already  been  made  aware';  and,  lastly,  the  dogma  of 
the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope,  of  which  I  have  likewise  already 
spoken  in  detail.  These  three  dogmas  must  be  confirmed  and 
sanctioned  in  such  a  way  that  in  future  all  Catholics  shall  believe 
them  at  the  risk  of  the  loss  of  eternal  happiness ;  but  it  must 
so  happen  as  if  the  members  of  the  Council  itself,  in  the  name 
of  Catholic  Christendom  had  spontaneously  urged  these  three 
dogmas,  and  on  this  account  the  Pope  had  not  made  mention  of 
them  in  a  single  passage,  either  in  his  missive  or  in  his 
allocution.  It  was  a  most  cunningly  devised  artifice  of  the 
Jesuits  in  order  to  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  world ;  and 
they  calculated  that  thereby  the  bishops  who  were  inclined  to- 
wards opposition,  would  not  be  able  to  make  themselves  at  home 
on  the  subject  by  the  necessary  theological  and  historical  studies. 

The  main  objects  which  should  engage  the  attention  of  the 
Council  were  sedulously  concealed  from  the  bishops,  in  order 
that  they  should  be  unprepared,  and  without  the  necessary 
books;  they  would  then  simply  sanction  in  the  Council,  as 
voting  machines,  what  had  been  elaborated  by  the  Jesuits. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  as  regards  the  Assumption  of  Mary, 
this  dogma  was,  of  the  three  that  have  been  mentioned,  the 
most  harmless;  after  that  the  Pope  had  once  declared  "the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  Mary "  as  a  divine  revelation,  it 
would  be  not  much  to  attest  her  ascension  to  heaven,  also 
in  her  living  body.  There  is  not  a  single  syllable  said  of 
this  ascension  to  heaven,  it  is  true,  in  the  New  Testament, 
which  is  completely  silent  regarding  the  fate  of  the  mother  after 
her  death.  Equally  little  was  declared  by  the  ancient  teachers 
of  the  Church  on  this  point,  and  no  single  individual  amongst 
them  relates  when  she  died  and  where  she  was  buried.  As, 
however,  Mary-worship  rose  higher  and  higher,  it  naturally 
could  not  be  wanting  that  people  began  to  trnnslnte  her  into 
heaven,  and  hence  gradually  the  tradition  arose  that  she  had 
been  taken  up  into  the  skies  when  still  living.  Be  it  well  under- 
stood, moreover,  that  the  ancient  teachers  of  the  Church  treated 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     329 

this  idea  purely  as  tradition,  and  in  the  Martyrology  in  use 
in  the  Church  of  Rome,  by  Usuard,  it  stands  recorded  that  in 
the  9 th^  century  nothing  whatever  was  known  regarding  the 
death  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  as  to  the  fate  of  her  corpse. 

Besides,  when  later  it  became  customary,  here  and  there,  to 
observe,  on  the  15th  August,  "the  Festival  of  the  Ascension  of 
Mary  into  Heaven,"  the  Church  was  still  far  from  recognising 
this  ascension  as  dogma.  It  was  the  Order  of  Jesus  who 
first  of  all  thought  otherwise,  and  as,  also,  Pius  IX.  venerated 
the  "  Madonna "  above  everything,  it  made  it  easy  for  him  to 
demand,  on  the  part  of  the  Council,  the  dogmatising  of  the 
bodily  ascension.  Yet,  no,  this  statement  is  incorrect;  the 
Pope  did  not  directly  submit  this  demand  to  the  Council,  but 
the  Jesuits,  with  the  consent  of  the  Pope,  went  round  among 
the  bishops  with  a  petition,  requesting  them  "  to  make  the 
bodily  ascension  to  heaven  of  the  Mother  of  our  Lord  an  article 
of  faith,  and  thus  to  anathematise  everyone  who  doubts  this, 
and  who  asserts  that  the  same  is  mere  tradition."  Yes,  indeed, 
the  Jesuits  circulated  this  petition  to  the  Pope  amongst  the 
bishops  of  the  majority  in  the  beginning  of  January  1870,  and 
by  the  31st  of  that  month  it  had  already  obtained  more  than 
400  signatures.  What  was,  then,  the  wonder  when  the  Com- 
mittee of  Faith  (the  Congregatio  de  fide)  was  at  once  em- 
powered to  receive  the  new  dogma  among  the  articles  of  faith, 
wherever,  at  the  close  of  the  Council,  all  those  bishops  who  had 
inscribed  on  their  banner  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope,  voted 
for  the  new  dogma  ?  It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  dilate 
still  further  concerning  this  dogma,  held  by  most  people  to  be 
the  Pope's  hobby^  but  we  pass  over  to  the  second  and  much 
more  important  point,  the  dogmatising  of  the  Syllabus. 

The  Jesuits,  even  before  the  commencement  of  the  Council, 
declared  quite  openly  that  the  theses  of  the  Syllabus  must  be 
regarded  as  dogmas.  Thus,  before  the  sanction  of  them  by 
Council,  and,  indeed,  a  few  days  after  the  opening  of  the  Council, 
a  number  of  the  bishops  belonging  to  the  majority  had  a  joint 
audience  of  the  Holy  Father,  giving  it  as  their  opinion  that  the 
complete  Syllabus  ought  to  be  dogmatised.  "  He  could  not 
neglect  this,"  as  he  expressed  himself,  "  and  would  sooner  yield 
something  on  other  points."  Thereupon,  Father  Clement 
Schrader,  one  of  the  most  sagacious  and,  at  the  same  time,  well- 


I !  f '  1 


) 


830 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


informed  members  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,  was  commissioned  to 
elaborate  formally  the  eighty  theses  of  the  Syllabus — the  most 
remarkable  of  these  are  already  known  to  the  reader — so  that 
they  should  be  the  more  readable,  as,  according  to  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  "  the  Syllabus  was  good,  but  being  raw  flesh,  should, 
first  of  all,   be   made  palatable   by  skilful   preparation ;  "   the 
matter,  however,  should   remain    the   same,    and  rather,    even, 
gather   additional  fire.     Father  Schrader  undertook  this  com- 
mission with  the  greatest  zeal,  and   the  results  of  his  labours 
were  the  eighty  Ca  no  ties  de  ßde  ei  ecclesia   Christi  (Precepts 
in  respect  to  Christian  Faith  and  of  the  Christian  Church),  which 
accurately  expressed  the  eighty  theses  of  the  Syllabus.     When 
he   was   ready  with    the    work,    however.    Cardinal    Bilio   was 
entrusted  with  its  revision,  and  as  this  prince  of  the  Church 
carried   out    this  work,  one  may  conclude  therefrom  that  the 
same   would  possess   the   approval   of  the  Pope,  and,   in   like 
measure,    also   of  the   Jesuits.     In   other   words,    the    canons 
remained  as  they  had  been  elaborated  by  the  Jesuit  Schrader,  and 
in  this  form  were  laid  before  the  Fathers  of  tlie  Council.     How 
did  these,  however,  proceed  in  regard  to  the  paper  submitted  to 
them?     There  was  cei-tainly  contained  within  it  a  whole  deluge 
of    equally   irrational    as   un-Christian    sentences,    which     the 
bishops,  after  a  little  reflection,  should  have  absolutely  rejected. 
War  was  not  only  waged  therein  against  Protestantism,  but  also 
against  the  whole  modern  world,  and  especially  against  State 
arrangements  as  now  constituted  throughout  Europe.     But  what 
did  that  matter  ?     The  bishops  of  the  majority  found  all  very 
excellent,  and  accepted  the  new  enrichment  of  the  teachings  of 
faith  and  manners,  as  if  they  had  discovered  a  treasure  therein. 
Consequently  it  was  but  natural  to  fiud  that  ultimately,  on  the 
13th  July  1870,  the  whole  scheme  had  been  voted  en  hloc,  only 
97   having  opposed  it,  while  the  remaining   600  then  present 
gleefully  pronounced  their  '*  Placet."     Like  the  dogma  of  the 
bodily  Ascension  of  Mary,  the  Syllabus  had  thus  been  also  dog- 
matised, and  the  Jesuits  rejoiced  with  exceeding  joy.    Still,  great 
as  was  this  delight,  it  could  only  be  made  complete  when  the 
third  new  doctrine  should  also  be  raised  to   the  dignity  of  a 
dogma,  the  doctrine,  namely,  of  the  Infallibility   of  the  Pope, 
and  to  this  we  must  now  turn  our  attention. 

The  Pope,  as  has  been  already  seen,  both  in  his  missive  con- 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     331 


Yoking  the  Council  as  well  as  in  his  allocution  at  its  opening, 
had  preserved  perfect  silence  about  the  matter,  and  hir  Secre- 
tary of  State,   Antonelli,  had,  indeed,  gone  so  far  as  to  give 
assurance  to  several  of  the  representatives  of  foreign  Powers, 
that  the  Holy  See  did  not  contemplate  making  it  a  subject  to 
be  laid  before  the  Fathers  of  the  Council.     Nevertheless,  the 
dogma  of  the  Infallibility  buzzed  about,  so  to  speak,  in  the  air, 
and  everyone  knew  that  the   bishops  had  been    summoned  to 
Rome,  if  not  simply  and  solely,  at  all  events  chiefly,  to  vote  that 
dogma.      How,  then,    could    an    escape   be   made   out  of  this 
dilemma?     Eh,  indeed,  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  had  long  ago 
a  scheme  in  petto,    and   this    consisted    simply   in  once   more 
concocting  a  petition   to  the  Pope,  -in  which  he  was   entreated 
to  lay  the  dogma  of  the  Infallibility  before  the  Council.     But, 
truly,  it  must  not  have  the  appearance  of  proceeding  from  the 
Pope  himself,  as  this,  indeed,  would  have  the  semblance  of  too 
great  presumption,  so  the  idea  must  emanate  from  the  Council ; 
and  if  this  was  the  case,  what  foreign  Power  could  then  have 
anything  to  allege   against  what  should  occur  ?     The  question, 
thus,  was  of  a  twofold  character,  first  of  all  to  find  out  the 
proper  Fathers  of  the  Council  who  might  prepare  the  petition, 
and  then,  again,  to  collect  signatures  to  it,  so  that  an  imposing 
majority  might  appear.     Both   objects  were,  however,  attained 
without  the  slightest  difficulty.    Persuaded  by  the  Jesuits,  Arch- 
bishop Manning  of  Westminster,   Spalding  of  Baltimore,   and 
Deohamps  of  Mechlin,    with  Bishops  Senestrey    of  Ratisbon, 
Martin    of  Paderborn,  Canopa  of  Verona,   and   Mermillod    of 
Geneva,  entered  together  into  a  Consortium,  and,  aided  by  the 
editorial  department  of  the  Civilta,  modelled  a  petition  to  the 
Pope,  as  well  as,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  Council,  the  contents 

of  which  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  The  undersigned  Fathers  submit  to  the  Holy  (Ecumenical 
Synod  of  the  Vatican,  the  most  humble  and  pressing  solicitation 
tliat  it  may  determine  in  plain  words,  excluding  all  possibility 
of  doubt,  that  the  authority  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  should  be 
supreme,  and  therefore  fi^ee  of  error,  when  he  fixes  and  dictates 
such  matters  of  faith  and  manners  as  should  be  accepted  and 
upheld  by  faithful  Christians,  as  well  as  when  he  rejects  and 

condemns  them.*' 

Such   a  petition  was  put  in  circulation,  naturally,  however, 


V 
\ 


882 


HISTORY  OP  THE  JESUITS. 


only  among  those  who  could  he  relied  upon,  as  truly  Popishly 
disposed;  and,  lo  and  hehold!  the  signatures  already  numhered, 
on  the  15th  January,  not  less  than  512.  A  splendid  majority  was 
thus  beforehand  secured  for  the  dogma  about  to  be  created,  and 
one  can  now  well  imagine  how  great  was  the  joy  of  the  Jesuits. 

There  was,  still,  a  small  bitter  pill  in  store  for  them;  for 
scarcely  had  the  broad-thinking  bishops  become  acquainted 
with  this  manoeuvre,  than  they  counselled  together  whether 
they  might  not  get  up  a  petition  to  the  Pope  which 
should  be  couched  in  opposite  terms.  The  majority  of  them 
resolved  upon  this,  and  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  Rauscher  was 
entrusted  with  the  preparation  thereof.  He  went  as  mildly  as 
possible  to  work,  but  he  did  not  on  that  account  mince  matters 
in  regard  to  the  difficult  point  in  question.  His  opposition 
statement  runs  thus  : — 

"  It  would  be  a  vain  undertaking  if  one  were  to  lay  before 
Christian  people  the  doctrine  recommended  by  the  majority  as 
an  openly  revealed  truth  of  God,  and,  in  the  absence  of  dis- 
cussion,  this  thing  is  repugnant  to  our  hearts.  We,  therefore, 
approach  thee,  confiding  in  thy  benelovence,  that  the  necessity 
of  deliberating  on  such  matters  may  not  be  imposed  upon  us, 
and  we  hope  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  not  lay  before  the  Committee 
on  Matters  of  Faith  the  petition  in  favour  of  the  Infallibility. 
Moreover,  as  we  administer  our  episcopal  charge  among  the  more 
important  Catholic  nations,  we  are  thus  by  daily  experience 
aware  of  the  state  of  matters  with  them  ;  even,  on  this  account, 
it  is  known  to  us  that  the  desired  definition  will  but  deliver  new 
weapons  to  the  enemies  of  religion,  and  excite  bitter  enmity 
against  Catholic  affairs,  and  we  are  certainly  persuaded  that  the 
same  must  offer  an  occasion  or  pretext,  at  all  events  within  the 
sphere  of  our  governments  in  Europe,  to  attack  privileges  still 
appertaining  to  the  Church." 

Such  were  the  terms  of  the  counter-petition,  and  the  same 
was  signed  by  137  Fathers  of  the  Council,  among  whom  were 
the  Archbishops  of  Vienna,  Prague,  Olmutz,  Bamberg,  Munich, 
Kalocsa,  Cologne,  Saltzburg,  and  Lemberg,  as  well  as  by  the 
Bishops  of  Breslau,  Hildesheim,  Treves,  Osnabrück,  Mayence, 
Rottenburg,  Augsburg,  St.  Gallen,  Trieste,  Budweis,  Fünzkirchen^ 
Grosswardeiu,  Temeswar.  Tarnow,  Laibach,  Raab,  Sieben- 
bürgen,  Bosnia,  and  Servia.      Did  the  sons  of  Loyola  allow 


DEVELOPMENT   01*   CATHOLICISM   IKTO   ;rESÜITlSM.      33S 

themselves  to  be  intimidated  by  this  ?  No,  not  in  the  least  degree, 
but,  on  the  22nd  January  1 870,  the  Infallibility  address  men- 
tioned, with  its  mass  of  signatures,  was  presented,  and  at  once 
handed  over  to  the  Coramitee  on  Matters  of  Faith,  in  order  to  its 
being  discussed,  under  the  proper  presidency  of  the  Pope. 

And  now,  shall  I  describe  further  the  ins  and  outs  of  how  it 
went  with  this  desired  dogma  of  the  Jesuits  ?  With  what  words, 
for  instance,  the  Bishops  of  Belley  and  Carcassone  concisely 
called  upon  the  Council  to  proclaim  the  Infallibility  without 
delay,  as  it  had  been  called  together  simply  and  solely  with  this 
object  ?  Or  how  Schwarzenburg,  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of 
Prague,  condemned  the  desired  dogma  with  these  words  :  "  You 
will  cause  the  religious  ground  to  give  way  under  our  feet  if 
you  pass  unanimously  as  the  newest  dogma  a  project  of  the 
personal  infallibility,  reprobated  and  long  abandoned  by  men  of 
sound  understanding,  and  which  you  may  yourselves  be  well 
convinced  the  world  will  never  accept  as  law  "  ?  Or  how  the 
Jesuitically-disposed,  that  is,  the  Infallibilitists,  broke  out  into 
a  roar  of  rage,  with  clenched  fists,  at  the  powerful  Strossmayer, 
the  Bishop  of  Bosnia  and  Servia,  in  order  to  bring  him  to 
silence  ?  Or  how  the  Pope  quite  seriously  assured  everyone 
who  visited  him  that  he  felt  he  was  infallible,  precisely  after  the 
manner  of  that  madman  who  considered  himself  to  be  God  the 
Father  ?  Or  how — but,  no,  I  will  not  relate  all  to  the  reader, 
as  it  would  carry  me  away  much  too  far ;  but  I  cannot  pass  over 
at  least  two  of  the  many  fundamental  grounds  brought  forward 
in  favour  of  the  Infallibility,  as  one  learns  thereby  in  what 
manner  and  through  whom  the  Infallibility  came  to  be  esta- 
blished. On  the  14th  of  May,  Bishop  Pie,  of  Poitiers,  brought 
forward  a  proof,  and  the  following  logic  was  actually  accepted 
by  the  majority  of  the  Council  with  immense  enthusiasm : 
"  The  Pope,''  he  exclaimed,  **  must  be  infallible,  as  Peter  was 
crucified  with  his  head  downwards ;  consequently,  then,  the 
head  of  Peter  bore  the  entire  weight  of  his  body.  Now,  the  head 
of  Peter  is  analagous  with  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  also  with 
the  Pope.  Thus,  the  latter  sustains  the  entire  Church,  and  as 
it  can  only  be  the  infallible  who  sustains,  and  is  not  sustained, 
thus  must  the  Pope  be  infallible."  A  beautiful  argument, 
certainly,  at  which  the  reader  will,  no  doubt,  be  sufficiently 
astonished ;  but  not  less  original  was  the  second  theory,  which 


334 


History  of  the  ^esüItö. 


m 


ill 


had  the  honour  of  having  for  its  father  Archbishop  Dusmet,  of  the 
island  of  Sicily  :  "  We  Sicilians,"  spoke  the  dignitary  mentioned, 
also  on  the  14th  of  May,  "  have  a  particular  ground  for  believing 
the  infallibility  of  all  the  Popes.  The  apostle  Peter  preached, 
as  is  known,  upon  our  island,  upon  which  he  found  a  number 
of  Christians,  and,  as  he  declared  that  he  was  infallible,  they 
found  the  matter  surprising,  because  it  never  had  been  previously 
communicated  to  them.  In  order  to  clear  up  the  matter,  they 
sent  a  deputation  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  to  demand  of  her  whether 
she  had  heard  anything  of  the  infallibility  of  Peter.  'Certainly,* 
replied  she,  *  as  I  myself  was  present  when  my  son  conferred 
this  special  privilege  upon  Peter,  and  I  can  recollect  even  the 
day  and  the  hour  perfectly  well.*  By  such  testimony  the  Sicilians 
felt  themselves  to  be  completely  satisfied,  and  since  then  no 
one,  throughout  the  whole  island,  has  had  the  slightest  doubt 
about  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope." 

In  such  fashion  did  the  Archbishop  of  Catania  plead  for  the 
new  dogma  of  Papal  Infallibility,  and  the  reader  may  now  know 
what  to  think  of  the  majority  of  the  Council.  Let  this  be  as  it 
may,  after  a  great  number  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  present 
had  spoken,  part  for,  and  part  against  the  Infallibility,  the 
majority  urged  for  a  termination  of  the  debate,  and  all  the  more 
strongly  as  the  heat  now  began  to  be  unbearable  in  Rome.  It 
was  now  arranged  that  the  "  preliminary  voting  in  private 
sitting  "  should  be  held  on  the  13th  July,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
was  decreed  that  **  the  decisive  public  voting  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pope  himself"  should  take  place  on  the  18th  of  the  same  month. 
The  preliminary  voting,  however,  gave  the  following  result :  450 
voted  for  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  absolutely,  with  "Yes'** 
(placet),  while  88*  bishops  absolutely  with  '*  No  "  {non  placet) ; 

*  Among  these  determined  opponents  of  the  Infallibility  belonged  espe- 
cially : — Cardinal- Archbishop  Prince  von  Schwarzenberg,  of  Prague  ;  the  Car- 
dinal Archbishop  Mathieu,  of  Besan9on  ;  Cardinal- Archbishop  Rauscher,  of 
Vienna  ;  Archbishop  Simon  von  Gran  HPrimate  of  Hungary)  ;  Prince  Bishop 
Fürstenberg,  of  Olmütz ;  Archbishop  Scnerr,  of  Munich ;  Archbishop  Deinlein, 
of  Bamberg ;  Archbishop  Wierzcheyki,  of  Lemberg  ;  Archbishop  Darboy,  of 
Paris ;  Archbishop  Heinald,  of  Kalocsa ;  Bishop  Rivet,  of  Dijon ;  Bishop 
Dupout  des  Loges,  of  Metz ;  Bishop  Legat,  of  Trieste  ;  Bishop  Dupanloup, 
of  Orleans;  Bishop  Ketteler,  of  Mayence;  Bishop  Strassmayer,  of  Bosnia 
and  Servia  ;  Bishop  Jirsik,  of  Budweir  ;  Prince  Bishop  Förster,  of  Breslau ; 
Bishop  Forwerk,  of  Leontopolis  (Apostolic  Vicar  of  fiaxony) ;  Bishop  Clifton, 
of  Clifford ;  Bishop  Dobrilla  von  Pola  ;  Bishop  Dinkel,  of  Augsburg  ;  Bishop 
Eberhard,  of  Treves ;  Bishop  Dours,  of  Soissons ;  Bishop  Place,  of  Mar- 
seilles ;  Bishop  Beckmann,  of  Osnabrück ;  Bishop  Crementz,  of  Ermeland ; 
Bishop  Bamzauowski,  of  Agathopolis  (Provost  of  the  Catholic  part  of  th9 


m 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      336 


conditionally  with  "  Yes,"  however,  or,  as  it  may  be  expressed, 
"  Placet  jitxfa   modum;'  that  is,  with  the  reservation  that  in 
the   wording   of  the  dogma  some  slight  modification  might  be 
introduced— 61  prelates  voted;  while  91  others,  partly  on   the 
plea   of  indisposition,    and   partly   on  other  grounds,  though 
present,  indeed,  in  Rome,  did  not  attend  the  sitting,  and   77 
of  them   had   already  left   Rome  on    account   of  the  state  of 
their  health.     Such  was  the  result  of  the  preliminary  voting  of 
the  13th  July  1870;  consequently  it  was  now  accurately  known 
how  the  proper  and  public  voting  would  turn  out.     On  this 
account,  88  bishops  of  the  opposition   took  their  departure  at 
once  from  Rome,  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  obliged  to 
be  present  at  the  public  voting ;  still,  they  did  not  commence 
their  journey  till  they  had  first  made  a  vain  attempt,  by  send- 
ing a  deputation  to  the  Pope,  with  the  object  of  turning  him 
away  from  the  unhappy  dogma.     The   1 8th  of  July  advanced 
apace,  and  the  Jesuits,  with  feverish  activity,  beat  up  for  the 
sitting  all  the  prelates  still  present  in  Rome,  especially  those  who 
had  voted  conditionally.     There  were  present  in  all  ö3ö,  among 
whom    were  all  the  cardinals,    with    the  exception   of  Prince 
Hohenlohe;  Ö33  voted  with  "  Yes  "  [placet),  two  prelates  voted 
with  "  No"  (non  placet) ,  namely.  Bishop  Riccio,  of  Cajazzo,  and 
Bishop  Fitzgerald,  of  Little-Rock,  the  latter  with   a  truly  sten- 
torian voice.     Thus  the  new  dogma  of  the  Infallibility  of  the 
Pope  was  accepted,  almost  unanimously,  and  Pius  IX.  had  the 
unspeakable  satisfaction  of  proclaiming  it  himself  to  the  world. 

It  consists  of  an  introduction  and  four  chapters.  It  is  stated, 
in  the  introduction,  that  as  the  gates  of  hell  rise  up  refractorily, 
with  daily-increasing  hatred,  against  the  foundations  of  the 
Church  erected  by  God,  it  has  become  necessary  to  prescribe, 
according  to  the  ancient  and  established  faith  of  the  Universal 
Church,  the  doctrine  of  the  investiture,  perpetual  duration,  and 
inner  nature  of  the  Holy  Apostolic  Primate,  upon  which  rests  the 
whole  Church's  strength  and  solidity,  and  contending  against  the 
same,  to  j  udge  and  condemn  errors  so  pernicious  to  the  Lord's  flock. 
The  first  chapter  treats  of  the  investiture  of  the  Apostolic 
Primate  in  the  person  of  the  Holy  Peter,  and  concludes  with 
the  following  sentence ;  **Thus  everyone  who  shall  not  affirm 

Prussian  Army  in  Berlin) ;   Bishop  Hefele,  of  Rottenburg;   and  Bishop 
Bourget,  of  Montreal« 


V 


A 


) 


336 


filSTOBY   OF   THJS   JESUltSi 


that  the  holy  apostle  Peter  was  invested  by  our  Lord  Christ  as 
the  most  supreme  of  all  apostles  and  visible  head  of  the  Church 
militant,  or  even  shall  allege  that  the  same  has  received  the 
Primacy  directly  and  immediately  from  the  Lord  Christ,  merely 
as  an  honour  and  not  in  actual  and  particular  jurisdiction — he 
shall  be  accursed." 

The  second  chapter  treats  of  the  uninterrupted  continuance  of 
the  Primacy  of  Peter  in  the  Popes  of  Rome,  and  concludes  with 
the  sentence :  *'  Whoever  shall  say  that  there  exists  no  investi- 
ture by  the  Lord  Christ  himself,  and  no  divine  right  by  which 
the  Holy  Peter  has  uninterrupted  successors  in  the  Primacy  over 
the  whole  Church,  or  that  the  Pope  of  Rome  is  not  the  successor 
of  the  Holy  Peter  in  every  individual   Primacy — let   him   be 

accursed." 

The  third  chapter  treats  of  the  condition  and  nature  of  the 
Primacy  of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  concludes  with  the  sentence : 
'•  Whoever  shall  say  that  the  Pope  of  Rome  has  merely  the 
oflQce  of  supervision  and  guidance,  not,  however,  the  complete 
and  supreme  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  Church,  in  matters 
which  relate  to  faith  and  manners,  as  well  as  to  disci- 
pline and  the  government  of  the  Church  extending  over  the 
whole  globe,  or  that  he  has  only  a  prominent  part,  not,  however, 
the  complete  fulness  of  this  supreme  power,  or  that  this,  his 
power,  is  not  regular  and  direct,  be  it  over  all  and  every  indi- 
vidual church,  or  all  and  every  individual  flock  and  believer — 
let  him  be  accursed." 

The  fourth  chapter,  lastly,  treats  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Popes 
of  Rome,  and  concludes  with  the  follovring  paragraphs  :  "  This 
gift  of  truth  and  never-wavering  faith  has  been  accorded 
to  Peter,  and  to  his  successors  in  the  Holy  See,  by  the  dispensa- 
tion of  God,  in  order  that  they  may  exercise  their  sublime  ofifice 
for  the  weal  of  all,  the  whole  flock  of  Christ  being  thereby 
guarded  from  the  poisonous  allurements  of  errors,  and  nourished 
with  the  food  of  heavenly  teaching,  so  that,  putting  aside 
every  opportunity  of  schism,  the  whole  Church  may  remain 
as  one,  and  firmly  persevere  and  keep  its  position  against  the 
gates  of  hell.  Seeing  that,  however,  in  these  times,  when 
people  stand  much  in  need  of  the  wholesome  reality  of  the 
Holy  Office,  not  a  few  are  to  be  found  who  wish  to  do  away 
with  that  authority,  we  thus  hold  it  to  be  imperatively  neces- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     337 

sary  solemnly  to  assert  the  prerogative  with  which  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God  has  had  the  grace  to  endow  the  supreme 
Pastoral  office.  Therefore,  in  true  dependence  on  the  tradition 
which  springs  from  the  commencement  of  Christian  belief,  to  the 
glory  of  God,  our  Redeemer,  to  the  elevation  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  and  to  the  weal  of  Christian  peoples,  we  teach,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Holy  Council,  and  declare  as  a  divine  and 
revealed  dogma,  that  the  Pope  of  Rome,  when  he  speaks  ea^ 
cathedra,  that  is,  when  in  his  office  as  pastor  and  teacher  of  all 
Christians,  according  to  his  supreme  apostolical  character,  he 
defines  a  doctrine  to  be  firmly  maintained  by  the  whole  Church, 
conceiTiing  faith  and  manners,  as  the  divinely  promised  succour 
of  the  Holy  Peter  has  been  accorded  to  him,  as  regards  that 
InfalUbility  with  which  the  Divine  Redeemer  wished  to  endow 
his  Church— therefore,  such-like  utterances  of  the  Pope  of  Rome, 
proceeding  from  himself,  are  to  be  considered  unchangeable, 
without  requiring  the  approval  of  the  Church.  Thus,  anyone 
who  dares  to  contradict  this  our  definition,  which  God  forbid, 

let  him  be  accursed." 

Thus  ran  the  new  dogma  of  the  Infallibility  as  it  issued  forth 
from  the  Jesuit  editorial  department,  and  the  laughter  of  scorn 
was  for  ever  raised  among  all  society  of  any  education.  Not 
only,  however,  a  laughter  of  scorn,  but  also  a  cry  of  anger,  as 
one  could  not  conceal  from  one's  self  that  what  had  been  dogma- 
tised at  the  last  Council,  that  is.  declared  to  be  a  divine  truth, 
must  bring  about  the  most  prodigious  consequences. 

What  is,  indeed,  the  quintessence  of  the  Infallibility  doctrine  ? 
Nothing  else  than  the  following :  '*  There  exists  on  earth  only 
one  single  Lord,  the  representative  of  God,  and  he  rules  over 
Kings  as  well  as  subjects,  nations  as  well  as  families.  In 
respect  to  him,  there  is  no  right  and  no  law,  but  all  Christian 
mankind  are  his  slaves.  There  is  one  and  only  one  reser- 
vation ;  the  bishops,  who  are  upper  slaves,  may,  in  the  name  of 
the  Pope,  rule  freely  in  their  dioceses  so  far  as  he  appoints ; 
the  other  class,  however,  the  rulers  and  their  subjects,  are  his 
entire  slaves  and  must  simply  obey." 

But  in  what  way  ?  Does  not  the  new  dogma  teach  that  not 
only  the  Pope,  for  the  time  being,  has  become  infallible,  but 
that  everyone  of  his  predecessors  was  endued  with  like  powers, 
and  that  thus,  all  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  former  Popes 

n.  22 


V 


838 


HISTORY   OF  THE   JESUITS. 


must  be  looked  upon  as  divine  truths  ?  Most  certainly  such  is 
the  case  ;  and  pray,  what  did  the  former  Popes  teach  ? 

Leo  X.  proclaimed,  with  the  approval  of  the  fifth  Council  of 
Lateran,  the  following  three  points  as  holy  truths  of  faith  : 

"In  the  first  place,  the  entire  body  of  the  clergy  is,  according 
to  Divine  right,  exempt  from  all  civil  power,  and  has  not  only 
no  obligation  as  a  subject,  but  may  not  be  bound  in  conscience 
by  secular  commands.  Secondly,  wherever  a  State  law  stands 
in  contradiction  to  a  regulation  of  the  Church,  it  is  only  the 
latter  which  is  binding;  the  former  being  inoperative  or  invalid. 
Thirdly,  before  everything,  all  the  State  laws  are  invalid  which 
compel  the  clergy  to  be  amenable  to  secular  tribunals,  and  to 
bear  State  burdens.  One  may,  from  necessity,  submit  to  them 
outwardly,  but  they  are  not  binding  inwardly." 

Thus  far  Leo  X. ;  but  what  did  Boniface  VITI.  teach  in 
his  infamous  Bull  Unam  Sanctam,  and  Paul  IV.  in  his  Bull 
Ex  Apostolatus  Officio  ?  Now,  according  to  them,  the  Pope  is 
absolute  lord  and  master  of  all  people,  supreme  judge  of  all 
monarchs  and  monarchies,  as  also  head  of  all  Christians  in 
the  world  ;  and  to  him  is  power  given  to  declare  every  ruler  or 
prince  who  is  not  steadfast  to  the  faith,  or,  as  may  be  better 
said,  obedient  to  the  Pope,  to  be  deprived  of  his  lands  and 
possessions. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  writes  the  distinguished  Döllinger,  "the 
fulness  of  power  to  which  the  Popes,  from  tbe  time  of  Gregory 
VII.  have  laid  claim,  is  quite  boundless  and  undeniable  ;  it  can 
penetrate  over  all,  wherever,  as  Innocent  III.  says,  there  is  sin, 
and  can  call  everyone  to  account  with  sovereign  caprice;  it 
tolerates  no  appeal,  as  the  Pope,  according  to  the  utterance  of 
Boniface  VIIL,  carries  all  rights  in  the  shrine  of  his  breast ;  in 
other  words,  the  tribunal  of  God  and  of  the  Pope  is  one  and 
the  same.*' 

But  even  this  was  not  by  any  means  suflBcient,  for  the  Popes 
of  the  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and  nineteenth  centuries 
have  declared  that  all  non-Catholics,  one  with  another,  more 
especially  Protestants,  have,  through  baptism,  equally  become 
their  subjects,  and  must,  as  rebels,  be  brought  back  again  to 
obedience  by  force. 

"Yes,  indeed,  Protestantism  must  be  conquered,  or,  where 
possible,  annihilated  and  extirpated,  and  the  idea  of  toleration, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     839 

equality  of  religions,  or  freedom  of  conscience,  is  to  be  con- 
demned to  the  lowest  hell." 

This  was  Papal  teaching  from  the  beginning,  and  this 
doctrine  the  dogmatising  of  the  Syllabus  proclaimed  afresh. 
What  is  there  in  prospect  for  us,  according  to  the  resolutions 
of  the  Council  ?  Nothing  but  religious  strife  and  contention  ; 
perhaps,  indeed,  a  new  edition  of  the  Thirty  Years'  war.  One 
may  laugh  now  over  it,  as  an  impossibility ;  but  did  not 
people  smile  also  when  the  Jesuits  proclaimed  the  warlike 
resolutions  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  they  had  instituted  ? 
Formerly,  of  all  Germany,  the  eighth,  or  perhaps  the  tenth 
part,  was  actually  Catholic.  But  Canisius  and  his  associates 
travelled  quite  quietly  from  one  bishop's  see  to  another,  and 
their  brethren,  the  rest  of  the  sons  of  Loyola,  followed  them. 
They  carried  on  their  operations,  at  first,  secretly,  and  concealed 
in  secular  clothing  ;  gradually  they  found  an  entrance,  in  addi- 
tion to  princely  Courts,  into  a  couple  of  families,  as  well 
as  into  a  couple  of  cloisters,  and  from  these  into  a  couple 
of  pulpits ;  then  they  possessed  themselves  of  one  or  other 
school  classes,  and  after  a  few  years  they  opened  an  educational 
institution ;  lastly,  they  took  care  that,  on  the  one  hand  the 
cathedral,  and  on  the  other  the  Court  and  official  appoint- 
ments, should  be  filled  by  their  pupils ;  and,  behold !  in  the 
course  of  forty  years,  Germany  was  again  Catholicised  to  the 
extent  of  two  fifths.  But  with  this,  even,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
were  not  content,  for  they  wished  to  eradicate  Protestantism 
entirely,  and  then  began  the  most  terrible  of  all  contests,  a 
religious  war,  which  lasted  as  long  as  full  thirty  years.  It 
did  not,  it  is  true,  bring  about  what  the  Jesuits  wanted  and 
hoped  for,  namely,  the  annihilation  of  Protestantism ;  but  it 
gave  to  Catholicism  a  largely  increased  development,  and,  by 
the  Westphalian  peace,  religious  liberty  was  a  thing  of  the  past 
wherever  the  sons  of  Loyola  had  nestled  themselves.  Though, 
indeed,  Protestant  science  has  made,  it  is  true,  great  conquests, 
yet  the  Jesuits,  too,  have  gained  ground.  By  inactivity,  the  Pro- 
testant dominion  has  more  and  more  decreased,  while  the  sway  of 
Catholicism  has  been  continually  extending,  and  this  has  almost 
entirely  been  produced  through  the  exertions  of  the  Society. 

Taking  everything  into  consideration,  one  should  not  depart 
with  a  haughty  smile  at  the  circumstance  of  the  Jesuits  causing 

22  * 


«Mi 


«««K 


840 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  Pope,  in  the  Syllahus,  to  declare  war  afresh  against  the 
Protestants?  Yes;  they  gave  themselves  no  rest  until  the 
Syllahus  was  dogmatised,  that  is,  until  it  was  raised  to  he  an 
irreversible  article  of  faith,  and  consequently  necessitates  tfll 
faithful  Catholics  to  hate  and  persecute  the  Protestant  heretics. 
Thus,  assuredly,  there  may  he  a  haughty  smile,  if  not  an  out 
and  out  explosion  of  laughter ;  hut,  still,  the  weather-glass  of 
the  last  resolutions  of  Council  indicates  a  storm.  Moreover,  to 
take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  matter,  the  sons  of  Loyola 
are  not  by  any  means  content,  but,  at  the  last  Council,  they 
arranged,  forsooth,  that  war  should  be  declared  against  all 
existing  States.  Yes,  indeed,  the  dogmatising  of  the  Syllabus 
had,  and  has,  no  other  object  than  the  obstruction  and  sup- 
pression of  the  free  tendencies  of  modem  times,  particularly 
as  they  have  taken  root  in  Germany,  for  these  notions  do  not 
accord  with  mediseval  ideas,  which  are  to  be  afresh  aroused 
from  the  grave.  But  how?  Does  not  the  Syllabus  conclude 
with  the  declaration  that  all  are  condemned  who  consider  as 
possible  and  desirable  the  reconciliation  of  the  Pope  with 
modern  civilisation  ?  Are  not  the  constitutional  liberties  which 
the  rulers  of  our  day  accord  to  their  subjects — as  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  and  equality  in  the  eyes  of  the  law — expressly  and  especially 
condemned?  Has  not  the  Pope  declared  from  his  infallible 
chair,  on  the  22nd  July  1868,  that,  by  virtue  of  the  care  he  has 
over  all  the  Churches  entrusted  to  him  by  Christ,  he  curses  the 
fundamental  law  of  Austria  as  an  abomination  (infanda)  ? 
Has  he  not  especially  cursed  the  horrible  laws  {abominand<B) 
which  vouchsafe  to  all  State  citizens  freedom  of  opinion,  free- 
dom of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  belief;  and  has  he  not  cursed 
them  on  account  of  this,  that  the  education  of  children  of  mixed 
marriages  is  regulated  according  to  the  principles  of  equality  of 
confession,  the  corpses  of  heretics  (Protestants),  whenever  they 
have  no  burial  ground  of  their  own,  being  interred  in  the 
Catholic  precincts  ?  Has  he  not  pronounced  as  an  article  of 
faith  that  all  laws  of  that  kind  are  contrary  to  the  constitution 
and  authority  of  the  Church  and  the  Papal  power,  and  that  they 
must  be  looked  upon  by  all  good  Catholics  as  completely  invalid 
and  without  any  force  whatever  ? 

Certainly  the  resolutions   of  the   Council  were  regarded   as 
quite  monstrous,  and  the  indignation  felt  thereat  among  people 


1)EVEL0PMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     34l 


of    education   was    but    too    well   founded.      The   more    that 
sensible  and  clear-sighted  persons  were  filled  with  indignation, 
and  partly,  also,  with  fear,  the  louder  did  the  Jesuits  rejoice,  as 
henceforth  they  considered  themselves  to  be  all-powerful.     The 
doctrine  of  the  Infallibility  was  their  own  doctrine,  and  as  it 
had   now    been   raised    to    the    dignity  of  a    dogma,  this   was 
nothing  else  than  to  say,  **  Whatever  the  Jesuits  teach  is  alone 
truly   Catholic."      In   other    words,    their    victory   proclaimed 
to  the  world  that  Jesuitism   and  Catholicism   were  henceforth 
identical,   and   consequently  it   was    not   so   much    the   Pope, 
properly    speaking,    who    was   infallible,   but    the    Society   of 
Jesus.     Did  there  not  lie  therein  justification  for  this  exulta- 
tion ?     But  the  sons  of   Loyola  were  not  content  alone   with 
rejoicing ;    they  were  also  desirous   of  displaying   their  power, 
by  showing   at   once   they   were   in  a  position   to  bring   back 
into  the  world  the  spirit  of  mediaeval  times,  in  the  shape  of  the 
Syllabus,  confirmed,  as  it  had  been,  by  the  Council  on  oath. 
Yes,  indeed,  mediaeval  times   shall  return,   and,  above  all,   his 
mediseval   territory  shall   be   given   back   to    the  Pope.     Such 
territory  had,  indeed,  in  the  years  1859  and   I860,  suffered  a 
very  considerable  diminution,  in  consequence  of  the  war  between 
Austria   and   Italy,   the   latter  being  in  alliance  with  France; 
and  matters  were  still  worse  in   1870,  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
Franco -German   campaign,   when  the   French    saw  themselves 
compelled  to  withdraw  their  garrison  from  Rome.     What  then 
did  the  Italian  Government  do  ?     Very  naturally,  in  order  to 
make  the  union  of  all  Italy  complete,  they  took  away  also  the 
remainder  of  the  States    of  the  Church,  and  at  length  firmly 
established  themselves  in  Rome  itself.     This   was,   indeed,  im- 
peratively necessary,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  Italians,  since  the 
inhabitants  of  Rome,  as  well  as  of  the  Roman  States,  demanded 
it,  as  they  had  long  been  heartily  tired  of  the  sad  Papal  misrule. 
Moreover,  there  was  not  a  single  European  State  that  made  any 
remonstrance,  and  still  less  was  there  anywhere  an  inclination 
to  draw  the  sword  in  favour  of  the  Pope.     The  rage,  however, 
which  filled  the  Pope,  as  well  as  his  trusted  friends  the  Jesuits, 
was   beyond   all   bounds,    and  His  Holiness  loudly  exclaimed 
against   the   impious   spoliation.      But  the  protest  was  of  no 
avail,  and  as  little  was  the  curse  which   was   soon  to  follow. 
It  was  thus  perceived   that   another    plan  must  be  adopted, 


342 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


namely,  that  of  force,  as  without  compulsion  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment would  not  yield.  Yet,  whence  shall  this  practical  aid 
come?  France,  once  so  powerful,  had  just  been,  as  it  were, 
stricken  to  the  ground,  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  require 
very  many  years  in  order  for  it  to  assume  again  its  former  posi- 
tion. Not  much  better  was  Austria  situated,  as  it  had  engaged 
in  the  war  of  1866,  and  there  could  be  no  question,  therefore, 
of  any  warlike  action  in  favour  of  the  Pope.  Then  the 
smaller  Catholic  States,  I  mean  the  kingdoms  of  Spain  and 
Portugal,  did  not  possess  the  power  to  enter  into  such  an 
undertaking,  and  Russia  was  not  at  all  to  be  thought  of,  from 
its  notoriously  unfriendly  disposition  towards  Rome.*  There 
remained,  therefore,  only  one  single  power  which  might  set  up 
the  Pope  again  in  his  lost  dominions,  and  that  State  was 
Prussia,  or  rather  the  German  Empire.  It  was  perfectly  certain 
that  the  German  Empire  possessed  the  power  of  doing  this, 
as  no  other  empire  could  compare  with  it,  and  it  stood  to 
reason  that  the  much  weaker  Italy  would  not  be  so  bold  as  to 
attempt  any  resistance  to  so  powerful  a  rival.  It  consequently 
became  a  question  to  move  the  Government  of  the  German 
Emperor  to  condescend  to  make  an  intervention  in  favour  of 
the  Pope,  and  to  accomplish  this  appeared  to  the  sons  uf  Loyola 
to  be  an  easy  matter.  For,  naturally,  the  Catholic  Church  had, 
up  to  this  time,  enjoyed  even  greater  privileges  in  Prussia  than 
in  the  Catholic  States  themselves,  while  the  extension  of  the 
Jesuits  in  that  country  tended  to  facilitate  matters.  One  has 
only  to  think  of  the  many  Jesuit  schools  on  the  Rhine,  and  in 
Posen,  of  which  I  will  merely  mention  those  of  Posen,  Schrimm, 
Maria  Laach,  Paderborn,  Cologne,  Coblentz,  Mayence,  Gorheim, 
Bonn,  Aix  la  Chapelle,  and  Münster.  One  has  only  to  bring 
to  remembrance  the  excessive  number  of  unions,  sodalities,  and 
congregations  which  they  had  called  into  existence,  even 
under  the  eyes  of  the  authorities,  in  order  to  govern  by  means 
of  them  the  whole  Catholic  population  of  Germany.!  One 
has  only  to  bear  in  memory  their  great  protector,  the  Prussian 

•  The  Pope  himself  must  bear  the  blame  of  this  unfriendliness,  in  that 
he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  led  on  by  the  Jesuits  to  stir  up  underhand 
the  Poles  to  revolt  against  the  Russian  Government,  supporting  them  in 
other  ways«  if  not  with  money. 

t  These  unions  and  sodalities  had  often  very  peculiar  names,  and  at  one 
time  called  themselves  "  union  of  labourers,"  at  another  of  companions, 
Qi  youths,  of  maidens,  of  temperance ;  sometimes  also  chastity  unions 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JfiSUlTISM.     343 

Minister  of  Public  Worship,  Von  Mühler,  who  satisfied  their 
every  wish,  before   they  had   even  themselves   expressed  one. 
Certainly,  then,  the  Jesuits  had  a  ground  for  hoping  that  the 
Government  of  William  I.  might  not  be  disinclined  towards 
an    intervention  in  the   affairs  of   the  patrimony  of  Peter,    as 
Catholic  efforts  were  especially  in  favour  thereof,  and  they  got 
up  at  once  a  number  of  petitions,  all  of  which  had  the  same 
object— re-establishment   of  the   Pope    in   his   lost  dominion. 
Care  was  also  taken  that  highly  influential   names  should  be 
attached  to  these  petitions,  as,   for  instance,  the  whole  of  the 
Silesian  Catholic  nobility,  and    the  entire  Association  of  the 
Maltese  Order  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.     Indeed,  even  the 
Prussian  Catholic  bishops  with  their  chapters  were  included  in 
such   a   petition;    and   the  great   Archbishop   Ledochowski   of 
Gnesen  and  Posen  consented  to  deliver  the  same  in  person  to 
the  German   Emperor  at  Versailles.     The  result  of  these  peti- 
tions, however,  was  by  no  means  reassuring,  as  Prince  Bismarck 
did  not  give  them  in  the  least  any  approval,  but  expressed  his 
opinion,  with  sufficient  clearness,  to  the  effect  that  the  inter- 
ference in  the  affairs  of  foreign  States   was  quite  adverse   to 
German  interests.     Had,  then,  the  petitioners  been  wise,  they 
would   have    been   satisfied    on   the   subject,   but  the   Jesuits 
looked  upon  themselves  as  too  powerful  to    draw  back;  and, 
consequently,  they  at  once  had  resort  to  other  means.    With 
this   view   they  hastened  to  exert  a  pressure    on    the    Impe- 
rial Government,  through  the  German  Parliament.     It  was  a 
question  before  everything,  therefore,  to  get  up  a  strong  party 
in  the  Parliament;  and  as  with  the  year  1871— it  being,  as  was 
well  known,  the  first  year  after  of  the  constitution  of  the  Empire 
—the  elections  were  to  come  on,  the  Jesuits,  entering  in  full  force 
into   the   conflict,  urged   the  whole  clergy   of  Germany,   who 
through  the  bishops  were  more  or  less  subservient  to  them  (the 

All,  however,  had  a  settled  organisation,  and  were  hierarchicaUy  conjoined. 
The  most  widely  extended  were  the  Rosicrutians,  whose  naembers,  almost 
entirely  composed  of  male  and  female  servants,  were  commissioned  to  keep 
an  eye  upon  their  masters,  to  report  respecting  them,  and  to  work  upon 
them^eh^ously.  Their  organisation  might,  mdeed,  l>«  tf,^°^^  ^  ,^^°^«* 
müitary,  and  the  strictest  discipline  was  Preserved  among  them  Fifteen 
persons  of  the  same  sex  formed  a  rose,  eleven  roses  a  tree  of  God,  and  ntteen 
GoTs  trees  a  garden  of  the  most  Holy  Virgin  Mary.  All  these  grades 
were  placed  under  a  Jesuit  Father,  or,  at  least,  under  the  g^dance  of 
Tome  ecclesiastic  who  was  a  blind  tool  of  the  Jesuits.  The  members,  however 
who  distinguished  themselves,  or  showed  special  zeal,  obtamed  the  most 
ample  absolution» 


344 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


cause  thereof  has  been  already  discussed),  to   give  their  votes. 
It  turned  out,  to  the  joy  of  the  Jesuits,  that  a  tolerable  number 
of  Ukramontanes  were  elected  by  their  pledged  friends,  espe- 
cially in  Bavaria,  in  Posen,  and  on  the  Khine,  wherever,  indeed, 
the   Catholic   population  were  in   a   majority.*      The  parsons 
made  use   of   their  pulpits   to    proclaim    to    their    confessing 
children  that,  if  one  did  not  wish   to  endanger  the  welfare  of 
his  soul,  he  must  strive  solely  for  the  election  of  good  Catholic 
men  as  members  of  Parliament,  the  problem  being  to  influence 
the  Imperial  Government,  with  the  view  of  bringing  about  an 
intervention  in  favour  of   the   Pope.      When   the  Parliament 
opened  in  March  1871,  these  gentlemen  formed  themselves  into 
a  very  determined  faction,  which  got  the  name  of  the  **  Faction 
of  the  Centre  ^*  (if  these  gentlemen  had  been  honest  they  would 
have  called  themselves  the  "  Jesuitical  Faction,"  for  they  allowed 
themselves  notoriously  tobe  blindly  led  by  those  of  the  leaders  of 
that  party  within  the  Catholic  Church  who  were  generally  known 
to  be  aflfiliated  to  and  associated  with  Romish  Jesuitism),  and  at 
once  recommended  themselves  to  the  Imperial  Government  as 
the  rock  of  defence  for  the  Conservative  interests  of  Germany. 
Yes,  indeed,  they  sang  again  the  old  song,  the  refrain  of  which 
was  that  a  strict  and  well-regulated  Government  could  only  be 
supported  by  them,  because  they  alone  were  capable  of  oflPering 
an  effective  opposition  to  the  revolutionary  ideas  of  the  times. 
Their  intention,   consequently,    was    to    render  tractable   the 
Imperial   Government,  as  they  had  in  bygone  days  influenced 
former  Governments,  especially  in  the  reactionary  period  which 
succeeded  the  downfall  of  the  first  Napoleonic  Empire ;  but  it 
was  soon  apparent  what  was  the  real  aim  after  which  they  were 
striving.     It  was  nought  else  but  to  revive  the  old,  long-interred 
claims  of  the  Papacy,  and  not  only  to  stir  up  strife  again,  but 
also   to  raise  afresh  the   contention  between  ecclesiastical  and 
secular  power.     Above  all,  they  wished  to  force  the  Imperial 
Government  to  intervene  in  favour  of  the  Pope,  and  the  recovery 
of  his  former  worldly  possessions,   and   with  this   desire   they 

*  Against  election»  of  that  kind  frequent  protest  was  made,  especially 
from  Cologne.  In  regard,  indeed,  to  some  elections,  the  petition  from 
Cologne  runs  thus  :— "  Fanatical  fury  raged  from  the  pulpits  of  almost  all 
the  Catholic  churches,  and  beaven  and  eternal  happiness  were  on  the  one 
side,  hell  and  everlasting  damnation  on  the  other,  according  as  the  votinc 
was  exercised."  ^ 


DEVELOPMENT    OF    CATHOLICISM    INTO   JESUITISM.     345 

pretty  frequently  came  forward  with  their  counsels  and  addresses. 
Indeed,  they  unhesitatingly  expressed  themselves  to  the  effect 
that  the  German  Emperor  ought  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  predecessor,  who  looked  to  Rome  for  the  Imperial  Crown, 
and  recognised  the  duty  of  standing  by  the  Papacy  in  all  its 
troubles,  as  truly  obedient  servants.  But  what  a  storm  of  dis- 
pleasure did  they  call  forth,  as  well  among  the  majority  of  the 
Parliament  as  also  in  the  Imperial  Government  itself.  I  will 
not  further  dilate  on  the  subject,  but  merely  repeat  the  words  of 
an  individual  member  of  Parliament.  Thus  spake  Deputy  von 
Bennigsen : — 

**  The  name  of  the  German  Emperor  and  Empire  is  involun- 
tarily connected  with  the  recollection  of  the  great  and  eventful 
battles  which  the  ruler  of  Germany  formerly  waged  with  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  not  as  Emperor  of 
Germany,  but  as  Emperor  of  Rome,  having,  as  such,  claims 
upon  the  Imperial  succession.  Our  task,  however,  is  to  leave 
no  doubt  henceforth  that  by  far  the  greater  majority — indeed,  an 
overwhelming  majority — of  the  German  people  and  their  repre- 
sentatives is  entirely  adverse  to  the  Imperial  Government  entering 
again  upon  the  old  mistaken  policy  of  German  Church  politics. 
What  advantage  did  it  bring  us  ?  The  perpetual  devastation  of 
Italy,  and  the  political  impotence  and  internal  disintegration  of 
Germany.  And  now  we  come  again  upon  efforts  in  Parliament 
to  lead  German  politics  back  into  such  an  injurious  groove,  upon 
eflForts  which  must  once  more  call  similar  contentious  into 
existence.  Our  essential  business  lies  henceforth  in  this ;  that 
at  the  very  first  moment  when  the  German  Emperor  assembles 
around  him  the  first  German  Parliament,  he  should  erect  a  beacon 
distinctly  visible  to  all  far  and  near,  internally  as  well  as 
externally,  that  in  future  German  politics  shall  be  restricted  to 
the  internal  requirements  of  the  State,  and  that  they  shall  no 
more   be    directed   to   interference   with    the    afiairs  of  foreign 

nations." 

Thus  spoke  Deputy  von  Bennigsen,  and  as  the  great 
majority  of  his  colleagues  agreed  with  him  in  his  opinions,  the 
following  passage  in  the  Address  was  adopted  : 

**The  severe  distress  which  France  sufl*ers  to-day,  confirms 
the  often-witnessed  fact,  which  never  fails  to  bring  punishment 
in  its  rear,   that  in   the  circle  of  civilised  peoples  even  th« 


346 


HISTOBY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


mightiest  nation  only  remains  safe  from  serious  complications 
by  a  wise  limitation  in  the  development  of  its  internal  economy. 
Even  Germany  has,  in  a  degree,  received  the  seeds  of  decay  by 
intermeddling  in  the  affairs  of  other  nations,  when  the  rulers 
followed  the  traditions  of  a  foreign  origin.  The  new  Empire 
has  sprung  up  from  the  self-elevating  spirit  of  the  people,  which, 
armed  for  defence,  is  invariably  devoted  to  the  work  of  peace. 
In  intercourse  with  foreign  peoples,  Germany  demands  for  its 
citizens  nothing  more  than  the  consideration  which  right  and 
custom  require,  and,  not  misled  either  by  aversion  or  inclination, 
does  not  grudge  to  any  nation  the  way  towards  unity,  or  to  any 
State  that  it  should,  after  its  own  manner,  hnd  the  best  form  for 
its  constitution.  The  days  have  gone  by  for  the  interference  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  other  nations,  never,  we  hope,  again  to 
return  under  any  pretext  or  in  any  form  whatever." 

This  was  clearly  and  distinctly  expressed,  and,  consequently, 
the  pressure  of  the  Jesuitical  party  for  Government  interference 
in  favour  of  the  Pope  was  once  for  all  powerless.  The  rage  of 
the  Jesuitical  Ultramontane  party  can  now  be  readily  imagined, 
and  it  was  at  once  resolved  to  make  war  against  the  German 
Empire.  Not,  however,  of  course,  a  war  with  cannon  and 
needle-guns,  but  a  contest  with  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
weapons.  The  whole  Catholic  Church  in  Germany,  in  respect 
to  all  Catholic  inhabitants  of  the  new  Empire,  should  unite 
their  powers,  and  thereby  compel  the  Imperial  Government  to 
diverge  in  another  direction.  They  did  not,  however,  proceed 
in  a  straightforward  way,  but  slowly  and  gradually,  creeping 
along  with  cat-like  steps.  Their  object  was  to  begin  by  under- 
mining, and  only  to  storm  and  capture  the  fortress  when  its 
foundations  had  been  sapped. 

First  of  all,  however,  it  was  necessary  to  estabhsh  complete 
unity  in  their  own  camp  before  commenciug  their  operations,  as 
if  such  were  not  attained,  that  is,  if  the  leaders  and  heads  of 
the  Church  found  that  there  were  individuals  who  would  not  give 
in  their  adherence  to  the  Jesuitical  Ultramontane  party,  then  might 
the  Imperial  Government  place  their  reliance  on  such  a  split,  and, 
consequently,  a  division  might  be  brought  to  pass  which  would 
render  victory  impossible.  "  Unity,  unity,"  was  the  cry,  then, 
of  the  Jesuits  to  those  bishops  who  had  voted  in  the  Council 
against   the  Papal  infallibility,   and   they,  at   the   same   time^ 


1)EVEL0PMENT   of   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     347 

threatened  them  with  the  Papal  excommunication  and  interdict 
if  they  carried  their  opposition  as  far  as  schism.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  admonished  the  "  truly  disposed,"  that  is,  the  prelates 
who  had  held  by  the  Jesuitical  Popish  party  at  the  Council,  to 
issue  a  general  pastoral  letter  to  the  German  clergy,  and  in  this 
to  exhort  everybody  to  accept  the  resolutions  of  the  Council, 
and  believe  them  to  be  divine  revelations.  The  "  truly  disposed," 
therefore,  assembled  together  in  Fulda  in  August  1870,  in  order 
to  determine  upon  a  general  pastoral ;  and  it  was  a  matter  of 
endless  rejoicing  to  the  Jesuits  that  the  "^truly  disposed  "  were  here 
joined  by  several  deserters  from  the  opposition  camp — for  instance, 
by  Bishop  Ketteler  of  Mayence,  Archbishop  Scherr  of  Munich, 
Bishop  Dinkel  of  Augsburg,  and  Bishop  Cremenz  of  Ermeland. 

Thus  it  happened  that  the  pastoral  letter,  which  declared 
"  that  the  last  Vatican  Council  was  regular  and  general,  and, 
consequently,  that  its  resolutions  were  binding  on  all  believers, 
by  virtue  of  the  publication  thereof,  made,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  by  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church  in  the  public 
sitting  of  the  18th  July  1870,  and  that,  therefore,  all  bishops, 
priests,  and  believers  ought  to  accept  these  resolutions  with 
steadfast  faith  as  divinely-revealed  truths,  and  must  adopt  and 
acknowledge  them  if  they  desired  to  remain  true  members  of  the 
one  holy,  catholic,  and  apostolic  Church,"  was  subscribed  by  all 
the  German  Princes  of  the  Church,  namely,  by  Gregory  (Scherr)^ 
Archbishop  of  Munich-Freising ;  Paul  (Melchers),  Archbishop 
of  Cologne ;  Peter  Joseph,  Bishop  of  Limburg ;  Christopher 
Florentius,  Bishop  of  Fulda;  William  Emanuel  (Ketteler), 
Bishop  of  Mayence ;  Edward  Jacob,  Bishop  of  Hildesheim ; 
Conrad  (Martin),  Bishop  of  Paderborn ;  Johannes,  Bishop  of 
Culm;  Ignatius  (Senestrey),  Bishop  of  Ratisbon;  Pancratius 
(Dinkel),  Bishop  of  Augsburg ;  Francis  Leopold  (Leonrod), 
Bishop  of  Eichstadt;  Matthias  (Eberhard),  Bishop  of  Treves; 
Philippus  (Cremenz),  Bishop  of  Ermeland ;  Lothar,  Adminis- 
trator of  the  Bishopric  of  Freiburg  ;  Adolphus  (Namszanowski), 
Bishop  of  Agathopolis,  Chaplain-General  of  the  Prussian  Army ; 
Bernard  (Brinkmann),  Bishop  of  Münster;  and  Konrad  (Reither), 
Bishop  of  Speyer. 

Had  not,  then,  an  immensity  been  thus  attained  ?  Certainly 
unity  had  been  well-nigh  accomplished,  while  the  few  who  had 
still  not  given  in  their  submission,  as,  for  instance,  the  Arch- 


348 


HISTORY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


bishop  of  Bamberg,  and  the  Bishops  of  Rottenburg,  Breslau, 
Wärzburg,  and  Passau,  could  not  possibly  withstand,  in  the 
long  run,  the  pressure  put  upon  them  by  their  fellow  function- 
aries. Certainly  they  must  also,  sooner  or  later,  orally  acknow- 
ledge the  resolutions  of  the  Council  as  divinely-revealed  truths, 
as  they  would  otherwise  run  the  risk  of  being  removed  by  the 
Pope  from  their  Bishoprics,  and  to  such  a  danger  they  would 
not,  of  course,  subject  themselves.  No,  certainly,  that  would, 
indeed,  be  too  much  to  expect,  to  exchange  so  high  an  oflBce 
as  that  of  a  Bishop  for  a  mere  article  of  faith ;  and  thus  the 
sons  of  Loyola  succeeded,  without  much  difficulty,  in  enticing 
completely  into  the  Ultramontane  camp  even  the  last  remains 
of  the  German  opposition  to  the  Council. 

The  first  who  came  over  was  the  most  highly  esteemed  Prince 
Archbishop  of  Breslau,  Dr.  Henry  Förster,  not  openly,  it  is  true, 
before  all  the  world,  but  secretly,  by  night,  and  in  a  mist;  and 
as  a  reason  for  this  falling  ofi*  from  the  former  recognised  truth, 
he  afterwards  gave  out  that  he  did  not  wish  to  disturb  the 
"  unity  of  the  Church."  Bishop  Henry  of  Passau  followed  him, 
and  then  came  Archbishop  Deinlein  of  Bamberg.  The  last 
was  Bishop  Hefehj  of  Eottenberg,  and  he  also  could  assign  no 
other  ground  for  his  change  of  opinion  than  that  the  unity  of 
the  Church  could  not  at  any  price  be  disturbed.  Along  with 
this  he  spoke  much  of  humility  and  submission,  but  he  did  not 
mention  a  single  syllable  as  regards  a  man's  duty  to  sacrifice  his 
place,  even  be  it  the  office  of  Bishop,  for  the  sake  of  the  truth. 

This  was  the  first  victory  which  the  Jesuits  gained,  after  which 
they  resolved  to  accept  battle  with  the  German  Empire ;  and 
they  proceeded,  therefore,  to  commence  the  fight.  Against 
whom,  however,  should  the  first  blow  be  aimed?  Naturally 
against  the  German  universities — **  those  heretical  nests  and 
devilish  institutions,"  as  they  themselves  loved  to  cull  them, 
and,  especially,  against  the  Catholic  theological  faculties  therein, 
as  the  latter  were  most  hated  by  the  Jesuits.  For,  of  course, 
science  flourished  at  the  universities,  therefore  free  thinking  and 
free  investigation ;  find  hence  resulted  the  most  violent  opposi- 
tion to  Jesuitical  doctrines.  Naturally  enough,  seeing  that  the 
future  spiritual  guides  and  instructors  of  youth  were  formed 
by  the  Catholic  theological  faculties,  and  the  professors 
could  not,    in    the    nature    of    things,   have   any    desire    to 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM   INTO  JESUITISM.     349 

regulate  their   lectures   according   to    the    infallible   principles 
of    Gregory  VII.,   Paul   IV.,   Boniface  VIII.,  and  Pius  IX., 
or  even  after  the  pattern  of  tKe  Syllabus,  now  also  declared 
infallible  !     Shall  this  any  longer  be  tolerated  ?    No,   indeed  ; 
for   they,    the    Jesuits,   wished  alone  to   instruct    the    future 
spiritual  guides  and  teachers.  No,  indeed  ;  for  the  dogmas,  morals, 
and  exercises   of  the   Society  must    be  for    the   future   alone 
instilled    into     the   youthful   students;    and,    therefore,    away 
with  the  professors   who   stand  upon  the  platform  of  modern 
science.     Away  with  them,  as,  indeed,  they  were  all  heretics  as 
long  as  they  did  not  absolutely  acknowledge  the  Infallibility 
dogma !     Yet  how  were  they  to  come  in  contact  with  the  pro- 
fessors ?     They  still  held  their  positions  from  their  respective 
Governments,    and  were  only  responsible  to  the  latter.     One 
could  only,   indeed,  hound  on   the  bishops  against   them,  to, 
first  of    all,   threaten   them   with  the    necessary   ecclesiastical 
censure,  and  then,  when  there  was  nothing  else  for  it,  falling 
back  upon  curse  and  excommunication.      But  as  regards  the 
bishops,  might  one  dare  to  hope  that,  in  this  way,  they  would 
set  themselves  into  collision  with  the  State  authorities  ?     In- 
deed, a  renegade  always  becomes  a  zealot,  and  the  Princes  of 
the  Church,  who  had  recently  thrown  themselves  into  the  arms 
of  the  Jesuits,  must  still  prove  to  their  converters  that  they 
were  heart  and  soul  all  for  them.     0  Lord !  one  would  have 
taken  them,  indeed,  for  miserable  dissemblers  if  they  did  not 
proceed  with   fire   and  sword ;    and   then   the   sons  of  Loyola 
might  be  certain  that  the  thoroughly  persuaded  Fallibilitists  of 
yesterday    would   prove  themselves  to  be  the    most  intolerant 
Infallibilitists  of  to-day.     Yes,  indeed,  of  this  they  ventured  to 
be   certain,   and   the   first   to   prove   the   correctness   of  their 
surmises    was    the    Prince    Bishop    of    Breslau,    the    above- 
named    Doctor  Henry    Förster.      As    soon    as   he   had    been 
gained  over  by  the  sons  of  Loyola,   he  demanded  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  University  of  Breslau,  as  well  as   those   of  the 
Mathias    Gymnasium,    to    declare    themselves,   whether    they 
recognised  the  resolutions  of  the  Council,  as  well  as  the  in- 
fallibility  of   the  Pope,   and    the   dogmatising   of    the    Sylla- 
bus.    Four  of  those  gentlemen    at  once   replied   directly  and 
publicly  in  the  negative.      These  were   Canon  and    Cathedral 
Scholastic  D.  Baltzer,  Professor  of  Church  History,  D.  Reinkens, 


'-W     •***•*< 


860 


HISTOBY  OF   THE  JESUITS. 


private  teacher  of  philosophy  and  religious  doctrine  to  the 
Mathias  Gymnasium,  D.  Weher,  and  the  Director  of  the  Mathias 
Gymnasium,  D.  Reisacker.  What  did  the  Bishop  do  then  ? 
First  of  all,  he  decreed  the  suspensio  ah  ordine  over  them,  that 
is,  he  declared  them  to  he  no  longer  fit  to  administer  their  oflBces 
if  they  did  not  immediately  recall  their  heresy,  and,  as  they 
hesitated  to  do  so,  he  threatened  them  with  excommunication. 
Still  further,  his  princely  Grace,  the  highly-esteemed  Lord 
Bishop,  vouchsafed  to  forhid  the  pupils  of  his  Boys'  Seminary 
(the  future  teachers  and  schoolmasters)  to  visit  the  Mathias 
Gymnasium  ;  all  theological  students,  especially  the  pupils  of 
his  community,  he  threatened  with  immediate  expulsion  if  they 
should  any  longer  attend  the  lectures  of  the  professors  men- 
tioned. Therewith  he  cried  down  the  latter,  who  still  held  their 
appointments  from  the  State,  and  it  now  came  to  he  a  question 
as  to  whether  the  Government  would  tolerate  such  an  attack 
upon  their  rights.  It  could  not,  of  course,  submit  thereto,  and 
the  Minister  of  Religion  declared  that  the  professors  should  con- 
tinue to  deliver  their  lectures. 

But  with  this  the  war  which  had  broken  out  was  still  far 
from  a  termination,  and  the  Bishop  adhered  to  his  above-named 
prohibition,  and  neither  dare  the  seminarists  of  the  Mathias 
Gymnasium,  nor  the  monks  of  the  community,  attend  the  lectures 
of  a  Reinkens,  Baltzer,  and  Weber.  He  refrained,  however, 
without  doubt,  from  carrying  into  effect  the  threat  of  excom- 
munication, as  he  feared  himself  to  prosecute  the  conflict  to  the 
utmost.  In  just  such  a  way  as  the  Prince  Bishop  of  Breslau, 
did  Archbishop  Melchers  of  Cologne  also  act,  as  he  prohibited  the 
students  in  Bonn  from  attending  the  lectures  of  the  theological 
professors  Hilgers,  Reusch,  and  Langen,  seeing  that  they  had 
fallen  into  sad  heresy  by  not  recognising  the  Infallibility  dogma. 
Consequently,  he  wished  to  make  it  an  impossibility  for  the 
same  divines  to  lecture  any  more,  and,  on  that  account,  he  must 
needs,  also,  as  a  matter  of  course,  run  counter  to  the  State 
Government.  The  professors,  in  regard  to  this,  continued  to 
work  as  teachers  just  as  before,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Bishop,  too,  adhered  to  his  prohibition,  and  even  ventured  to 
make  it  more  severe,  so  that  Messieurs  Hilgers,  Reusch,  and 
Langen  saw  themselves  compelled  to  lecture  to  bare  walls.  The 
Lord  Archbishop,  however,  as  little  dared  to  carry  excommuni- 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.      351 

cation  into  eff'ect  as  had  been  the  case  with  the  Prince  Bishop 
of  Breslau,  and  merely  the  threat  thereof  remained  to  the 
fore.  The  third  spiritual  Prince  who  brought  theological 
professors  on  the  scene  was  Archbishop  Scherr  of  Munich- 
Freysing;  and  after  he  had  received  his  instructions  from  the 
sons  of  Loyola,  he  demanded  the  theological  faculty  of  the 
university  of  Munich  to  intimate  to  him  their  position  in 
regard  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Council  of  the  Vatican,  and 
as  to  their  submission  thereto.  Not  a  single  one  of  the  pro- 
fessors had  any  desire  to  do  so,  but,  after  long  consideration, 
the  most  of  them  resigned  themselves  as  to  the  matter,  and 
simply  on  this  account,  as  it  might  be  perceived,  that  they 
had  no  wish  to  come  into  conflict  with  the  ecclesiastical 
power  of  the  Lord  Archbishop.  They  wished  to  continue  to 
teach  in  peace,  as  they  had  hitherto  done,  and  thus  said  "  Yes, 
in  God's  name,"  to  the  question  of  the  Infallibility. 

Not  so,  however,  did  the  distinguished  theologians  Doctors 
Döllinger,  Huber,  and  Friedrich,  hitherto  the  great  support  of 
Catholicism,  as  they  declared  they  would  never  recognise  the 
dogma,  which  they  considered  contrary  to  reason,  tradition,  and 
Biblical  teaching,  and  they  remained  firm  even  when  threatened 
with  excommunication  by  the  Archbishop.  Indeed,  the  con- 
clusion come  to  by  all  reasonable  and  honest  men  among 
Catholics  was  that  Catholicism,  founded  upon  the  resolutions  of 
the  Vatican  Council,  was  nothing  else  than  a"  New  Catholicism," 
a  heretical  deviation  from  the  true  Catholic  faith,  and  they 
henceforth  called  themselves  "  Old  Catholics."  An  uncommon 
number  of  men  of  the  cultivated  classes,  namely,  all  Catholic 
Professors  of  Medicine,  Jurisprudence,  Philosophy,  and  Philology 
at  the  University  of  Munich,  ranged  themselves  on  their  side, 
and  a  commotion  arose  the  end  of  which  could  not  be  measured. 
So-called  Old  Catholic  unions  formed  themselves  in  almost  all 
the  provinces  of  Germany,  especially  in  the  larger  towns,  where 
the  Catholic  population  predominated ;  in  a  few  weeks  these 
increased  to  communities,  and  as  such  appointed  their  own 
parsons* ;  thus  there  was  schism,  and,  of  course,    excommuni- 

*  Old  Catholicism  took  its  origin  after  that  Dr.  Döllinger  (Stiftsprobst) 
had  given  his  celebrated  declaration  to  the  Archbishop  of  Munich-Freysing, 
in  which  the  following  passage  occurs : — '♦  Thousands  of  the  clergy,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  laity  think  as  1  do,  and  look  upon  the  new 
articles  of  faith  as  unacceptable.  Up  to  to-day  not  a  single  person,  even 
among  those  who  have  given  in  a  declaration  of  submission  to  it,  has  said 


1 


852 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     353 


M 


cation  could  no  longer  be  deferred.  Moreover,  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  when  Archbishop  Scherr  intimated  to  Professors 
Dölünger,  Friedrich,  and  Huber  that  they  had  been  excommu- 
nicated on  account  of  open  heresy  and  non-recognition  of  the 
Infallibility  dogma,  the  communication  still  remained  privat«, 
and  the  excommunication  was  not  publicly  proclaimed  from 
the  pulpit.  No  !  no  public  and  direct  excommunication  took 
place,  but  the  Archbishop  caused  it  to  be  intimated  indirectly 
among  the  clergy  that  all  those  who  denied  obedience  to  the 
Vatican  resolutions  thereby  excluded  themselves  from  the  com- 
munity of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  and  must  bear  the  con- 
sequences thereof.  As  now  the  supreme  spiritual  shepherds  in 
Breslau,  Bonn,  and  Munich  had  thus  proceeded  against  the 
universities,  so  also  did  their  inferior  colleagues  follow  suit,  with 
only  very  few  exceptions,  and  proceeded  with  even  greater 
severity  against  all  the  minor  clergy  who  dared  to  have  any  doubt 
respecting  the  Infallibility  dogma.  It  was,  indeed,  an  unsur- 
passed piece  of  arrogance  if  any  poor  parson  or  chaplain  rebelled 
against  his  lord  and  ruler,  the  most  esteemed  bishop,  and  such 
presumption  could  not  be  otherwise  punished  than  by  deposi- 
tion. Thus,  ultimately,  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  declared  as 
deposed  Parson  Tangermann  of  Unkel;  the  Bishop  of  Augsburg, 
Parson  Renstle  in  Mering;  the  Bishop  of  Erm eland,  Parson 
Michelis  at  Braunsberg;  the  Archbishop  of  Munich,  Parson 
Bernard  of  Kiefersfeld  en,  as  well  as  Parson  Hosemann  of  Tunten- 

that  he  is  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  proposition.  All  of  my  friends  and 
acquaintances  affirm  to  me  as  having  the  like  experience.  *  Not  a  single  person 
believes  in  it,'  I  hear  daily  said  from  every  mouth.»'  To  this  declaration 
various  men  from  all  ranks  of  society  at  once  adhered,  among  them  high 
officials  and  civil  officers  like  Deputy  Inspector  von  Wolf,  Head  Master  of 
Ceremonies  Count  von  Bray,  Count  Ludwig  Arco  Walley,  the  great  brewer 
Ludwig  Brey,  the  Appeal  Councillor  von  Enhuber,  Mint  Assayer  von 
Schauss,  and  others;  together,  in  April  1871,  they  protested  against  the 
Infallibility,  and  to  them  were  added  all  those  who  were  of  a  similar 
opinion  in  Augsburg,  Vienna,  Memmingen,  Neustadt,  Kaiserslautern,  Bergs- 
zabern,  Fürth,  Bonn,  Coblenz,  Cologne,  Wurzburg,  Freiberg,  Traunstein, 
and  elsewhere.  The  first  step  towards  the  formation  of  Old  Catholic  com- 
munities,  having  separate  churches  and  parsons  of  their  own,  took  place 
in  Heidelberg  in  August  1871,  at  the  assemblage  of  Old  Catholics  there, 
and  forthwith  such  a  community  was  formed  in  Munich.  Other  cities 
followed  suit,  and  the  number  of  such  communities  has  now  perhaps 
risen  to  about  forty.  However,  we  doubt  whether  Old  Catholicism  will 
attain  to  anything  magnificent,  as  it  only  opposes  the  Infallibility,  and 
does  not  venture  in  any  way  to  attack  other  cancerous  affections,  as,  for 
instance,  oral  confession,  celibacy,  indulgence,  the  Romish  Primate,  and 
especially  the  hierarchy.  Is  it,  then,  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  large 
masses  stand  aloof  and  remain  indifferent,  and  that  the  whole  of  the  lower 
clergy  also,  for  the  most  part,  take  no  interest  in  the  movement  ? 


hausen  ;  the  Prince  Archbishop  of  Breslau,  Parson  Buchmann  in 
Canth;  the  Bishop  of  Ratisbon,  Parson  Max  Hort  in  Straubing; 
and  the  Bishop  of  Solothurn,  Parson  Egli  at  the  Penitentiary  of 
Lucerne ;  and  nominated  other  spiritual  advisers  in  room  of  those 
deposed.  They  were  of  opinion  that  they  had  the  whole  of  the 
inferior  clergy  completely  in  their  power,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  they  could  do  with  them  as  they  pleased.  But,  befhold  !  the 
parsons  declared  to  be  deposed  did  not  stir  from  their  posts, 
being  altogether  supported  by  the  communities  to  which  they 
belonged.  What  was  now  to  be  done?  Why,  my  Lords 
Bishops  did  not,  of  course,  deliberate  long  about  the  matter. 
They  addressed  themselves  to  the  secular  authorities,  in  order 
that  force  might  be  employed.  They  came,  however,  not  as 
complaining  in  any  way,  or  making  a  request ;  oh  no  !  they 
"  demanded "  of  the  secular  authorities,  without  anything 
further,  that  those  parsons  who  had  been  declared  deposed 
should  be  removed  by  force  from  their  situations,  in  order 
that  those  newly  nominated  might  take  possession  of  the 
vacant  posts.  Yes,  indeed,  this  they  did,  supporting  their 
action  on  the  12th  Canon  de  Ecclesia;  that  is,  on  the  12th 
Article  respecting  the  Church,  proclaimed  by  the  Council 
of  the  Vatican,  according  to  which  the  secular  authorities  had 
unhesitatingly  to  carry  into  effect  the  punishments  awarded 
by  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts.  This,  indeed,  as  a  matter  of 
course;  for,  according  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Council,  the 
Church,  that  is,  the  Pope,  was  held  to  be  altogether  superior  to 
the  State  power,  and  the  latter  had  to  carry  out  all  its  orders 
without  asking  any  questions  whatever  !  To  their  great  alarm, 
however,  the  secular  authorities  did  not  trouble  themselves  any 
further  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  bishops,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  they  addressed  themselves  to  the  Ministry,  and  the 
latter  in  turn  put  the  question  to  themselves,  "  Have  the 
bishops,  out  of  regard  for  the  present  Pope,  the  right  to 
sequestrate  the  incomes  of  those  parsons  who  adhere  to  the  old 
doctrine,  and  assign  the  vacant  posts  to  other  ecclesiastics  well 
affected  towards  the  Infallibility  dogma  ?  " 

They  further  asked  themselves,  "  Are  the  funds,  partly  inhe- 
rited from  olden  times,  partly  collected  at  assemblages,  from 
adherents  to  the  old  faith,  available  (without  any  further 
question)  for  the  benefit  of  the  new  religion  and  Church  ?  " 

n.  28 


854 


HISTORY  OP   THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     366 


Thirdly,  they  asked  themselves,  "  Does  it  seem  admissible 
that  the  new  Catholic  doctrine  should  be  inculcated  in  the  youth 
of  the  country  precisely  as  the  former  creed,  under  the  protection 
and  authority  of  the  State ;  especially,  should  the  bringing  up 
of  teachers  of  the  people,  together  with  the  conduct  and  super- 
vision of  schools  for  the  people,  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
Church  which  has  recently  become  infallible  ?  " 

They  further,  lastly,  asked  themselves,  "  Can  the  established 
rights  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  formerly  constituted,  after  its 
transmutation  into  a  new  one,  with  an  infallible  Pope  at  its  head, 
have  any  further  claim  upon  the  State  ?  " 

One  sees  that  in  addition  to  the  questions  thus  raised  there  was 
still  another  one ;  for  the  tendency,  so  inimical  to  the  State,  of 
the  bishops,  led  by  the  Jesuits,  asserted  itself  always  more 
distinctly  and  energetically,  and  the  supreme  government  of  the 
State  had  thus  to  say  to  itself,  **  We  have  the  duty  to  maintain 
aright  confessional  peace  and  State  authority." 

The  State,  then,  took  up  the  gauntlet  which  the  Jesuits,  in  the 
persons  of  the  German  bishops,  had  thrown  down  to  them  ;  but 
it  did  so  only  with  the  greatest  foresight  and  forbearance,  for  at 
the  head  of  Prussian  religious  administration  stood  Von  Mühler, 
hitherto  the  great  well-wisher  to  Ultramontane  efforts.  It  went 
openly  against  his  inclination  to  proceed  with  energetic  measures, 
and  he  would  rather  have  got  rid  of  the  matter  by  some  small 
palliative  means.  Indeed,  even  from  such  he  would  have  timidly 
receded,  had  he  not  been  urged  forward  by  Prince  Bismarck.  The 
latter,  however,  the  statesman  with  an  iron  will,  at  once  perceived 
that  the  authority  of  the  Imperial  power  stood  in  danger  if  a  limit 
were  not  put  to  the  aggressive  conduct  of  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
and,  with  his  accustomed  energy,  he  hit  upon  a  plan.  Naturally, 
however,  it  was  not  in  accordance  with  his  views  to  cut  through 
the  knot  with  the  sword,  without  further  ado,  but  he  proceeded 
wisely  and  sagaciously,  step  by  step,  trying  at  first  to  attain  his 
end  by  peaceable  means. 

First  of  all,  he  was  desirous  to  ascertain  whether  the  Roman 
Curie  approved  the  newest  steps  taken  by  the  Jesuits,  and  he 
therefore  brought  to  official  notice  in  Rome  the  attitude  of 
the  Jesuitical  Catholic  faction  in  ParHament  which,  as  we 
know,  had  pleaded  for  an  intervention  in  favour  of  the  Pope. 
Such  action  had,  at  all  events,  this   effect,  that  the  Cardinal 


Secretary  of  State,  in  order  not  to  injure  his  position  with 
reference  to  the  German  Imperial  power,  unequivocably  dis- 
approved, in  some  degree,  the  action  of  the  faction  in  question ; 
but  immediately  afterwards  he  recalled  this  disapproval,  and 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  he  merely  held  it  to  be  not 
opportune,  or  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  time,  if  the 
Catholics  at  once  placed  a  proposal  for  intervention  before 
Parliament.  He,  indeed,  straightforwardly  declared  that  he 
admired  the  conduct  of  the  faction  of  the  centre,  and  that 
their  proceedings  had  not  less  the  fullest  approval  of  the 
Pope.  Prince  Bismarck  thus  became  aware  that  the  Jesuits 
were  acting  in  most  complete  understanding  with  the  Roman 
Curie,  and  a  step  was  at  once  taken  on  this  occasion,  on 
the  part  of  the  Prussian  Administration  of  Religion,  which 
showed  to  the  Catholic  bishops  that  it  was  not  intended  to 
submit  to  their  pretensions. 

During  the  government  of  Herr  von  Mühler,  there  had  been 
a  special  department  *'for  Catholic  Church  affairs,"  and  the 
Director  thereof  was  the  Government  Privy  Counsellor,  Dr. 
Krätzig,  an  associate  of  Bishop  Ketteler,  of  Mayence,  in  the 
Pariiamentary  faction  ;  the  other  two  members  of  the  Depart- 
ment, Messieurs  Government  Councillors  Ulrick  and  Linhoff, 
were,  if  possible,  even  more  favourable  to  Ultramontanism,  and 
steered  their  course  in  everything  according  to  the  precepts  of 
the  sons  of  Loyola.  So  the  whole  management  of  Catholic 
affairs  was  entrusted  to  these  three  gentlemen,  that  they  might 
rule  according  to  their  pleasure,  as  Herr  von  Mühler  ap- 
proved of  all  their  proceedings.  In  what  way  did  they  govern, 
however?  As  a  matter  of  course,  in  a  manner  which  was 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  interests  of  the  State,  in  that  they 
played  completely  into  the  hands  of  adherents  of  the  sons  of 
Loyola,  in    regard   to    school   instruction,    as  well  as    school 

supervision. 

It  had  thus  happened  that  the  Jesuits  had  become,  by 
degrees,  almost  all-powerful  in  Prussia,  as  we  have  formerly 
pointed  out,  and  not  the  less  had  it  resulted  that  this  antagonism 
between  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  had  assumed  constantly 
a  rougher  aspect.  But,  lo  !  in  July  1871,  the  news  suddenly 
spread  abroad  that  the  department  for  Catholic  Church  matters 
in  the  Religious  Administration,  had  been  abolished  ;   the  three 

23  * 


356 


HISTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


members  above  mentioned  having  received  their  pensions.  At 
first  the  report  did  not  obtain  credence,  but  the  news  was 
presently  verified,  and  the  first  great  step  for  the  destruction  of 
Jesuitical  Ultramontanism  had  now  taken  place. 

One  may  well  imagine  the  anger  of  the  bishops  and  their 
supreme  guides,  the  sons  of  Loyola.  They  certainly  could  no 
longer  entertain  any  doubt  but  that  the  iron  Prince  Bismarck 
wished  to  break  down  their  power ;  but  they  held  it  to  be  impos- 
sible that  he  would  ever  be  able  to  obtain  the  signature  of  the 
Prussian  Monarch  to  the  required  enactment,  because  the  latter 
had,  up  to  the  present  time,  himself  shown  forbearance  in 
Catholic  ecclesiastical  matters.  They,  therefore,  addressed 
themselves  in  an  immediate  petition  to  the  said  monarch,  in 
which  they  urged  that  he  should  abstain  from  proceeding 
inimically  against  the  Catholic  Church ;  but  they  were  simply 
repelled  with  the  observation  that  in  no  other  country  in  Europe, 
as  the  Pope  had  formerly  acknowledged,  did  the  Catholic  Church 
possess  a  more  favourable  position  than  in  Prussia,  and  that,  on 
that  account,  it  was  all  the  more  imperative  for  the  State  to 
reject  presumptuous  pretensions. 

Rage  now  rose  to  its  height  in  the  Ultramontane  camp,  and  to 
anger  also  succeeded  consternation  at  the  same  time,  as,  at  the 
beginning  of  November  1871,  the  Bavarian  Plenipotentiaries 
placed  a  proposition  before  the  German  Diet,  that  they  should 
lay  before  Parliament  the  following  project  of  law  : — 

"  Act  relating  to  the  completion  of  the  Penal  Law-Book  for 
the  German  Empire.— We,  William,  by  the  Grace  of  God, 
German  Emperor  and  King  of  Prussia,  order  the  following,  with 
the  acquiescence  of  the  Diet  and  of  Parliament.  Individual 
article.  After  para.  167  of  the  Penal  Law-Book  for  the  German 
Empire,  the  following  new  para,  shall  be  inserted :  '  An  eccle- 
siastic or  other  servant  of  religion,  who,  in  the  exercise  of,  or  on 
occasion  of  the  pursuit  of  his  calling,  publicly  brings  forward  a 
subject  for  discussion  before  a  crowd  of  people,  or  in  a  church, 
or  in  any  other  place  destined  for  religious  assemblages,  in  a 
way  which  seems  calculated  to  disturb  the  public  peace,  shall  be 
punished  by  imprisonment  to  the  extent  of  two  years.'  " 

This  was  the  proposition  which  the  Bavarian  Plenipotentiaries 
placed  before  the  Diet  of  the  German  Empire;  and  can  one, 
therefore,  be  at  all  surprised  that  the  Jesuits  and  Ultramontanes 


BEVELOt'MENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     357 

wore  in  the  highest  degree  disturbed  thereby  ?  Good  Catholic 
Bavaria,  with  its  good  Catholic  Government,  and  such  a  pro- 
position !  This  was,  indeed,  an  attack  upon  the  most  holy 
rights  of  the  clergy,  for  whom,  hitherto,  the  pulpit  had  stood  at 
their  completely  free  disposal !  God  in  Heaven  !  that  was, 
indeed,  unheard  of!  Hitherto,  anyone  might  agitate  and  insult 
from  the  pulpit,  at  his  pleasure,  without  a  soul  whatever,  even 
in  the  highest  position,  being  able  to  say  a  word !  Yes,  indeed, 
it  had  hitherto  been  thus,  and,  at  the  last  Parliamentary  elections, 
the  Jesuitically-minded  ecclesiastics,  by  thundering  words  from 
the  pulpit,  had  gained  the  victory  for  a  goodly  number  of 
Ultramontane  candidates.  But  this  misuse  of  the  pulpit  was 
not  any  longer  to  be  tolerated — a  misuse  which,  in  Bavaria 
especially,  had  by  degrees  become  quite  insufferable.  As  a  proof 
of  this  I  will  only  adduce  a  few  instances. 

Joseph  Bergmeier,  Parson  of  Geisenhausen,  had  declared  from 
the  pulpit,  "  Hohenlohe  is  a  Prussian  rogue."  Another  Catholic 
parson  called  the  Bavarian  ministers  and  deputies,  "  simpletons 
and  debauchees."  A  third  exclaimed,  "  Your  deputies  wish  to 
give  you  Jewish  fellows  as  teachers ;  they  desire  to  establish 
brothels  throughout  the  whole  land,  and  to  rob  you  of  the  bless- 
ings of  marriage."  A  fourth  proclaimed  from  his  pulpit :  **  If  the 
school  law  passes,  then  your  children  will  be  taught  by  Jewish 
fellows  to  despise  the  Saviour,  as  once  upon  a  time  the  Jews 
did  in  Jerusalem.  And  the  parents  will  even  be  punished  if 
they  call '  Hepp  !  Hepp  !  Hepp  ! '  after  the  Jewish  fellows."  A 
fifth  preached  from  the  cathedral  of  Ratisbon  :  *'  The  Emperor, 
as  King,  has  command  only  over  the  body,  but  the  Church 
holds  sway  over  both  body  and  soul,  and  therefore  the 
Church  can  even  release  the  people  from  the  oaths  they  have 
sworn  to  the  princes."  A  sixth,  a  bishop,  thus  expressed 
himself  before  a  large  assemblage,  on  a  confirmation  journey  : 
"  We  live  in  sad  times ;  we  are  called  ultramontanes  and 
Reactionaries;  this  condition  can  only  be  put  an  end  to  by  war 
and  revolution«  We  keep  secular  laws  merely  because  power 
supports  them,  and  we  should  be  seized  by  the  throat  were  we 
to  act  otherwise.  If  kings  no  longer  consider  themselves 
acting  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  would  be  the  first  to  overturn 
the  throne."  A  seventh— but  enough  of  examples,  as,  from 
those   already  given,   everyone  must  be  convinced  that   there 


858 


HlSTOBY  OF  THE  JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     369 


need  be,  in  the  German  Empire,  protection — legal  protection, 
indeed—against  such  misuse  of  the  pulpit  by  the  Catholic 
clergy.  The  proposition  of  Bavaria  was,  on  this  account, 
accepted  almost  unanimously  by  the  Diet,  and  not  the  less 
passed  through  Parliament  with  eclal.  The  Ultramontanes 
now,  to  be  sure,  raised  the  most  piteous  complaints  all  over 
the  German  Empire,  and  at  once  declared  religion  to  be  in 
danger ;  but,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  new  law  was  proclaimed 
accordingly,  and  soon  displayed  its  blissful  operation.  I  say 
blissful,  as  the  chief  thing  was  that  now  insults  ceased  to  be 
given  from  the  pulpit,  as  the  clerical  gentry  had  no  desire 
to  make  closer  acquaintance  with  prison  cells. 

From  what  has  been  already  related,  it  must  have  become 
sufficiently  apparent  that  the  German  Government  was  not 
indifferent  to  the  arrogant  pretensions  of  my  Lord  Bishops  and 
their  wire-pullers;  still  anything  energetic  and  effectual  could 
not  be  carried  out  as  long  as  Herr  von  Mühler  remained  at 
the  head  of  the  Ministry  of  Beligion.  He  was,  indeed,  noto- 
riously the  drag  upon  all  progress  in  ecclesiastical  as  well  as 
educational  matters,  and  if  he  even  consented  to  the  innova- 
tions urged  upon  him  by  Prince  Bismarck,  it  only  happened  as 
it  were  by  way  of  compulsion.  Besides,  what  did  individual 
crumbs  signify  as  long  as  the  whole  system  hitherto  obtain- 
ing was  not  broken  through  ?  Herr  von  Mühler  at  length 
perceived  that  he  was  no  longer  suitable  for  the  new  era  of 
the  German  Empire,  and  as  he  became  aware  that  all  the 
liberal  sections  of  the  House  of  Parliament  were  determined  to 
vote  in  plain  terms  a  want  of  confidence  in  him,  he  tendered  his 
resignation  to  his  King  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  January 
1872.  This  request  was  at  once  accepted,  without  further  ado, 
and  it  was  felt  through  all  Prussia — indeed,  over  the  whole 
of  Germany— that  freedom  from  oppression  had  been  effected. 
One  had  only  to  look  at  the  universities  to  see  what  kind  of  men 
had  been  appointed  professors  by  Herr  von  Mühler.  Preference 
had  evidently  not  been  given  by  him  to  knowledge  and  scientific 
reputation,  but,  much  more,  to  position  in  the  Church  and 
orthodox  faith.  How  could  there,  then,  be  any  wonder  that 
the  Prussian  universities  sank  deeper  and  deeper?  In  a  pre- 
cisely similar  way  had  Herr  von  Mühler  proceeded  respecting 
the  different  gymnasiums  and  lyceums,  only  stedfast  believers 


having  received  employment  therein.  Men  of  a  free  or  even 
of  a  moderate  tendency,  were  rejected,  and  it  was  exactly 
as  if  Herr  von  Mühler  had  possessed  a  mortal  fear  of  acute 
understandings  and  able  heads.  It  was  thus,  then,  only  natural 
that  for  the  most  part  persons  breathed  more  freely  when  this 
impediment  to  progress  had  at  length  quitted  office.  And  not 
the  less  natural  was  it  that  there  was  loud,  rejoicing  when  it 
became  known  that  the  Privy  Councillor  of  Justice  (Der  Ge- 
heime Obeijustizrath),  Dr.  Falk,  had  been  nominated  as  his  suc- 
cessor, on  the  22nd  January  1872.  This  was  quite  a  different 
style  of  man.  With  such  a  person  as  he,  Prince  Bismarck  could 
work  hand  in  hand  in  proceeding  against  clerical  lust  after 
power,  and  the  presumptions  of  the  Jesuits  and  Ultramontanes ; 
indeed  it  was  precisely  on  this  account  that  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  had  effected  his  nomination.  The  Prussian  Govern- 
ment would,  however,  have  deeply  sinned  had  it  hesitated 
any  longer  to  appoint  a  liberal  Minister  of  Religion,  as,  in 
regard  to  the  manner  and  way  in  which  the  Jesuits  had  con- 
ducted the  colleges  founded  by  them,  and,  indeed,  all  educa- 
tional institutions,  things  now  came  to  light  respecting  their 
mode  of  instruction,  that  made  it  imperatively  necessary  for  the 
immediate  interference  of  the  highest  authorities.  With  what 
aim  and  purpose,  then,  did  the  pious  Fathers  work  ?  For  the 
same  object  that  had  been  attained  in  Spain,  Ireland,  and  the 
States  of  the  Church ;  in  short,  wherever  the  Jesuitical  Ultra- 
montane system  had  won  supremacy  for  itself.  One  had  only 
to  look  to  Posen,  or  even  Silesia,  for  instance,  in  the  Govern- 
ment district  of  Oppeln;  the  grossest  ignorance  made  itself 
there  apparent,  and  the  instruction  was  limited  entirely  to  what 
the  Jesuits  called  religion.  Now,  as  for  this  latter,  the  teachings 
of  the  Syllabus  played  the  chief  part  therein,  together  with  the 
cursing  of  those  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Infallibility  of  the 

Pope. 

The  new  Prussian  Minister  of  Beligion  thus  perceived  that 
to  the  operations  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  schools  an  immediate 
check  must  be  imperatively  put,  and  he  introduced  at  once 
before  the  Prussian  Chambers,  in  the  beginning  of  February 
iö72,  a  new  law  as  to  school  supervision,  consisting  of  the  fol* 
lowing  two  paragraphs  : — 

"  1.   The  inspection  of   all   public    educational  institutions 


-•»-sv— r' 


•  -«■  77X'«..«  r'ap «aafv*«  ^-j 


360 


ßlSTOBY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     36l 


rests  with  the  State.  On  this  account,  all  proper  authorities 
and  officials  entrusted  with  this  duty  are  commissioned  for  the 
purpose  by  the  State. 

**  2.  The  nomination  of  local  and  circuit  inspectors,  and  the 
limitation  of  their  circuit  of  inspection,  belongs  to  the  State 
alone.  The  commission  granted  by  the  State  to  inspectors  of 
public  schools  for  the  people,  in  so  far  as  they  conduct  this  charge 
as  an  extraordinary  or  honorary  office,  is  at  all  times  revokable. 
Those  persons,  however,  to  whom  the  inspection  of  schools  for 
the  people  has  been  hitherto  entrusted  by  command,  are  obliged  to 
conduct  this  office  in  accordance  with  the  regulations  of  the  State, 
and  are  not  allowed  to  indulge  in  vagaries  of  a  contrary  nature. 

What  was  now  the  aim  of  this  new  law,  which  the  Minister 
himself  designated  as  merely  a  law  of  necessity  ?  Nothing  else, 
indeed,  than  the  liberation  of  the  schools  from  the  influence  of 
the  Jesuitical-Ultramontane  ecclesiastics.  According  to  the 
arrangement  hitherto  obtaining,  school  inspection  belonged  to 
the  clergy— the  Protestant  schools  to  the  Protestant  parsons, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Catholic  schools  to  the  Catholic 
priests,  or,  in  other  words,  the  ecclesiastical  gentry  were  the 
**  bom  "  school  inspectors. 

How,    for   instance,    did    the   Catholic  ecclesiastics  exercise 
school  inspection   in  the   territory  of   Posen?      They    united 
themselves  with  the  Polish  nobility,  in  order  to  annihilate  the 
German  element  in  the  country,  and  to  separate  this  land  from 
Prussia.     Yes,  indeed,  the  old  Pole  must  be  re-established  within 
his  former  boundaries,  in  order  that  Jesuitism  might  there  be 
enabled   to  flourish   again  as   formerly;    and  on  that  account 
instruction  in  German  became  not  only  neglected,  but  regular 
opposition  was  made  against  it.     By  such  conduct  the  Jesuitical 
ultramontane  ecclesiastics  had  carried  the  matter  so  far  that, 
for  example,  in  the  West  Prussian  communities,  which  formerly 
were  purely  German,  the  German  language  was  now  no  longer 
understood  by  the  rising  generation.     And  could  the  Prussian 
Government   tolerate  any  longer   such   a   calamity  ?      It  was 
bad  enough  that  the   ministers  Raumer  and  Von  Mühler  had 
so  long  retained  in  their  hands  the  Jesuitical  Polish  propagauda. 
Now,  when  the  German  Empire  had  been  again  constituted,  one 
must  proceed  in  earnest  and  with  energy;  and,  consequently^ 
the  law  concerning  school  inspection,  brought  forward  by  Dr. 


Falk,  was  approved  by  a  large  majority  in  the  Prussian  Par- 
liament, and  later,  also,  in  the  Upper  House.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  the  Prussian  Catholic  bishops  at  once  strongly  protested 
against  this  step,  declaring  that  the  inspection  of  schools,  as 
daughters  of  the  Church,  rested  alone  with  the  clergy,  not 
with  the  State.  But  what  did  this  protest  signify  !  The  King 
established  this  law  by  his  signature,  and  it  became  valid 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Prussian  dominion. 

What  happened,  however,  in  consequence  of  this,  in  the 
province  of  Posen,  when  the  extraordinary  revision  of  schools 
was  held  ?  Wherever  school  inspection  had  been  exercised 
by  a  Jesuitical  Polish- disposed  ecclesiastic,  instruction  in 
the  German  language  had  been  totally  neglected;  while  as 
regards  Prussian  history  and  geography,  as  well  as  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Prussian  States,  the  pupils  were  totally  ignorant 
thereof.  Indeed,  in  many  village  schools  the  pupils  could  not 
actually  tell  to  what  State  and  country  they  belonged,  and  still 
less  had  they  any  knowledge  as  to  how  the  King  of  Prussia  and 
Emperor  of  Germany  was  designated.  At  that  time,  when  the 
Jesuitical  Ultramontane  movement  was  so  much  exciting  the 
minds  of  all,  it  suddenly  became  known  that  an  apothecary,  for- 
merly of  Posen,  had  been  arrested,  on  the  21st  February  1872, 
because  he  was  strongly  suspected  of  contemplating  an  attempt 
on  the  life  of  the  Imperial  Chancellor,  Prince  Bismarck.  The 
investigation  which  followed  showed  that  the  accused  was  called 
Emilius  Westerwelle,  and  that  he  was  in  close  relation  with 
Prebendary  Kozmian,  of  Posen,  confidential  adviser  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Posen-Gnesen,  Count  Ledochowski.  A  domiciliary 
search  was  made  at  the  house  of  the  said  Prebendary,  which 
elicited  extraordinary  disclosures.  Not,  however,  concerning 
Westerwelle,  who  was  afterwards  pronounced  to  be  not  guilty, 
but  in  regard  to  Prebendary  Kozmian  and  his  intimate  friends 
the  Jesuits.  It  transpired  that  he  kept  in  Posen  a  large  establish- 
ment in  which  a  young  Polish  nobleman  was  retained  by  the 
Jesuit  teachers  as  assistant  in  matters  of  school  instruction  ;  at 
this  time,  however,  by  order  of  the  Archbishop  named,  he  had 
to  undergo,  as  a  Church  punishment,  seclusion  in  the  Jesuit 
cloister  of  Schrimm,  because,  in  company  with  a  disreputable 
woman  in  the  bathing-place  of  Homburg,  he  had  partly 
wasted    in    riotous     living,     and     partly    gambled    away,    a 


-  ?, 


362 


flISl:OBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM. 


36a 


large  sum  of  money,  which,  as  Peter's  pence,  was  destined  for 
the  Holy  Father  in  Rome.     The  domiciliary  search  was  now 
extended  to  the  Jesuit  cloister  at  Schrimm,  and  again  something 
remarkable  came  to  light;  letters  were  found  there  proving  that 
the  Polish  Ultramontane  movement  in  Posen  entirely  proceeded 
from  the  Jesuits,  and,  also,  that  the  members  of  the  so-called 
Central  party  in  the  Parliament  were  not  by  any  means  ignorant 
as  to  the  matter.     Further  proof  was  found  that  the  Pope,  at 
the  instigation   of  the  Jesuits,  had  nominated    a  Primate    of 
Poland,   and  that   this   step  stood  in   close  relationship   with 
the  efforts  of  the  nobility  in  Posen  to  set  up  again  the  Polish 
kingdom — seeing  that,  according  to  old  Polish  law,  the  Primate 
of  Poland  was  representative   of  the  King   and   possessor  of 
political  power  when  the  Polish  throne  was  vacated.     Lastly,  it 
was   found  that  a  number  of  foreign    Jesuits  were  disporting 
themselves  on  Posen  territory,  with  no  other  object  than  that 
of  guiding    and  firmly  uniting  the    connection  of   the  Posen 
nobility  with  the  nobility  in  Russian  Poland,  as  well  as  Galicia. 
This  was  a  highly  important  discovery,  which  justified  Princo 
Bismarck  in  instantly  proceeding  against  the  sons  of  Loyola  by 
State  measures ;  but,  ere  doing  so,  he  wished  still  to  try  before- 
hand  a  final  remedy.     He  therefore  endeavoured,  through  an 
understanding  with  the  Roman  Curie,  to  get  the  mastery  over 
them  without  being  obliged  to  resort  to  force  on  his  side.    Accord- 
ingly, at  the  end  of  April  1872,  it  was  suddenly  reported  that 
Cardinal  Prince  Hohenlohe  had  been  nominated  to  be  German 
Ambassador  at  the  Holy  Papal  See,  and,  of  course,  it  was  per- 
ceived therefrom  that  a  great  concession  had  been  made  to  the 
Catholic  Church.     The  German  Empire  to  be  represented  at  the 
Holy  See,  not  only  by  a  good  Catholic,   acknowledged  to  be 
faithful,  but  by  one  of  the  Princes  of  the  Church  of  the  highest 
standing !     What  more  could  the  Pope  desire  ?     Therein  lay, 
indeed,  the  proof  that  the  German  Government  was  earnestly 
desirous  of  maintaining  peace  with  Rome,  and  of  fulfilling  all 
just  demands  of  the  Catholics. 

But  there  was  one  thing  that  could  not  be  forgotten  :  Cardinal 
Prince  Hohenlohe  had  remained  a  German  in  all  his  words  and 
actions,  and  had  never  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits* 
They  therefore  entertained  a  decided  hatred  towards  him,  and 
contrived  to  keep  him  always  far  away  from  the  Papal  Court. 


People  were  all  the  more  eager  to  know  how  the  Pope  would 
take  the  nomination  ;  but,  fortunately,  curiosity  was  not  long 
kept  in  suspense.  Under  date  the  25th  April  1872,  Deren- 
thal,  the  German  Charge  d'Affaires  in  Rome,  communicated  to 
Antonelli,  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  confidential  way, 
that  the  nomination  had  taken  place,  and  asked,  at  the  same 
time,  whether  the  same  was  agreeable  to  the  Pope.  The  Sec- 
retary of  State  gave  no  reply  for  several  days;  consequently, 
Derenthal  repeated  the  question  on  the  1st  of  May.  The  Car- 
dinal Secretary  of  State  at  once  replied,  on  the  2nd  of  May, 
'*  he  had  not  omitted  to  obtain  the  orders  of  the  Pope,  but  His 
Holiness,  although  not  insensible  to  the  intentions  of  His  Im- 
perial Majesty,  found  himself,  nevertheless,  in  the  disagreeable 
position  of  being  unable  to  authorise  the  reception  of  so  delicate 
and  important  an  oflBce  by  a  Cardinal  of  the  Holy  Romish 
Church,  particularly  under  the  present  circumstances  of  the 
Holy  See." 

Thus  the  Ambassador  nominated  by  the  German  Emperor 
was  rejected  by  the  Pope,  and  in  such  a  way,  indeed,  as  could 
hardly  be  more  rude.  Was  there  not  therein  a  deadly  insult  ? 
Everyone  knows  that  the  rejection  of  a  newly-named  Ambassa- 
dor had,  perhaps,  never  before  happened,  and  Prince  Bismarck 
expressed  himself  as  follows  on  the  matter :  "  It  very  seldom 
occurs  that  the  question  arises  whether  the  person  of  an 
Ambassador  appointed  to  a  friendly  Court  is  a  i)erHona  grata. 
An  answer  in  the  negative  is  an  invitation  to  cancel  the  selection. 
I  have  been  now  for  one- and- twenty  years  engaged  in  the 
business  of  higher  diplomacy,  but  this  is  the  first  case,  during 
this  time,  of  a  refusal.  It  more  frequently  happens  that  a  Court 
is  desirous  for  the  recall  of  an  Ambassador  already  accredited  to 
it  for  a  long  period.  When  in  such  a  case  the  wish  is  con- 
fidentially expressed  for  a  change  in  the  individual,  there  is  in 
the  background  an  experience  of  several  years'  intercourse;  but 
I  cannot  call  to  mind  the  rejection  of  a  newly-appointed  repre- 
sentative." Thus,  the  refusal  of  Prince  Cardinal  Hohenlohe, 
whom  the  German  Emperor  had  nominated  his  Ambassador  in 
Rome,  was  a  sharp  insult  to  this  most  powerful  of  all  European 
monarchs ;  and  it  was  considered  so  in  the  latter's  capital.  But 
why  had  the  Pope  thus  acted  ?  After  a  few  days  it  became 
apparent« 


364 


HiSTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     365 


At  first,  Pius  IX.  and  his  Cardinal  Secretary  of  State, 
Antonelli,  were  very  much  flattered  at  the  circumstance  that  the 
German  Emperor  had  sent  an  Ambassador  to  Rome,  in  the 
person  of  a  cardinal,  and  they  never  for  a  moment  contemplated 
declining  the  honour ;  but  the  Jesuitical  surrounding  of  the  Pope, 
impelled  by  the  hatred  they  had  entertained  during  many  years 
against  Cardinal  Hohenlohe,  represented  the  matter  as  indicating 
the  initiation  of  an  anti-Catholic  policy,  judging,  that  is,  from  the 
character  of  the  person  sent,  and  moved  the  weak  Pius  IX. — 
their  plaything  during  many  years— to  proceed  against  the 
German  Empire  in  the  manner  which  has  been  represented. 

Prince  Bismarck — or,  better  said,  the  German  Government — 
now  knew  what  to  think  of  the  position  in  relation  to  the 
Boman  Senate.  On  the  part  of  Germany,  the  Pope's  Govern- 
ment had  been  met  in  the  most  friendly  manner,  the  hand  for 
an  understanding  having  been  held  out ;  the  Senate,  however, 
declined  the  oflPer  with  a  rude  haughty  spirit,  and  proclaimed,  at 
the  same  time,  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  peace.  What 
peace,  what  understanding,  what  compromise  ?  Was  it  likely 
the  German  Empire  would  submit,  and  blindly  approve  of  all 
the  demands  of  Eome?  Would  it  proclaim  the  Syllabus,  and 
regulate  its  code  of  laws  according  thereto  ?  Would  it  recognise 
the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope,  and  therewith  also  his  right  of 
sovereignty  over  all  temporal  governments?  Would  it  adopt 
measures  to  restore  the  old  Catholics,  and,  lastly,  bring  all  its 
Protestant  subjects  into  the  lap  of  the  only  saving  Church  ?  If 
it  was  to  act  thus,  then  would  the  Pope  graciously  grant  it 
peace,  and  there  would  be  nothing  more  on  earth  but  heavenly 
felicity. 

This  was  clearly  the  position  which  Rome  took  up  :  there 
could  be  no  longer  any  doubt  about  it.  *'  Still,"  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  asked  himself,  *' who  has  influenced  Rome  to 
assume  this  position  ? "  There  could,  of  course,  be  no  other 
answer  to  the  question  than  **  that  the  sons  of  Loyola  had 
done  it."  It  was  they  who  had  everywhere  poisoned  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  Catholic  youth  ;  it  was  they  who  had  hounded  on  the 
German  bishops  to  battle  against  the  laws  ;  it  was  they  who  had 
preached  open  sedition  in  Posen ;  it  was  they  who  rebelled  in 
everything  against  the  State.  It  was  to  them  the  invention  of 
the  Syllabus  and  the  Infallibility  was  due ;  and  shall  Germany 


submit  any  longer  to  this  ?  Would  it  be  justified  in  quietly 
leaving  the  matter  alone  until  things  had  gone  on  to  such  a 
heipfht  as  to  occasion  another  Thirty  Years*  War  ? 

Truly,  indeed,  had  there  been  any  other  man  at  the  head  of 
the  Imperial  Government  than  the  magnificent  statesman  we 
possess  in  Prince  Bismarck,  and,  moreover,  had  there  not  been  a 
colossal  majority  of  the  German  people  against  the  Jesuits,  things 
would  have  taken  a  different  turn  from  what  actually  occurred. 

Indeed,  in  October  1871,  the  German  Protestant  Assembly 
had  unanimously  passed  the  following  resolutions  : 

"I.  Respecting  the  dogma  of  the  Papal  Infallibility.  (1)  In 
so  far  as  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope,  determined  by  the  Council 
of  the  Vatican  of  1870,  simply  implies  the  intention  of  establishing 
the  absolute  authority  of  the  Pope  within  the  Catholic  Church, 
the  Protestant  Union  abstains  from  any  remark  regarding  it. 
(2)  In  so  far,  however,  as  the  new  Romish  dogma  shall  serve, 
in  a  Jesuitical  sense,  (a)  to  attack  the  sovereignty  of  modern 
States  in  general,  and  the  German  Empire  in  particular,  (d)  to 
endanger  the  confessional  peace  in  Germany,  (c)  to  threaten  the 
liberty  of  mind,  freedom  of  conscience,  and  our  whole  culture; 
the  German  Protestants,  and  the  whole  of  the  German  people, 
are  induced  and  obliged  to  oppose  determinedly  this  threat  to 
States,  to  peace,  and  to  modem  freedom  of  thought,  and  to 
operate  vigorously  and  carefully  for  the  removal  of  these  serious 
perils. 

"II.  As  regards  the  Jesuit  Order.  In  consideration  (1)  that 
the  Jesuit  Order  consists  entirely  of  members  who  are  estranged 
from  their  families,  from  civil  societv,  from  their  native  country, 
and  implicitly  obey  the  orders  of  their  Roman  superiors ;  (2) 
that  the  Jesuit  Order  is  no  union  of  free  individuals,  but 
a  strictly  disciplined  spiritual  army  corps,  under  officers  and  a 
supreme  General ;  (3)  that  the  Society,  since  its  re-establishment 
by  Pius  Vir.  (Bull  of  7th  August  1814),  as  before  its  abolition 
by  Pope  Clement  XIV.  (Brief  of  21  st  July  1778),  worked  with 
the  sole  object  of  renewing  and  accentuating  the  mediseval 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Hierarchy  over  the  human  mind,  and 
setting  up  again  the  supreme  power  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  over 
princes  and  peoples ;  (4)  that  the  Jesuit  Order  has  declared  war 
against  the  entire  cultivation  of  mind  in  the  world,  no  less 
than  against  modern  law,  and  civil  as  well   as  political   liberty 


366 


HISTOBT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


(see  Encyclica  of  the  Pope  of  8th  Decemher  1864),  and  has  striven 
to  hinder  the  religious  moral  development  of  mankind  ;  (5)  that 
it  disturbs  and  undermines  the  peace  of  families  in  a  way 
which  threatens  the  continuance  and  development  of  the  German 
Empire,  and  on  every  occasion  shows  enmity  to  the  rights  of 
German  Protestantism;  (6)  that  it  destroys  the  education  of 
youth  by  priestly  training,  by  mortification  of  the  love  of  truth, 
by  the  annihilation  of  conscientious  spontaneity,  by  slavish  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  the  hierarchy,  and  thereby  deeply 
injures  the  development  of  the  formation  of  the  character  and 
mind  of  the  nation  and  of  individuals ;  (7)  that  it  promotes 
superstition  and  the  weakness  of  men  for  the  increase  of  riches, 
and  wickedly  contributes  to  the  extension  of  its  dominion ;  (8) 
that  the  freedom  of  union  and  of  religious  associations  are  only 
rightly  constituted  in  so  far  as  they  conform  to  the  ordinances  of 
the  State  and  of  law,  and  are  subordinate  to  the  same: — in 
consideration  of  all  these  things,  the  German  Protestant  Union 
expresses  its  conviction  that  the  security  of  legal  order,  and  the 
authority  of  the  laws  and  the  power  of  the  State,  the  well- 
being  of  civil  society,  the  preservation  of  confessional  peace,  and 
the  protection  of  spiritual  freedom  and  spiritual  culture,  demand 
the  State  prohibition  of  the  Jesuit  Order  in  Germany.  The 
Union  also  looks  upon  it  as  an  earnest  duty  of  the  German 
Protestants,  and  of  the  whole  German  nation,  to  act  in  regard 
thereto  with  energy,  that  all  interference  in  school  and  church 
matters,  should  be  put  a  stop  to  as  regards  those  belong- 
ing and  affiliated  to  the  Jesuit  Order." 

Thus  did  the  German  Protestant  Union  express  itself  unani- 
mously in  October  1871,  hailing  from  Darmstadt,  where  it  was 
then  assembled,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  joyfully  agreed  with 
it.  However,  of  course,  the  German  bishops,  at  the  head  of 
whom  were  those  of  Ratisbon,  Limburg,  and  Paderborn,  at  once 
espoused  the  cause  of  their  oppressed  friends,  the  sons  of  Loyola, 
and  most  energetically  and  openly  declared  their  intense  grief, 
as  well  as  moral  indignation,  at  the  most  unwarrantable  perse- 
cution of  the  calumniated  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

"The  same"  (the  members  of  the  Order  of  Jesus),  affirmed 
the  Archbishops  of  Cologne  and  Posen,  as  well  as  the  Bishops 
of  Breslau,  Treves,  and  Münster,  in  a  declaration  of  somewhat 
later  date,  **  distinguish  themselves  by  a  truly  moral  and  Chris- 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.      367 


tian  behaviour,  and  by  their  thorough  knowledge,  their  sound 
principles  in  theological  science,  as  well  as  their  zealous  and 
blessed  efficacy  in  the  cure  of  souls,  leaving  besides,  nothing 
indeed,  to  be  desired.  As  regards  their  attitude,  also,  towards 
the  State,  it  is,  indeed,  the  truest  and  most  loyal,  and  it  can  be 
only  evil-disposed  men  who  would  accuse  them  of  anything  to 
the  contrary." 

It  would  have  been  cowardly  had  the  bishops  acted  diflferently; 
but  facts  are  not  to  be  controverted  by  phrases,  and  it  was  bad, 
indeed,  very  bad  for  the  Jesuits,  that  proofs  of  their  generally 
injurious  proceedings,  so  inimical  to  the  State,  accumulated  daily 
more  and  more.  Therefore,  when  the  Parliament  assembled  in 
the  spring  of  187?.,  at  Berlin,  petitions  to  it  poured  in  from  all 
sides,  which  took  their  stand-point  on  the  Protestant  Union, 
and  demanded  the  prohibition  of  the  Order  of  Jesus  by  the 
State.  The  most  remarkable  thing,  however,  as  regards  these 
petitions,  was  that  they  proceeded  almost  entirely  from  Catholic 
supplicants,  and  -each  of  them  supported  itself  upon  authenti- 
cated facts.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  petitions  were  also  presented 
against  the  expulsion  of  the  sous  of  Loyola,  and,  indeed,  to  the 
very  considerable  number  of  151.  But  when  the  particulars  in 
regard  to  the  preparation  of  these  latter  were  investigated,  it  was 
found  that  they  all  rau  quite  alike,  and  had  been  manufactured 
after  the  same  model,  and  hawked  about  by  some  friends  of  the 

Jesuits. 

Could  any  value,  then,  be  attached  to  such  kind  of  fictitious 
things  ?  No,  certainly  not ;  on  the  contrary,  the  other  petitions 
were  all  the  more  to  be  regarded  with  attention,  because  they 
desired  that  a  highly  cancerous  afi*ection  should  be  extirpated. 
The  Parliament  was  looked  to  with  anxious  eyes,  as  to  how  it 
would  settle  the  matter;  and,  at  first,  it  was  not  known  for  certain 
whether  one  might  rejoice  or  not.  It  was  reported,  indeed,  that 
the  Liberal  majority  in  the  Parliament  intended  to  request  the 
Imperial  Chancellor  "  to  bring  about  an  understanding  in  the 
Federal  Government,  on  the  general  principles  relative  to 
Religious  Orders,  in  order  to  establish  legal  protection  to 
subjects  of  the  State  against  ecclesiastical  authority,  a  project 
of  law  being  submitted  to  Parliament,  whereby  the  settlements 
of  Jesuits  and  other  allied  Orders  should  depend  upon  the 
approval  of  the  State." 


368 


HISXOBT  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


I 


I 


It  was  thus  reported,  and,  in  fact,  the  Parliamentary  Commis- 
sion which  had  to  consult  about  the  Jesuit  petitions  decided  on 
a  proposition  to  this  eflfect,  by  a  majority.  But,  already,  in  the 
said  Commission,  voices  made  themselves  heard  which  went 
much  further,  and  especially  Deputy  Windhorst,  of  Berlin, 
expressed  himself  in  the  following  terms  :  "  The  Order  of  Jesus 
is  dangerous  to  the  Empire,  because  it  teaches  unconditional 
submission  to  the  hierarchy,  and  ascribes  to  the  Church  rights 
which  are  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  a  well-ordered 
State.  The  Jesuits  are  also  dangerous  to  the  Empire  because 
they  have  persecuted  the  new  Empire  with  glowing  hatred, 
excited  false  representations  among  the  Catholic  population, 
sought  to  diminish  the  value  of  the  Empire,  and  represented 
it  as  a  declared  enemy  of  the  Church  and  of  religion.  Lastly, 
the  Jesuits  are  dangerous  also  to  culture,  because  they  have 
disturbed  the  peace  of  civil  society,  and  impeded  the  moral 
development  of  the  people.  They  are,  therefore,  to  be  opposed 
with  all,  even  the  most  severe  measures,  and  only  a  law  of  prohi- 
bition, which  must  be  courageously  enforced,  can  be  of  any  avail." 

The  motion  of  the  Committee  for  Petitions,  it  will  be  seen, 
appeared  too  lukewarm  in  the  eyes  of  Deputy  Windhorst,  of 
Berlin,  and  when,  in  the  middle  of  May,  the  Imperial  Diet 
entered  into  consultation  on  the  subject,  many  sided  with  him 
from  the  outset. 

"From  the  very  day"— thus  reasoned  Deputy  Wagener  of 
Newstettin— **  from  the  very  day  on  which  the  Vatican  Council 
was  inaugurated,  the  religious  dissensions  in  Germany  are  to  be 
dated.  The  Governments  have  hitherto  shown  an  unpardonable 
indulgence  in  this  matter,  and  hence  the  Catholic  Church  deems 
herself  more  powerful  than  in  reality  she  is.  There  exists, 
however,  a  very  large  party  within  her  who  crave  to  be  freed 
from  the  oppression  now  exercised  by  Rome — an  oppression 
which,  even  by  good  Catholics,  is  denounced  as  quite  unbearable. 
The  Jesuitical  reaction  starts  from  the  principle  of  ignoring  en- 
tirely the  State,  and  straightway  identifies  revolution  and  reform. 
It  is  impossible  for  the  German  Government  to  face  with  folded 
hands  an  agency  which  questions  the  very  foundations  of  the 
State;  and,  therefore,  it  is  likewise  impossible  for  the  State  any 
longer  to  maintain  the  same  position  with  regard  to  the  Jesuits 
which  it  has  maintained  until  now." 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     369 


Several  other  members  of  the  Diet  spoke  in  the  same  strain, 
amongst  the  number,  Kiefer  (from  Baden),  Fisher  (of  Augsburg), 
Lucius,  Schulze,  Marquardsen,  and  M.  Barth.  Finally,  Wagener 
and  Marquardsen  joined  in  the  following  motion  : 

"  The  petitions  anent  the  Jesuits  are  to  be  made  over  to  the 
Chancellor  of  tire  Empire,  with  the  demand  :  1.  To  bring  about 
such  a  condition  of  the  public  law  as  will  secure  religious  peace, 
parity  of  all  confessions,  and  the  protection  of  the  citizens 
against  any  encroachments  on  their  rights  on  the  part  of  the 
spiritual  power.  2.  In  particular,  and,  if  possible,  during  the 
present  session,  to  bring  in  a  Bill  which  (on  ground  of  the  pre- 
amble and  Article  IV.,  paragraphs  13  and  1(5  of  the  Imperial 
Constitution)  will  regulate  the  legal  status  {modus  standi  ?)  of 
religious  Orders,\  congregations,  and  communities,  the  question 
of  their  aduiission,  and  the  conditions  thereof,  and  will  render 
their  proceedings,  particularly  those  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
in  80  far  as  they  are  dangerous  to  the  State,  punishable 
by  law." 

On  this  motion  a  division  took  place  in  the  Imperial  Diet  on 
May  16th,  1872,  and  it  was  carried  by  the  immense  majority  of 
205  votes  against  84. 

Thus  the  Diet  left  it,  as  it  were,  with  the  discretion  of  the 
Imperial  Government  to  proceed  with  more  or  less  severity 
again&t  the  religious  Orders,  particularly  the  Jesuits,  and  people 
watched  with  intense  curiosity,  to  ste  how  it  would  act.  At 
first  it  appeared  as  if,  for  the  present,  i.e.  during  this  session, 
no  Bill  concerning  the  ecclesiastical  relations  would  be  brought 
in ;  for,  in  the  first  instance,  such  a  highly  important  matter 
could  not  be  treated  precipitately  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the 
regulation  of  the  relations  between  State  and  Church  could  only 
be  established  in  its  entirety  by  a  whole  series  of  laws.  But 
the  Catholic  clergy,  or  rather  the  Jesuitical  Ultramontane  party 
which  swayed  them,  bore  itself  with  greater  arrogance  every  day  ; 
and  it  soon  became  evident  that,  at  least  against  the  Jesuits, 
some  immediate  measures  must  be  taken.  Some  stop  had  to  be 
put  to  their  intrigues,  unless  the  State  was  to  abdicate  all 
authority,  and  consequently  the  Federal  Council  deliberated  at 
once  on  the  question. 

After  a  few  meetings,  it  came  to  the  resolution  that  in  this 
very  session  a  Bill  of  Urgency  against  the  Jesuits  should  be 

n.  24 


870 


HISTORY  OF  THE   JESUITS. 


moved,  and  as  early  as  the  11th  of  June  1872  it  was  ready 
framed.     Its  wording  was  : 

"  Project  of  a  law  concerning  the  limitation  of  the  right  of 
domicile  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  German  Empire.  §  1.  To  the 
members  of  the  Order  of  Jesuits,  or  of  any  congregation  affiliated 
to  this  Order,  even  if  they  are  natives  of'Germany,  the  domicile 
in  any  spot  of  the  federal  territory  can  be  interdicted  by  the 
local  police  authority.  §  2.  All  regulations  requisite  for  the 
enacting  of  this  law  will  be  issued  by  the  Federal  Council." 

This  short  project  was  submitted  to  the  Diet  on  June  12th, 
1872,  and  two  days  later  it  already  stood  on  the  order  of  the 
day.     Naturally  so,  for  momentous  interests  were  at  stake. 

On  the  14th  of  June  1872,  the  consultation  regarding  the 
Jesuit  law  difificulty  began;  and  a  hot  day  it  was,  this  l4th  of 
June.  The  great  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  Mallinkrodt,  the  most 
accomplished  and  clear-sighted  head  of  the  Ultramontane  Central 
Party,  opened  the  debate,  and  omitted  nothing  that  could  be 
said  in  praise  of  the  Jesuits.  But  Deputy  Wagener,  of  New- 
Btettin,  replied  to  him  not  the  less  sharply  and  incisively,  and 
his  opposition  carried  with  it  all  the  more  weight  as  he  was 
invested  with  the  high  oflfice  of  Councillor  in  the  Prussian 
Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs.  He  showed,  in  the  first  place,  that 
the  proposed  law  was  merely  one  of  necessity,  and  proved  that  it 
rested  on  a  real  need,  because  the  doings  of  the  Jesuits  had 
risen  to  a  height  dangerous  to  the  State  in  the  fullest  degree. 
He  proved,  by  oflBcial  documents,  that  those  black  Fathers 
aimed  at  nothing  less  than  collecting  together  all  the 
enemies  of  the '  Empire,  in  order,  in  combination  with 
France,  to  begin  a  war  of  revenge.  He  proved,  moreover, 
that  during  the  summer,  large  Jesuit  missions  were  to  be 
held  in  Posen  and  Silesia,  in  order  to  set  up  a  general  Polish 
insurrection,  strengthened  by  the  Poles  in  Galicia.  He  proved 
that  the  disobedience  of  the  bishops,  and  their  recusance  in 
regard  to  the  observance  of  the  laws,  were  fomented  by  the 
Jesuits,  and  that  their  aim  in  such  a  line  of  conduct  could  be  no 
other  than  the  kindling  of  strife  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  had, 

indeed,  already  begun.      He  proved but  what  need  have  I 

to  occupy  myself  any  longer  with  details  ? 

The  great  majority  of  Parliament  on  that  memorable  14th  of 
June,  was  thoroughly  on  the  side  of  Government,  and  it  became, 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     371 

indeed,  apparent,  that  if  peace  were  to  be  maintained,  the  proposed 
law  must,  indeed,  be  made  even  more  severe,  and  the  expulsion 
of  the  Jesuits  enforced  in  its  entirety. 

At  the  second  sitting  of  Parliament,  on  the  proposition  of 
Deputy  Meyer  von  Thorn,  it  was  accordingly  resolved  by  the 
Liberal  section  as  follows: 

"  1.  The  Society  of  Jesus  and  all  Orders  allied  to  it,  as  well 
as  congregations  of  a  similar  nature,  are  prohibited  within  the 
territory  of  the  German  Empire.  The  establishment  of  settle- 
ments of  this  Society  is  interdicted.  The  settlements  at  the 
present  time  existing  must  be  dissolved  within  a  time  fixed  upon 
by  Parliament,  at  the  most  not  exceeding  six  months. 

**  2.  Those  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  any  con- 
gregation allied  to  them,  may,  if  they  are  foreigners,  be  expelled 
from  the  German  Empire;  in  so  far,  however,  as  they  may 
possess  German  rights  and  privileges,  their  sojourn  shall  be 
forbidden  in  certain  districts,  or  a  fixed  place  of  residence 
assigned  to  them. 

"3.  For  the  carrying  into  effect  of  this  law,  regulations 
shall  be  determined  by  Parliament.  The  measures  adopted 
in  this  respect  shall  be  executed  by  the  police  authorities. 
Difficulties  in  regard  to  any  arrangements  which  may  be  ordered 
in  conformity  with  this  law  appertain  to  Parliament,  which  may 
commission  a  committee,  appointed  by  it,  for  the  discharge 
of  the  same.  There  shall  be  no  delay  regarding  any  diffi- 
culties." 

This  modification  of  the  project  of  law  was  not  only  an 
improvement  upon  that  drawn  up  by  the  German  Government, 
it  was,  in  fact,  something  quite  new,  totally  differing  from  the 
previous  scheme.  The  Government  contemplated  no  further 
object  in  their  plan  than  to  obtain  a  permit,  in  order  to  enable 
them  to  proceed  against  Jesuitism ;  but  now  it  was  proposed 
to  make  a  law  according  to  which  no  Jesuit  might  in  future 
exist  on  German  territory,  and  if  this  proposition  passed  through, 
the  Government  would  be  compelled  to  eject  all  Jesuits. 

The  debate  upon  this  new  modification  of  the  Jesuit  law,  came 
on  in  Parliament  on  the  17th  June,  and  the  result  was  its 
approval  by  a  large  majority.  The  chief  stroke  was  given  by 
Deputy  Volk,  known  as  a  Bavarian  Catholic,  and  we  cannot 
do   better  than  quote  some  passages  from  his  speech.     "It  is 

24  * 


-;•  St 


372 


HISTOBY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


a  question/*  said  he,  "as  to  whether  the  German  Empire 
shall  hecome  suhservient  to  the  Jesuit  power,  or  liberate  itself 
from  the  same.  Were  it  merely  a  matter  regarding  the  five  or 
six  hundred  Jesuits,  viewed  as  individuals,  it  would  not  be  worth 
the  trouble  to  make  so  much  talk  about  it,  but  it  is  a  point 
as  to  whether  the  whole  Jesuit  ultramontane  clergy,  as  a  huge 
corporation,  shall  be  allowed  to  comport  itself  like  a  great 
power.  Indeed,  it  is  a  question  affecting  the  Papal  power  itself, 
which,  in  our  days,  has  identified  itself  with  Jesuitism,  and  it 
has  come  so  far  as  this,  that  the  Jesuit  Ultramontane  Catholics 
represent  themselves  to  be  the  only  true  representatives  of  the 
Faith.  The  new  Romish  Jesuitical  reactionary  combination 
permeates  through  the  whole  of  Europe,  and,  as  the  Jesuits 
have  made  themselves  trlbutarv  to  Eome  and  the  Romish 
Church,  thus  the  German  clergy  has  also  become  in  a  great 
degree  subservient  to  them.  Look  at  Spain  ;  there,  at  least,  200 
Ultramontane  parsons  stand  at  the  head  of  the  Carlist  insur- 
rection that  has  broken  out.  Look  at  France  ;  there  an  alliance 
is  notoriously  sought  with  the  Jesuits,  in  order  that  by  means  of 
the  combinations  which  they  maintain  in  Germany,  a  revenge 
may  be  taken  on  this  latter  State.  Indeed,  in  France  they 
calculate  on  this  alliance  with  the  German  Catholics,  and,  on  this 
account,  one  may  read  almost  every  day  in  the  Ultramontane 
organs  of  the  press  the  quite  unconcealed  threat,  *  Only  wait 
until  the  French  come  back  again,  we  shall  then  show  to  you 
what  will  become  of  the  German  Empire  ! '  Look  at  Belgium  ; 
shall  we,  perchance,  allow  things  to  come  to  pass  with  us  as 
they  have  done  there  ?  Shall  we  wait  until  the  Jesuits  have 
also  eaten  themselves  into  all  circles  among  us,  until  capital  as 
well  as  labour  have  become  subservient  to  Jesuitism  ?  I  have  a 
conviction  that  the  spirit  of  the  German  people  will  become 
master  of  the  Romish  and  despotic  Jesuitism.  But  do  not  let 
us  think  meanly  of  the  struggle!  Had  things  been  allowed  to 
remain  as  they  were  of  old  in  Rome  ;  had  not  all  the  new  decrees 
been  issued  under  the  guidance  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  which  have 
in  every  war  engendered  discontent  and  hatred,  it  would  not 
have  arrived  so  far  as  a  combat.  But  we  have  thus  been 
attacked,  and  we  must  accept  battle.  We  now  do  so,  and  I  am 
confident  we  shall  obtain  the  victory ;  so  surely  as  the  German 
people   have   driven   the  foreigners  in  defeat  over   the  Rhine, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     373 


in  like  manner,  also,  will  they  know  how  to  drive  the  foreign 
foe  over  the  Alps." 

Thus  spake  Catholic  Volk,  and  afterwards  the  project  of  law — 
as  it  had  been  proposed  by  Deputy  Meyer  von  Thorn — came 
to  be  accepted  by  a  most  decisive  majority,  at  the  third  reading, 
on  the  19th  of  June  1872,  after  it  had  undergone  some  immaterial 
amendments.  The  Parliament  thereupon  directed  that  the 
Order  of  Jesus,  with  all  its  dependencies,  should  no  longer  have 
any  existence  in  Germany;  and  it  only  now  remained  to  be  seen 
whether  the  Imperial  Government  would  act  upon  this  decision. 
But  how  could  there  beany  doubt  about  it,  as  there  had  not  been 
the  least  opposition  in  Parliament  to  the  proposition  of  Meyer  ? 
The  authoriiies  must  certainly  have  been  in  favour  of  the  law, 
otherwise  they  would  have  pursued  a  different  course  of  conduct, 
and  it  appeared  to  bo  also  certain  that  the  other  Governments 
of  the  Diet  would  give  their  hearty  approval.  But  all  doubt 
disappeared  when,  on  the  10th  of  July,  the  law,  bearing  date 
4th  July,  relative  to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  was  promulgated 
in  the  Imperial  Law  Gazette  ;  it  ran  thus : — 

"  I.  The  Older  of  Jesus  and  the  societies  allied  to  it,  as  well 
as  congregations  similar  thereto,  are  excluded  from  the  territories 
of  tbe  German  Empire.  The  establishment  of  settlements  of 
the  same  is  interdicted.  The  settlements  at  the  present  time 
existing  are  to  be  dissolved  wiihin  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  Diet, 
which  shall  not  exceed  six  months. 

**  2.  Those  belonging  to  the  Order  of  Jesus,  or  to  Orders 
allied  to  it,  or  to  congregations  similar  thereto,  shall,  if  they  are 
foreigners,  be  expelled  out  of  German  territory;  if  they  are 
natives  of  Germany,  their  place  of  residence  in  certain  districts 
or  places,  is  prohibited  as  may  be  decreed. 

**3.  The  necessary  regulations  as  to  the  carrying  out  and 
securing  the  complete  execution  of  this  law  shall  be  issued  by 

the  Diet." 

It  was  thus  proclaimed  in  the  Imperial  Law  Gazette,  and  it 
now  became  apparent  that  the  sons  of  Loyola,  together  with  those 
connected  with  them,  and  the  congregations  dependent  on  them, 
would  shortly  disappear  from  German  soil.  Yes,  indeed,  it  was 
clear  that  they  would  depart;  or,  as  may  be  better  said,  be 
made  to  depart,  and  in  fact  the  work  was  at  once  commenced. 
The  first   of  the  Black   Cloaks  who  prepared  themselves  for 


374 


HISTORY  OF   THE  JESUITS. 


departure  were  those  in  Essen,  and  their  emigration  took  place, 
partly  to  Holland,  Denmark,  and  England,  partly  to  France, 
Spain,  and  Nortli  America.  After  them  went  the  Fathers  of 
Maria  Laach,  as  well  as  those  of  Cologne;  the  latter,  however, 
only  after  having  heen  made  to  declare,  by  the  police,  whereto 
they  intended  to  direct  their  steps.  In  Posen,  the  pious  Fathers 
acted  as  if  the  law  of  expulsion  did  not  apply  to  them,  and  even 
on  the  3 1  St  of  July,  they  celebrated  the  festival  of  their  founder, 
Ignatius  Loyola,  with  extraordinary  pomp ;  but  on  the  day 
following,  the  District  Council  declared  the  congregation  of  their 
Church  to  be  dissolved ;  forbad  their  reading  mass,  preaching, 
teaching,  and  hearing  confessions;  and  fixed  a  short  time  for 
them  to  quit  the  cloister. 

Precisely  the  same  occurred  during  the  first  days  of  August,  in 
Münster,  in  Metz  (as  in  the  new  Imperial  territory  of  Alsace- 
Lonaine  the  same  law  now  applied),  in  Schrimm  (whence  the 
Fathers  emigrated  to  Galicia,  to  gladden  thereby  the  Austrian 
Empire),  in  Bonn,  in  Strasburg,  in  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  Kreuz- 
berg  near  Bonn,  in  Gorheim  near  Sigmaringen,  in  Marienthal 
and  Boraholen  in  Nassau  terrritory,  in  Mayence,  in  Ratis- 
bon,  and  all  places  where  the  Jesuits  had  settlements ;  and 
everywhere,  or  at  least  almost  everywhere,  they  submitted  them- 
selves, without  resistance,  to  the  regulations  of  the  police 
authorities.  Only  in  Essen  did  there  come  to  be  some  dis- 
turbances, but,  on  the  whole,  of  inconsiderable  character.  At 
Ruda,  in  Silesia,  the  pious  Fathers  sought  to  evade  the  law, 
by  declaring  themselves  to  be  only  private  individuals,  the 
guests  of  Count  Ballestrom,  from  whom  they  received  board  and 
lodging;  but  the  police  allowed  no  "x"  to  be  made  into  an  *'  u," 
and  the  sons  of  Loyola  were  obliged  to  take  their  departure  out 
of  Essen  and  Ruda,  as  well  as  their  other  settlements.  And 
no  regard  was  paid  in  the  least  degree  to  the  circumstance  that 
one  or  other  called  himself  a  high-born  lord,  a  mediatized  count, 
or  a  prince ;  for  the  aristocratic  gentry  were  compelled  tg  take 
their  departure  out  of  the  Empire  exactly  as  the  citizens, 
seeing  that  the  desire  was  to  get  rid  of  the  objectionable  Society 
under  any  circumstances. 

But  not  merely  were  the  Jesuits  proper  to  be  proceeded 
against,  but  all  other  Orders  which  stood  in  any  close  relation- 
ship to  them,  or  even  allowed  themselves  to  be  influenced  by 


t 


bEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     375 

them  ;  such  as  the  Redemptionists,  in  the  territory  of  Nassau,  as 
well  as  in  Treves  and  Bochum  ;  the  school-sisters,  who  in  great 
numbers  had  taken  possession  of  the  people's  schools  throughout 
the  whole  of  Germany,  on  account  of  the  want  of  teachers  ;  the 
hospital  Fathers  in  Posen  territory,  and  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in 
Kurnick  and  elsewhere  ;  the  Franciskanissen,  in  Salzkotten 
(Westphalia);  the  Order  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Holy  Heart 
(Dames  an  Sucre  Coßur)  in  Silesia  and  Posen  ;  and  the  cloisters 
of  Women  of  the  Poor  Child  Jesus,  in  Bonn,  and  elsewhere  on 
the  Rhine.  The  ways  and  means,  however,  which  were  employed 
to  ascertain  what  cloisters  and  Order  communities  should  be 
abolished,  were  very  simple. 

The  Burgomasters  of  all  places  in  which  monks  and  nuns 
were  to  be  found,  had  to  furnish  replies  to  the  following 
questions:  '*(!)  Name  of  the  Order.  (Ji)  Number  of  members 
(among  whom,  how  many  foreigners,  and  how  many  natives?  ) 
(3)  Organisation  (superintendence  by  superior  General  with 
unlimited  legal  powers).  (4)  Discipline  (implicit  obedience  to 
superiors),  (o)  Object,  aim,  and  principles  (people's  and 
Protestant  missions,  educational  learning,  moral  teaching  and 
educational  method).  (6)  Connection  with  other  Orders 
(affiliated  to  the  Jesuits  ;  directed  by  the  Jesuits).^' 

In  this  way  a  conclusion  was  soon  formed  as  to  which  Orders 
were  particularly  dangerous  ;  and,  although  one  or  other  of  the 
Societies  might  deny  being  in  any  relationship  to  the  Jesuits,  they 
were  at  once  abolished  unless  they  were  completely  able  to  clear 
themselves.  It  was  still,  however,  of  far  greater  importance  that 
an  end  should  be  made  of  the  many  unions  which  owed  their 
origin  to  the  Jesuits,  and  the  Prussian  Minister  of  Religion  issued, 
with  this  object,  the  following  order,  under  date  4th  July  1872  : 

•*  It  has  come  to  my  knowledge  that  in  several  provinces  of 
the  State  there  exist  many  congregations,  arch-brotherhoods 
of  the  Family  of  Jes\is,  Mary,  and  Joseph,  and  other  religious 
bodies,  which  are  intended  partly  for  the  instruction  of  scholars 
at  gymnasia  and  universities,  as  well  as  other  higher  educational 
institutions,  partly  that  these  latter  persons  should  become  en- 
rolled members.  I  resolve,  therefore,  that  the  religious  com- 
munities now  existing,  connected  with  gymnasia  and  the  higher 
educational  institutions,  f hall  be  dissolved ;  that  the  scholars 
thereof  shall  be  forbidden  to  sympathise  with   these   religious 


376 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


bodies  in  any  way ;  and  tlint  all  proceedings  raised  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  proliibition  slioll  be  severely  punisbed — if  necessary, 
by  removal  frora  the  institution/' 

What  a  new  blow  was  this  for  the  ultramontane  party! 
Those  unions  bad  been  expressly  called  into  existence  by  the 
Jesuits  in  order  to  indoctrinate  the  students  and  pupils  of  the 
gymnasia  in  superstition,  as  well  as  in  order  to  obtain  from 
them  a  contribution  for  the  Pope  from  the  weekly  money 
given  by  the  parents.  They  had  been  established  with  the  view 
of  exercising  an  absolute  influence  upon  the  students  at 
gymnasia,  and  that  they  should  be  drilled  into  strict  obedience 
to  the  Jesuitical  superiors.  The  pupils  and  gymnasium  students 
had  to  accede  to  those  unions  and  sodalities,  as  they  had  to  fear 
being  punished  by  the  professors  adhering  to  the  Jesuits,  or 
being  treated  under  the  suspicion  of  being  heretical.  They  had  to 
put  up  with  them  because  they  were  forced  by  moral  compulsion ; 
and  they  were,  therefore,  immensely  relieved  when  they  found 
themselves  freed  from  the  unions,  with  their  religious  exercises 
and  devotions. 

The  Jesuit  Ultramontane  party  were  under  the  impression  that 
the  Government  of  the  German  Empire  would  not  dnre  to  enter 
into  the  lists  against  them.  They  believed  this,  because  they 
held  it  as  their  opinion  that  they  would  have  at  their  back  the 
wholo  Catholic  population  of  Germany,  and  that  it  would  be 
fool-hardy  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  to  make  so  many 
millions  their  deadly  enemies,  or  even  to  excite  them  to  raise  a 
revolution.  But,  behold,  it  now  appeared  that  the  Catholic 
population  of  Germany  was,  in  by  far  the  greater  part,  not  in 
the  least  affected  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  some  of  the  German  bishops  loudly  and  publicly  pro- 
tested against  the  Jesuit  law,  "as  a  severe  injury  to  the  legiti- 
mate independence  and  liberty  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  of  its 
inner  religious  life."  It  is  undeniable  that  they  proclaimed  to 
the  world,  trumpet-tongued,  that  there  never  had  been  a  holier 
or  more  respectable  Order  than  the  Society  of  Jesus,  **the  whole 
of  whose  members  were  filled  with  the  most  sincere  respect  for 
authority,  aud  most  intense  love  of  their  Fatherland."  It  is 
certainly  the  case  that  here  and  there  Ultramontane  ecclesiastics 
held  devotional  services  for  the  "  oppressed "  Church ;  and, 
again,  that  others  ascended  their  pulpits  in  order  to  call  for  an 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.     37? 

intensely  sad  farewell  to  the  "pillars  of  heaven."  (that  is  to 
say,  the  sons  of  Loyola).  It  must  certainly  be  admitted  that  the 
Ultramontane  print,  ö^;weörw/a,  devoted  to  the  exiles  a  highly 
pathetic  greeting  on  their  departure,  in  which  the  sentence 
occurred  that  the  martyred  sous  of  Loyola  left  Germany  as 
"victors";  and  in  this  respect  it  was  imitated  by  other  prints 
of  the  same  nature.  It  cannot  also  be  gainsaid  that  there  was 
much  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  among  the  praying  sisters 
of  the  Catholic  cathedrals,  and  that  they  would  not  be  comforted 
at  all,  at  the  loss  of  their  beloved  Father  Confessors. 

How  did  the  great  majority,  however,  of  the  Catholics  of 
Germany  take  up  the  matter  ?  It  may  be  well  said,  with  inner 
satisfaction,  if  not  with  unspeakable  joy ;  "  at  all  events,  with 
the  persuasion  that  the  Imperial  Government  had  acted  rightly 
in  expelling  from  their  entire  borders  the  cruel  disturbers  of 
peace,  the  deadly  enemies  of  toleration  and  authorised  equality 
of  belief."  On  that  account,  nowhere,  with  the  exception  of 
the  town  of  Essen,  did  there  occur  any  agitation  or  dissatisfac- 
tion, in  that  the  Jesuits  had  to  take  their  departure,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  all  breathed  more  freely,  and  it  was  even  said  by  many 
CathoHc  parsons,  "  God  be  praised";  as,  of  course,  wherever  the 
Jesuits  made  their  appearance,  there  they  set  up  their  missions,  in 
order  to  make  the  abode  of  the  wicked  hot  for  the  easily-excitable 
people  ;  there  they  brought  strife  into  society  and  into  families  ; 
there  they  put  the  clergy  against  the  overseers,  and  denounced 
everyone  who  did  not  work  with  fire  and  flame  in  their  interest. 
Thus  the  whole  of  the  thinking  world,  among  Catholics  as  well 
as  among  Protestants,  repeated  the  words  "  God  be  praised 
that  they  have  gone " ;  and  abroad  it  was  thought  that  we 
Germans  were  indeed  fortunate  in  having  such  a  Government. 

Moreover,  the  Prusso-Germau  Government  proceeded  against 
the  bosom  friends  and  chief  protectors  of  the  Society,  viz.  the 
bishops,  as  they  had  done  against  the  Jesuits  and  Jesuitical 
unions,  inasmuch  as  these  magnates  of  the  Church,  in  declining 
obedience  to  existing  laws,  had  made  interference  necessary  ; 
and  the  first  instance  of  this  occurred  in  the  case  of  Chaplain- 
General  Ramzanowski,  Titular  Bishop  of  Agathopolis. 

In  Cologne,  for  twenty-four  years,  the  Catholic  military  wor* 
ship  of  God  had  taken  place  in  the  Evangelical  Garrison  Church 
of  St,  Pantaleon,  with  approval  and  agreement  on  all  sides.   Now 


378 


HIStOBY   OF   THE   JESUItS. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     Bid 


If 


the  old  Catholics  in  Cologne  proposed,  in  January  1872,  that 
they  should  he  allowed,  at  certain  stated  hours,  to  have  a  service 
for  themselves  in  St.  Pantaleon.  This  was  permitted  with  the 
consent  of  the  Prussian  War  Ministry.  Upon  this  Chaplain- 
General  Ramzanowski  declared  the  said  church  to  he  desecrated 
— one  sees  here  how  the  Infallibilitists  hated  those  who 
denied  the  Papal  infallibility— and,  without  asking  the  Minister 
for  War,  or  even  making  him  the  least  acquainted  with  the 
matter,  interdicted  the  parson,  Eünnemann,  at  Cologne,  from 
further  holding  the  Catholic  service  in  the  Church  of  St.  Pan- 
taleon. The  parson  obeyed,  intimating  the  circumstance  to  the 
Minister  of  War.  The  latter,  however,  represented  at  once  to 
the  Chaplain-General  the  impropriety  of  his  conduct,  as  also  the 
possible  consequences  thereof,  and  demanded  that  the  Catholic 
military  public  worship  should  be  held,  as  before,  in  the  said 
church.  Naturally  the  Chaplain-General,  a  subordinate  of 
the  Minister  of  War,  ought  simply  to  have  obeyed ;  but,  instead 
of  doing  so,  he  informed  his  superior  that  he  had  referred  the 
matter  to  the  Pope  in  Rome,  in  order  to  make  himself  certain 
as  to  how  far  his  conduct  met  with  the  approbation  of  His 
Holiness.  This  was  unexampled  presumption ;  nevertheless  it 
was  shortly  to  become  even  more  glaring. 

On  the  21st  of  May  1872,  the  Chaplain-General  Ramzan- 
owski, by  order  of  the  Pope,  laid  an  interdiction  and  prohibition 
on  the  use  of  the  Pantaleon  church,  as  having  been  desecrated 
by  the  Old  Catholics,  and,  by  direction  of  His  Holiness,  pro- 
hibited afresh  the  parson  Eünnemann  from  the  exercise  of  any 
ecclesiastical  act  whatever  in  the  said  church  ;  further,  he  threat- 
ened the  latter  with  excommunication  in  the  event  of  dis- 
obedience, and  declared  that  the  church  would  remain  under 
this  interdict  as  long  as  it  continued  to  be  in  the  use  of  the 
Old  Catholics.  By  this  step  arrogance  was  now  brought  to  its 
height ;  as  there  was,  in  this  conduct,  not  only  a  public  dis- 
obedience to  the  War  Ministry,  but  also  a  solemn  infringement 
of  the  rights  of  the  State,  under  whose  protection  all  creeds  are 
placed  on  an  equality.  Besides,  did  it  not  appear  evident  in  the 
clearest  manner,  from  the  appeal  made  to  the  Pope  by  the  Chap- 
lain-General, that  the  holy  Father  was  to  be  looked  upon  as 
the  supreme  ruler,  before  whom  all  peoples  and  governments 
bad  to  bow  the  head?     The  Prussian  Government,  of  course, 


instantly  suspended  the  Bishop  Chaplain-General  from  all  his 
functions,  and  forbade  the  whole  of  the  Catholic  military 
clergy  from  paying  attention,  in  any  way  whatever,  to  any  orders 
of  their  ecclesiastical  chief. 

They  proceeded  not  the  less  determinedly,  also,  against  Bishop 
Dr.  Cremenz,  of  Ermeland,  and  they  were  compelled  to  do  so 
to  prevent  themselves  losing  all  respect  whatever.  The  said 
bishop,  a  most  vehement  Ultramontane,  to  be  compared  to  few, 
allowing  himself  to  be  led  astray  by  his  Jesuit  counsellors,  had, 
at  the  end  of  the  year  1871,  w^hen  the  pious  Fathers  had  not 
yet  been  expelled,  proceeded  to  decree  the  great  excommunication 
against  Professors  Dr.  Michelis  and  Dr.  Wollmann,  because  they 
professed  Old  Catholicism,  and  even  proclaimed  from  the  pulpit 
this  punishment  of  the  Church.  This  latter  step,  up  to  the 
present,  no  bishop,  not  even  an  archbishop,  had  dared  to  do ; 
and  now  the  question  came  before  the  Prussian  Government 
whether  it  could  tolerate  such  a  thing.  The  matter  was  con- 
sidered in  all  its  aspects;  but  it  was,  at  length,  unanimously 
agreed  that  an  injury  to  the  reputation  of  the  State  lay  in  this 
Church  punishment,  which  was  directly  contradictory  to  Prus- 
sian law.  Consequently,  the  Minister  of  Public  Worship,  no 
longer  Herr  von  Mühler,  but  Dr.  Falk,  challenged  the  Bishop 
to  explain,  respecting  this,  how  he  could  bring  his  measure  of 
excommunication  into  accordance  with  the  pledged  obligations 
of  his  honour  as  a  citizen.  The  Bishop  found  it  convenient  not 
to  give  any  answer,  probably  with  the  hope  that  the  thing  might 
be  allowed  to  go  to  sleep ;  but  this  did  not  happen,  and  the 
result  was  that,  in  April  1872,  an  admonition  came  from  the 
Minister  ,of  Public  Worship.  So  then  Bishop  Cremenz  found 
himself  compelled  to  give  an  answer;  but  what  was  it  that  he 
replied  ?  Simply  this,  "  that  a  contradiction  between  State 
law  and  ecclesiastical  law  did  not  at  all  exist,  while  an  injury 
to  the  honour  of  the  citizen  excommunicated  had  not  taken 
place  through  the  publication  of  the  excommunication ;  in  any 
case,  however,  ecclesiastical  law  was  more  binding  for  him  than 
civil  law."  With  this  the  Prussian  Government  was,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  not  satisfied,  and  the  Minister  of  Public 
Worship  was  obliged  to  put  a  formal  request  before  the  Bishop 
whether  he  was  willing  to  submit  himself  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 
Thereupon  an  infinitely  courteous  and  soft  answer  came  from 


880 


HISTOKY   OF   THE   JESUITS. 


the  Bishop ;  an  answer,  however,  the  contents  of  which  were  - 
not,  on  that  account,  at  all  satisfactory.     The   Bishop  wrote 
"  that  he  was  quite  prepared  to  obey  the  law  of  the  land   when 
the  latter  was  not  in  contradiction  to  the  law  of  God.     Besides, 
it  is  for  the  Catholic  Church,  that  is,  for  him,  the  Bishop,  and 
in   the  last  instance  for  the  Pope,  to  decide  what  the  law  of 
God  was.     Now  the  Excommunicatio  major  undoubtedly  be- 
longed to  the  law  of  God,  and,  therefore,  on  that  account,  the 
Bishop  could  under  no  circumstances  revoke  it.     On  the  con- 
trary, he  was  obliged  firmly  to  maintain  the  same  in  spite  of  the 
common  law  of  Prussia."     This  amounted  to  a  public  mutiny 
against  State  law,  and  there   remained  nothing  else,   therefore, 
fur  the  Government  to  do  but  to   deny  him  the  State  recog- 
nition which  had  before  this  been  accorded.     In  other   words, 
there  remained  nothing  for  it  but  to  break  off  all  State  relations 
with  him,  and  to  declare  his  enactments  for  the  future  null  and 
void  ;  and,  what  was  the  main  thing,  to  withdraw  the  income — 
35,000  thalers — which  he  had  hitherto  derived  from  the  State. 
That  this  would  occur,  the  Bishop  foresaw  ;  but  he  hoped  to  be 
able  to  elude  the  dire  blow  by  a  personal  appeal  to  the  Emperor, 
whose  acknowledged  benevolence  he  claimed  for  himself.     The 
above  reply  was  written  iu  August   1872,  and  in   the  following 
month  a  great  fete  was  to  be  celebrated  in  Marienburg — "  The 
reunion  of  the  province  of  West  Prussia  and  Ermeland  with  Ger- 
many, as  had  formerly  been  the  case  a  hundred  years  ago."    The 
Emperor  had  promised  to  be  there,  and  one  may  imagine  that  the 
old  Monarch  would  on  that  day  have  nothing  but  a  smiling  coun- 
tenance for  everyone.    Building  upon  this,  the  Bishop  had  written 
an  extremely  humble  letter  to  the  Emperor,  begging  that  he  might 
be  graciously  allowed  to  appear  at  Marienburg  at  the  head  of 
his  clergy,  in  order  to  testify  to  His  Majesty  the  expression  of 
attachment  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Ermeland.     Such  a  direct 
solicitation  was  very  graciously  accepted  by  the  Emperor,  and 
he  ordained  that,  in  the  meantime,  all  harsh  measures  against 
the  Bishop  should  be  suspended  ;  causing  it,  at  the  same  time, 
to  be  intimated  to  the  latter  that  it  would  not  be  in  Ins  power 
to  receive  from   his  hands  a  loyal  address   until  the  conflict 
still  going  on  between  the  Bishop  and  the  State  Government 
had   been    settled.     The    Emperor   accordingly  demanded,  in 
the   most  peremptory   manner,   **the   Bishop  shall   absolutely 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   CATHOLICISM   INTO   JESUITISM.     381 

acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  and  the  efißcacy  of  the 
laws,  and  when  this  had  taken  place  he,  the  Emperor,  would 
then  joyfully  receive  from  the  Bishop  the  expression  of  attach- 
ment." Upon  this,  the  Bishop  now  addressed  another  letter  to 
the  Emperor,  which  he  caused  to  be  despatched  on  the  öth 
September,  and  in  this  letter  he  employed  every  artifice  of  dis- 
simulation. "He  recognised,"  said  he  therein,  "the  full 
sovereignty  of  secular  authority  in  the  dominion  of  the  State, 
and  declared  that  there  existed  no  other  power  therein. 
For  this  reason,  he  would  fulfil  his  duty  by  obedience  to  the 
laws  to  the  fullest  extent.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  he 
avowed  that,  in  matters  of  faith,  and  in  the  way  of  eternal  weal, 
the  revelation  and  law  of  God  served  as  the  sole  irrefragable 
rule,  and  he  herein  submitted  himself  with  equal  unreserve  to 
the  revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  authority 
of  the  Church  instituted  by  Him." 

What  was  the  meaning  of  this  ?     The  Bishop  declared  that 
he  recognised  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  in  its  own  dominion, 
exactly  in  the  same  way  as  he  unreservedly  recognised  eccle- 
siastical authority  in  its  dominion.     Did   he   not  in  this  way 
leave  a  back  door  open  for  himself?     Or  how  would  it  be  when 
a  State  command  stood  in  opposition  to  an  ecclesiastical  decree  ? 
When,  for  instance,  the   Pope  ordered  the  Old  Catholic   pro- 
fessors to  be  excommunicated,  while  the  State  declared  this  to 
be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  because  no  one  could  be 
openly  deprived   of  his  religion  ?     Whom  was  the  Bishop   to 
obey  in  this  case?     Upon  this  the  cunning  gentleman  did  not 
express  his   opinion,  under  the   conviction   that  the  Emperor 
would   not   remark   his  Jesuitical    reservation,    and   would  be 
satisfied  with  his  apparently  cordial  declaration.    But  the  double 
meaning  of  the  Bishop's  language  was  at  once  recognised,  and 
the   Emperor   commissioned    Prince   Bismarck   to   compel   the 
ecclesiastic  to  make  a   candid  declaration.     With  the  view  of 
carrying  out  this  matter,  the  Prince  now  took  his  own  peculiar 
way  in  order  to  put  the  Bishop,  with  his  assurances  of  obedience, 
to  the  proof.     If  the  spiritual  lord  really  intended  to   render 
obedience   to    the  law   of  the  land,  he  must  also  acknowledge 
that  he  had  to  be  subservient  to  the  precept  of  the  common 
law,  which  the  so-called  greater  excommunication,  without  con- 
sent   of    the    State,;  interdicted.     He   must    also   admit    that, 


882 


HISTORY  OF   THE   JESUITS. 


as  he  had  pronounced  such  excommunication  in  two  cases, 
he  had  acted  illegally.  With  this  view,  on  the  9th  Septemher, 
Prince  Bismarck  wrote  to'  the  Bishop  as  follows : 

"The  declaration  of  your  Episcopal  Grace,  of  the  5th  of  this 
month,  to  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  and  King,  hears  in  its 
aspect  a  contradictory  character,  though  I  cannot  but  hope 
that  it  will  be  possible  for  your  Episcopal  Grace  to  put  His 
Majesty  in  a  position  that  would  enable  him  to  receive  you. 
But,  as  official  counsellor  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  and 
King,  I  can  only  admit  of  the  personal  reception  of  your 
Episcopal  Grace  by  the  same  most  mighty  potentate  when  it  is 
first  of  all  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  the  Crown,  every  doubt 
being  removed  by  your  unreservedly  and  completely  acknow- 
ledging the  authority  of  the  laws  of  this  country,  made  by  our 
King.  Your  Episcopal  Grace  has  broken  the  law  of  the  land, 
inasmuch  as  you  have  decreed  the  greater  excommunication 
publicly  against  subjects  of  His  Majesty.  According  to  my 
judgment,  it  cannot  be  difficult  for  your  Episcopal  Grace  to 
acknowledge  these  facts  to  the  ruler  of  your  country.  As  soon 
as  this  acknowledgment  is  made,  it  will  give  me  much  pleasure 
to  see  every  obstacle  removed  which,  up  to  the  present  time, 
has  prevented  your  personal  reception  by  His  Majesty,  our 
most  gracious  lord  and  master. 

"v.  Bismarck." 

Thus  did  Prince  Bismarck  write,  and  there  remained  no 
longer  any  back  door  open  for  this  tortuous-minded  Bishop. 
What  did  he  do,  however  ?  He  declined  the  admission  that  he 
had  broken  the  law  of  the  land,  and  thereby  testified  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  obey  the  law  of  the  land  so  long  as  the 
Church — that  is,  the  Pope — commanded  anything  to  the  contrary. 
It  now  rested  with  the  Government  to  take  action,  if  it  did  not 
choose  to  acknowledge  that  the  Church  was  predominant  over 
the  State;  and,  therefore,  the  Bishop  was  informed  that  all 
payments  to  him  would  be  discontinued,  seeing  that  the  in- 
come of  the  Bishop  had  only  been  granted  him  on  condition 
he  should  acknowledge  that  the  laws  and  constitution  of  Prussia 
were  applicable  to  and  binding  upon  him. 

In  this  manner  the  Government-  of  the  German  Emperor 
dealt  with   the  presumptions   of  the  Jesuitical   Ultramontane 


«•i 


JA, 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  CATHOLICISM  INTO   JESUITISM.    383 

party ;  but  with  this  has  all  come  to  an  end  ?  No ;  what  has 
already  occurred  was  merely  the  beginning,  and  can,  so  to 
speak,  only  serve  as  a  payment  on  account.  The  Jesuits  have 
taken  their  departure,  but  the  spirit  of  Jesuitism  still  remains 
in  the  bishops,  and  against  them  must  the  laws  be  so  applied  as 
to  make  all  future  ecclesiastical  arrogance  impossible.  We, 
then,  again  repeat,  *'  We  have  now  done  with  the  foreigners 
over  the  Rhine;  we  shall  deal  similarly  with  the  foreigners  across 
the  Alps." 


•  •  •  •  •  •   ( 

•  •          •  •  3         > 

•  •          •  •  •         < 
•»•        •••  *••  •• 


••••••••         •  , 

•       •  ••••••• 


•  •  • 

•  ••      • 

•  •   •    • 

•  <•     •  " 
«  •         • 


•  •  •  «    • 

I          •  •  •       , 

•      •  •  •  •  • 

«  •  •  •     • 

•  •   •  •    « 


•      • 


•  •       .      •  •  • 
•    •  « 


I«      • 


•     • 


•  •_ 


•  • 


•    «    • 


"*     '•       c         s  c  »      «    t    1 
•  »  «     ,     »      I     ,        • 

•  C       1         *  J    •        ^  . 


t 
t 
« 


I  • 


t     *     e  I, 


'■    I     I    C    (' 


PBIMTED  BT   W.  H.   ALL£N*Alfx>*  CO*.,  13  WATiRLC)0*PLACf . 


«   «  •       •  k 

•     -  •    •  t  • 

»  •   *  (  t 

•  •    I       V  t 


t 


t  ( 

t  , 


t    e 
<      • 


•  «. 

•      t 


•    * 


•  •• 

•  • 

<  t   V 

•  • 


I 


^^ 


i 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

provided  by  the  rules  oV^l^u^^^  ''t"  °'  "o'™^».  « 
«ent  With  the  Librarian  to  ch^J^  °'"  "''  "*"'«'»'  «"«-«e- 


I     Ca9(li4t)MtOO 


""■•■   1^»  mß-mm. 


^ 


ir 


1  •'•ii 

mil 

iitii 
l  ••'■( 

'  mi 


/ 


Gate  13 


r 


■'(jtmijB'jii 


01:2^/553 


M 

E 
lU 

> 

z 


?CVJ 
iCvJ 


jCM 


ffl 


jm 

^^K' 

F 


i  0 
u 


CO 
CVJ 

o 


■  ilMB    •  '••' 


Gr8V3 


irFMuft 


t^iiiriT  c,;::nzo 


»TV 


GAl£ 


•1  ^ 


I 


I' 
1 

i 


LA 


JUll   tS37 


